Comments on: Gravity Dropper Turbo Seatpost Review

By: mtbgreg1

mtbgreg1 — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 02:45:16 +0000

Thanks alskoj!

By: alskoj

alskoj — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 00:50:10 +0000

I’m always stopping on the trails here in Colorado to lower/raise my seat. A seat dropper is on my wishlist and this review was thorough and informative and a great resource. mtbgreg1 is to be commended for his review!

By: femerling

femerling — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 21:54:12 +0000

i purchased one a few years ago and it died on me- wouldn’t go up-after a short season. replaced it with one with a longer drop and it, after only a few rides, died. had it rebuilt and i’m waiting to see if it dies..if it does, i’m trying another brand because it’s really worth the price

By: limetownjack

limetownjack — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 14:23:07 +0000

aw man, you had me untill i saw the price!

By: Stamps

Stamps — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 09:42:36 +0000

Hans Rey stated that the dropper seat post was the most significant advancement in mtb technology in the past decade.

I tried one on my now retired SC BlurLT, almost 2 years ago. Fast forward to today….I’ve got Rockshox Reverb’s on all three of my rides: An intense SS, a Heckler, and my Tallboy. Are the posts expensive?….yes. Does it make riding more fun?…Hell Yeah!

For anyone who rides a quality 4-6 inch travel bike, this is THE upgrade you should make. You wont ever want to go back.

By: mtbgreg1

mtbgreg1 — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:18:33 +0000

Yeah it does… Especially compared to the free seat post that comes with every bike.

By: Jared13

Jared13 — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 04:44:07 +0000

A dropper post is one of my next upgrades, probably some time next spring. Like Bubblehead said, it takes quite a few nickels and dimes.

By: Bubblehead10MM

Bubblehead10MM — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 03:06:47 +0000

WANT! Dropper in general, This one maybe. Of course this is the kind of thing that requires a pile of saved up nickles and dimes.

By: lorin

lorin — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:13:51 +0000

I have the older Gravity Dropper model and a KS 950i. I have switched the GD around from bike to bike using a shim and it worked great.

The Gravity Dropper works great but I don’t really like the either up or down position. I like the infinite option of the KS. I love my KS it doesn’t have the usual complaints that the other hydraulic seat posts. They may cost a bit more but as usual with mountain bike products you get what you pay for and not to mention the great customer service of KS’s US representatives.

By: dozzerboy

dozzerboy — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:27:08 +0000

@dgaddis But that Thompson name means it will be heavy!!

By: mtbgreg1

mtbgreg1 — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 18:10:37 +0000

Jeff, I’ve had the routing problem you mentioned with a Joplin, but never with the gravity dropper. With the Joplin the cable runs up under the seat but with the gravity dropper it runs into a fixed position at the base of the post, so the cable and housing do not move. Also, the cable and housing are shipped connected from the post to the lever…. It’s all shipped as one unit.

As far as running a shim, I haves used the exact same post with the exact same shim on my airborne goblin for months–many times the amount of time I used it on the jamis–and I have had zero issues with it on that bike, and I am still running it on there.

By: dgaddis

dgaddis — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 16:30:12 +0000

Thomson is working on a dropper post. It will rule…whenever it comes out, likely in a few years.

By: jeff

jeff — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:39:35 +0000

Well, you convinced me. I need a dropper post!

It looks like the Turbo is offered in two diameter sizes (27.2 and 30.9) and for other seat tube diameters you need a shim. Based on your experience with the shim and a cracked seat tube, would you be nervous about running the Turbo with a shim on another bike?

Regarding the cable routing: I had an issue with a rental bike running the Specialized Command dropper post. Basically the cable routing was stretched a little too much (probably because I ride a big bike) which pulled the cable and dropped my post every time I hit a bump. I guess the good news is the cable + housing is easy to replace and to customize to fit your rig.

I wasn’t very familiar with Gravity Dropper before your post and it’s interesting to see how it stacks up against the more familiar (to me anyway) Joplin. Pricewise they’re close but the Gravity Dropper is lighter weight (I didn’t see the hydraulic Joplin listed on CrankBrothers’ website). Unlike the Gravity Dropper, the Joplin is offered in a 31.6mm version (but no 27.2).

By: skibum

skibum — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:34:29 +0000

Great writeup as usual.

I originally thought seat droppers were another not-worth-the-money-or-effort convenience until I demoed a bike with one. It didn’t take me long to get one thereafter. Highly recommended, especially for folks who ride a lot of technical terrain.

One little problem–after a couple years, my first generation 3″Gravity Dropper sometime needs a little help getting back up. Still well worth it though.