Any other mountain bikers on here with experience of dropper posts?

warren_S5

warren_S5

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I've recently come to the conclusion that I am becoming a couch potato, and even when I go out in search of thrills I tend to be cossetted by a plush arm chair in a cosy car where I'm doing not much more than a bit of steering and pedaling!

So I decided it was time to get back into an old hobby (mountain biking), and I've recently gone out and done a few rides in the West Berkshire and Hampshire regions trying to get some fitness back into my knackered old bones.

To try and keep me motivated I've been using Strava to keep track of improvements, and I've been mixing rides between hard tail and full sus rigs to keep some variety in the mix.

When I'm doing proper cross country rides I tend to use my old skills compensator, the 2004 Epic Comp (nearly a classic now)
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and when I'm feeling brave or up for some proper abuse I'll use a hard tail 2012 Cube Reaction GTC Race
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I started riding in MTB's back in the early 90's when a half decent bike cost about a grand! These days you seem to be able to spend that on a set of cranks!

I now realise that as the world has moved on in the last 10 years and MTB tech has evolved a key purchase will be a 'dropper' seatpost which to be honest is going to have it's work cut out given I'm not a featherweight! (Probably a Rock Shox or Fox unit as I need 31.6 diameter and 400mm length min - I ride a small frame). Has anyone had any experience of dropper posts, and whether they are reliable / useful / benefit. Conscious they add a load of weight, and given how average the lock out is on my Reba's I have concerns of a horribly compromised ride when it gets a few rides on it. The dropper is for the Cube, not the Spesh!
 
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Get the Rock Shox one, the Fox and Crank Bros ones are shiiiit.

I used the Rock Shox for a season at elite level XC racing and it never failed once.
 
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I've seen Rock Shox Reverb on bike-discount.de (German company) for £200 which seems surprisingly cheap (over £50 cheaper than UK ones), so I'll get one ordered.
 
i hate them tbh.
but then i ride downhill/freeride/dirt and street.

the way i see it, your bike should be set up for the type of ride you do, or are planning on doing.
i kinda see the point, because you'l take that edge off on 'rough' ground without getting any pedal bob from a full susser (despite most modern rear shocks having a pedal bob reduction, as well as specific swingarm designs to stop chain tightnening). but from a height perspective, you should have your height set for the terrain you're going to be on
 
I see where your coming from Karl, but its that hassle of doing x-country and then getting to a bit of downhill then having to get off and drop the saddle. On my full sus as the bike soaks up more bumps I don't get shunted up the **** by the saddle like I do with the hard tail. I was hoping to flick a switch and be done with it to save the disruption and loss of momentum on the ride. Interesting to read other points of view.
 
I loved mine; I was more than happy for it to increase the weight of my bike to have the extra speed on descents.

As an XC racer I rode a tiny bike with the seat all the way up, which meant on a descent my weight was forward of the front hub. ALL the competition at the time rode like this which made them very tentative on descents. I fitted the Reverb and was smashing descents much quicker than everybody else. At the time it was on my Lappiere X-control 710, which was a pretty tasty bike.

No pics of it with the Reverb on mind you.

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Me after a 4 mile climb in Scotland!

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And in the wetroom; god I miss that thing.

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Best bike I ever had, I sold it to put into the mortgage deposit :(

I never had one on my Cannondale as they didn't make one suitable for it's 3" wide seatube. I opted for a Hope Eternity on that one.

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Loving the Lapierre, that is a gorgeous bike.

Like you I ride the smallest frame I can get away with and then a 400-420 seatpost set to max. As an ex BMX'er I never got used to having a tube right up in my nuts so favour a smaller rig. I'm going to pay more and order from UK just in case I have reliability issues. Picking it up from Leisure Lakes later in the week.
 
Lefty's are amazing Chez. They weigh nothing, are smoother than a Fox and are stiffer than a bolt through. People storing their bikes incorrectly, not understanding how to set them up and not servicing them properly is what's gay.

Mine went back to TF every 8 months or 60 hours riding whichever came sooner. My original Lefty was 5 years old and developed a leak through scoring on the main shaft; TF sent me a BRAND NEW Lefty PBR Max free of charge. Hence why the fork doesn't match the frame.

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This was the old fork -

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Thanks, the Lap was a really nice bike. Far too much money to have when I retired from racing though, I was worried about taking it anywhere. I had somebody try to mug me for it once whilst out on a trail, the guy actually torpedo'd me on his ****ty hardrock and tried to make off with it. Luckily the chain slipped and he couldn't get anywhere.

Good idea on ordering it from the UK, a guy called James is the Fisher Outdoor rep and he is a brilliant guy. He's helped me 100's of times. If you haven't already ordered it then give Certini a call and see if they can cut you a better price. I worked there for a couple of years and they are the Specialized Concept Store in Plymouth. Ask to speak to Rob, Tony or Carl and try and haggle, tell them Jarrod sent you ;) 01752 849315
 
the lapierre is a nice looking cycle and quite rare too! :thumbsup:
i just dont like the look of leftys mate, never ridden one! but are they not discontinued now though?
i have marzocchi drop off 4"s on the patriot, and service these myself! they run smooth as silk and feel nice because of the open bath damping in them! new fork oil once a year and sorted! not as bling as a set of bombers with a cartridge, and more travel, but i dont need the weight and travel! 150mm does me!
 
CHEZ said:
the lapierre is a nice looking cycle and quite rare too! :thumbsup:
i just dont like the look of leftys mate, never ridden one! but are they not discontinued now though?
i have marzocchi drop off 4"s on the patriot, and service these myself! they run smooth as silk and feel nice because of the open bath damping in them! new fork oil once a year and sorted! not as bling as a set of bombers with a cartridge, and more travel, but i dont need the weight and travel! 150mm does me!
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They might not look great, but they are really balanced and give a great feel. I'd feel lost without a Lefty tbh.

Drop Off's are a beast of a fork, so solid. They are a great bit of kit. I've never ridden a Patriot, but I owned a 5 and LOVED it. Proper bruisers.

How much do you get out? Any pictures of your setup?
 
oh not much these days mate!
once the puppy is fully trained up i will start taking him out! but wont be long


currently running slicks! for tarmac and cycleways!



just realised, this is 6 years old now! jeez! still brand new (ish)
 
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I'll have to post up a pic of my Yeti 575 anniversary colours tomorrow!

To the OP, I'm not much of a fan of droppers, however Thomson are supposed to be entering the market shortly, and everything they make is awesome.
 
dont worry chez, most of my parts range from 2006-2009, and i still think its brand new.

the biggest problem with mtb'ing now is its a ****ing fashion, which reeeaaaaallllly ****** me off. you see all sorts of dudes riding round the streets on brandnew rigs for no reason other than they think a 2k+ mtb is cool.
im friendly with leisure lakes and the owners, and they see people changing bikes every 6 or so months, to have the latest model with the latest trends. its a ****ing joke. theres only so far mountain bike technology can go and i personally think it all peaked 2010 at the latest. the early 00's were so awesome. Getting the latest news from the bike show and seeing what each manufacturer had developed next was brilliant, and you'd actually pay the money for this new technology. Nitrate stanctions, bolt through. 150mm rear hub axles, floating discs, active damping, lockout. it was all AWESOME!

now you see **** all change other than the name and the aesthetics. Not to mention the price, i remember when fox 36 rlc were 5-600 quid, now take a look at the price!

and guys, everyone knows XC is prrrrroper gay.



p.s. i even take a look at a modern bike and it ****** me off. matching decals ****ing everywhere so it looks like a god dam training shoe
 
Never even thought of using a dropper seat post until I got one on my new Mondraker Dune RR a couple of months ago and now I couldn't do with out one.
It so much easier to move about on the bike on the downhill sections and its far more controllable when jumping.

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I couldn't disagree more Karl.

There has been more development on bikes in the last 5 years than ever IMO, Carbotanium, Kashima struts, ceramic rotors, XTR has come on 10 fold, 11 and 12 speed, electric shifting, MTB tubs, Industry9 wheels, carbon MTB rims, Mavic braking systems, dropper posts, variable damping, the list is endless. Frame design and linkage R&D has become a far more individual field than before with ever demanding consumers.

The huge advancements in recent years have mainly been around the manufacture and development of new models and technologies, now that cycling is so fashionable it's in the spotlight.

Road riding is the big thing at the moment, and unless you ride road then nobody cares. I never used to give a **** about road bikes, but then I got one and realized just quite how different it is to MTB.



Things like this can only help to improve the sport; a bit like science in wartime; nobody has fun but we're all going to benefit in the long run ;)
 
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all this stuff:

Carbotanium, Kashima struts, ceramic rotors, XTR has come on 10 fold, 11 and 12 speed, electric shifting, MTB tubs, Industry9 wheels, carbon MTB rims, Mavic braking systems, dropper posts,

is useless crap thats designed and marketed to get people like you to bite and think it improves riding and the sport is 'evolving'

kids dont need all this ****, at all, its not mtb'ing, its ****ing pointless gadgetry.
XTR, lmao, **** me.

greeny that bike looks nice man. real nice allrounder, slack, i like slack!
 
superkarl said:
and guys, everyone knows XC is prrrrroper gay.

p.s. i even take a look at a modern bike and it ****** me off. matching decals ****ing everywhere so it looks like a god dam training shoe
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Jeez, my first post must have chewed your balls off, the Cube is a training shoe of a bike and I ride XC as I fractured my radial head 7 weeks ago so XC is as much as I dare do as I can't be taking any more time off work!
 
Sports nutrition and training values are coming on in leaps and bounds; I cannot dispute that. But as a whole the human race isn't adapting to riding bicycles; I once believed my feet were morphing into SPD's but I don't think we're evolving to be better cyclists. Not in my lifetime anyway.

However riders are getting quicker, race times are dropping, women are riding at the same pace men did 2 years ago. Which shows progression in the sport, cavemen can say they want to go back to their Kona Stinky's with nodding donkey single pivot swing arms and Marzocchi 666's on the front of a 150mm bike because they made riding a bike was more fun. But I see cycling as a sport, and for me the only way to gauge whether I was any good at it was to challenge myself to be better than I was yesterday.

After a while I got ideas bigger than my station, and I wanted to start entering events. I got destroyed because I was riding an Orange 5 SE which was hugely over sized for anything I was ever going to throw at it. But at the time I wasn't good enough to ride a smaller travel bike smoothly, I didn't realise that though I just thought I was **** and trained harder until I was competitive on my 5.

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When I got my first sponsorship and team position I sold my Orange 5 and was supplied an Epic Expert. That year I won the Hampshire Junior Expert XC category. The next year I came second in the Expert XC series, and the year after that I moved to Plymouth and came second in the Elite XC circus. I didn't train harder and the racing didn't get easier, I just bought a bike appropriate for my riding. I kept a few little bits, you might have noticed I had Race Face Atlas bars on my Cannondale and Lap because it's how I felt comfortable. And I always kept very aggressive tires and big grips because it was how I learnt to ride on big bikes.

The reality of it is, if you live anywhere other than Wales or Scotland or for freeride you need less travel and more ability. IMO 140mm can take more than enough abuse for the average Joe, a well setup 120mm bike should do everything you need. Yes it is fun to go out on a killer bike and just ram into **** and do massive air, I agree it's fun.

But I wouldn't dismiss freeride/big travel bikes just because they're not good for what I personally want.

Cycling's all about the bigger picture, following your own lines and doing things your way. Cycling is the first taste of freedom most people get, and for some people it sticks and for others it comes to them later in life. By being an angry little man saying that fashion is ruining cycling and that you'd rather take your trusty old Iron Horse you're just as bad as the hipsters on fixies doing it for lols. Sorry bro, I know it hurts :thumbsup:
 
lol warren. its ok.
your EPIC morreeee than makes up for it! its a classic.

as for the gay comment, its typical of riders of other disciplines call XC gay, its just normal, but we dont mean it.
i spend most of my time riding XC trails to get to where i want anyway!
i totally get XC, and road riding. i rode across the country in 2 days so and came back with legs like ronnie coleman, so i do appreciate it.
 
So after all that insight I guess I should wait to see what Thomson's dropper is like!

I have a Thomson Elite lay back on the Spec, and one of their stems, and they seem light & bombproof. I have Syntace on the Cube, but I've just switched the bars for Nukeproof risers as the Syntace were too narrow, and I now need to get a slightly shorter stem and the new seatpost. Rather than blow £250+ notes on the Rock Shox I'll bide my time until comparisons are out.

I'll dig out a picture of my last bike later, an old Klein on Marzocchi Bombers. God that bike could climb but it was so hard it could give you piles,
 
16Klappe said:
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Is that a multi tool in the steering tube for the fork?

Pretty cool if it is.

I need to get out on my bike more it's sat in my shed feeling sorry for itself for far too long. Not the worlds greatest bike but it does for where I live where there isn't really any hills!
 
superkarl said:
kleins are like the lamborghini miura of the bike world
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I'd agree for the Attitude or the Adroit, but mine was a cheap 'Trek' impostor without funky paint, internal cables or mission control stem/bars. It did have box section to tubular rear stays though!

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ahhh man, i love those marzocchis!

swear i have a set of Z1 bams somewhere, the original ones, from like 1998 or something.
thats when marzocchi made good forks!
 
warren_S3 said:
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I used to get so excited for Syncros gear (if that is a Syncros post?), I spent a small fortune on the titanium version of that seat post many moons ago, but it was about 2 metres long so asked my dad to cut it down, then remember him getting the ache because it broke his pipe cutter.

I'm Kona guy these days, mind you my current bike must be 5 years old now....

Didn't USE design the very first "dropper post" or suspension seat post back in my day...?
 
beanoir said:
Didn't USE design the very first "dropper post" or suspension seat post back in my day...?
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Suspension post I think, yes.

I had the basic £50 USE on my old GT Zaskar LE and the seat clamp snapped on a drop off and I came way too close to having a hideous injury! After that I switched to Syncros, then to Thomson.

A mate in London has a classic Kona Hei Hei and its gorgeous. Triple butted Project Two solid forks. Shows how old we all are! His housemate has a Manitou FS which is also quite tasty.
 
warren_S3 said:
Suspension post I think, yes.

I had the basic £50 USE on my old GT Zaskar LE and the seat clamp snapped on a drop off and I came way too close to having a hideous injury! After that I switched to Syncros, then to Thomson.

A mate in London has a classic Kona Hei Hei and its gorgeous. Triple butted Project Two solid forks. Shows how old we all are! His housemate has a Manitou FS which is also quite tasty.
Click to expand...
as a kid i always wanted a zaskar! i had an outpost trail for my first bike.

classic bikes like that are worth some money now.
a couple of weeks ago in my home town on a nice day i noticed these fellas riding bmxs, turns out they were having a meet at a pub on the sea front, they were classic bmx's like PK rippers. you say you have a bmx background so imagine that brings back some memories. i couldnt believe the conditions they were in, they were immaculate.
i wanted to take a pic but my mrs stopped me because it was 'sad', a friend used to compete on a pk ripper in the 80's so i wanted some pics for him, im gutted i never got any. Bet they were worth a few bob anyway.
 
audi upgrades
I had a PK Ripper, in light blue with white decals, haro kneesaver bars, odessesy 3 piece....man i miss that bike
 
I had a Haro Sport in the 1980's (successor to a Raleigh Super Tuff Burner), then a second hand Air Master in the 1990's. Back in those days I weighed about 4 stone less than I do now so I don't think I'd be able to bunny hop an ant these days! To be honest I was never a great BMX'er as I had a bad fall early on and cracked my head open so the fear gland kicked in early!
 
bmx"s now were talking!
in the 80"s had a mk1 tuff burner (blue with yellow tuffs), mk2 ultra burner and a redline something or other i bought off a mate with a 3 piece racing crank! happy days! :thumbsup:

"edit" i also nearly bought a reconditioned skyway TA off ebay a few years ago until the mrs talked me out of it! gggrrr.
was lovely, white and blue
 
Yes BMX's, my first was a red and yellow Raleigh Burner with 5 spoke Skyway Mags on. Which looked identical to this one

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I've just had a look on eBay and a restored Ultra Burner is going for £600! Why did I not keep mine :eek:(
 
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Greeny233 said:
Yes BMX's, my first was a red and yellow Raleigh Burner with 5 spoke Skyway Mags on. Which looked identical to this one

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I've just had a look on eBay and a restored Ultra Burner is going for £600! Why did I not keep mine :eek:(
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i had a blue one of them! :thumbsup:
and some rat scumbag pinched my ultraburner!
(oh and i disliked by accident! so sorry!)
 
OK, I've been riding bikes in various forms for 15 years, but I have NO idea what a dropper post is?

Mind you, my current bike doesn't even have a saddle!
 
Prawn said:
OK, I've been riding bikes in various forms for 15 years, but I have NO idea what a dropper post is?

Mind you, my current bike doesn't even have a saddle!
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:happy:

url
 
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