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Thomson dropper

Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,067
5,976
borcester rhymes
Is the Thomson dropper the best post on the market? If not, is it still pretty decent? Jenson is running a 20% off special and that knocks the price down to 380. That's pretty competitive with actual retail prices of KS Levs and some others. I've sworn that I won't buy a post until I can buy one through a retailer (they all fail) and whichever one I picked would have minimum chance of failing (not a SRAM Product). It's a lot of cash for a seatpost...is it worth it?
 
HAB

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
Yes. I own a Lev and a Thomson, and have owned a Reverb and a Joplin. The Thomson is hands down the best of the bunch.
 
Dogboy

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,209
584
Durham, NC
I have/have had a Thomson, multiple Reverbs, and a LEV. Good experiences with all 3 and only one warranty issue with the LEV - which KS handled just fine. In my experience the Thomson is a notch above the others. Super smooth, zero play, and a proven clamp head. I too am looking forward to a 150mm version, but the current post is great.
 
xy9ine

xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
i actually prefer the reverb more. owing mostly to the remote - thomson lever is higher effort, doesn't feel as good (to my thumb), and modulation isn't as good (ie, thomson release is more on/off, so it's harder to make small adjustments up). then there's the cable maintenance thing. and the lack of a barrel adjuster to remove slack. and the cable clamp screw is micro (susceptible to stripping). my reverb has been flawless in terms of reliability, so i'm somewhat swayed in that regard (i realize other peoples' experiences have not been the same).

and the fact that the reverb is more than $100 cheaper...
 
HAB

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
Man. I don't agree about anything you said about the Thomson lever. You're entitled to your opinion and all that, but you're wrong. :D

I don't really get what you're saying about cable maintenance either. I haven't done any. Thread the cable through the housing, pull it tight, tighten the set screw, cut the cable and you're done. Never touch it again. Couldn't be easier.
 
Uncle Cliffy

Uncle Cliffy

Turbo Monkey
Jan 28, 2008
4,490
42
Southern Oregon
HAB said:
I don't really get what you're saying about cable maintenance either. I haven't done any. Thread the cable through the housing, pull it tight, tighten the set screw, cut the cable and you're done. Never touch it again. Couldn't be easier.
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I've never owned a Thompson, but when I owned a Gravity Dropper I spent more time adjusting/replacing cables than actually using it. Steered me away from cable posts entirely when the Reverb came out.

Saying that, as a tall person it has to be 150mm. Stealth too. Let me know when Thompson has that...
 
W

wiscodh

Monkey
Jun 21, 2007
833
121
303
xy9ine said:
thomson lever is higher effort, doesn't feel as good (to my thumb), and modulation isn't as good (ie, thomson release is more on/off, so it's harder to make small adjustments up). .
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i agree with this. I dont like the lever of the thompson. I did have my reverb under the bar with a match maker and that was nice.

Mine has a barell adjuster and is stealth.

I do like the zero play side to side of the thompson and it hasn't gotten soft at all like the reverb gets after awhile.
 
HAB

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
Uncle Cliffy said:
I've never owned a Thompson, but when I owned a Gravity Dropper I spent more time adjusting/replacing cables than actually using it. Steered me away from cable posts entirely when the Reverb came out.
Click to expand...
Man, weird. I haven't touched my Thomson in years.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,408
20,199
Sleazattle
Have no personal experience but a buddy of mine has a Thomson. His did not work so well when it is really cold. His eventually broke, but he us a monster that breaks everything.
 
HAB

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
johnbryanpeters said:
The KS LEV on my new bike can't make it through a ride without the seat clamp coming loose. Not sure if it's bedding in, if the design's defective, or I just happened to get a defective unit.
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Their design sucks. The bolts need to be torqued far tighter than is reasonable.
 
big-ted

big-ted

Danced with A, attacked by C, fired by D.
Sep 27, 2005
1,400
47
Vancouver, BC
My Thomson post has been 100% reliable for the 12 months I've owned, ridden & neglected it.

The lever isn't the most ergonomic out there imo, but, being cable operated, one can modify a left hand shifter to operate it. Which I must get around to doing. I guess the stock lever isn't so bad...
 
ZoRo

ZoRo

Turbo Monkey
Sep 28, 2004
1,224
11
MTL
I have one. It ran great for 1year and 1/2 but it went sideways last week. Now it won't come up.

Gonna send it in. Otherwise it's a stellar post but it was supposed to have a 2 year interval before anything go sideways
 
kickstand

kickstand

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2009
3,441
392
Fenton, MI
big-ted said:
That's not saying much imo. The Fox remote is a wonder of engineering how they made it so ungainly, bulky and awkward.
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which is one of the reasons I like the reverb better. I also like that the reverb is infinitely adjustable and the fox only had the 3 positions.

I also like that it is fully hydraulic, rather than cable/housing. I also found that it was a snap to bleed. Never messed with the fox as it came on a used bike and was already installed.

So sure, it's not saying a lot, but there's a few reasons I liked it better.

I haven't had the chance to fondle the thomson
 
djjohnr

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,013
1,705
Northern California
I've had my Fox for 2 years now and haven't had any cable issues (or any other problems). The lever is actually awesome if you run it under the bar (ie 1x). I wish it was 150mm though.
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,067
5,976
borcester rhymes
xy9ine said:
i actually prefer the reverb more. owing mostly to the remote - thomson lever is higher effort, doesn't feel as good (to my thumb), and modulation isn't as good (ie, thomson release is more on/off, so it's harder to make small adjustments up). then there's the cable maintenance thing. and the lack of a barrel adjuster to remove slack. and the cable clamp screw is micro (susceptible to stripping). my reverb has been flawless in terms of reliability, so i'm somewhat swayed in that regard (i realize other peoples' experiences have not been the same).

and the fact that the reverb is more than $100 cheaper...
Click to expand...
I can understand all of that, and I don't doubt it for a second, but it's SRAM hydraulics...there's like a 50% chance you're going to get a factory dud. They recalled ALL of their road brakes. A significant portion of Pikes were duds. I've had three fork failures by my own hands from their products. And they made Elixirs. If you get a good one, it probably is going to work pretty well. If you didn't, then ????
 
kickstand

kickstand

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2009
3,441
392
Fenton, MI
Sandwich said:
I can understand all of that, and I don't doubt it for a second, but it's SRAM hydraulics...there's like a 50% chance you're going to get a factory dud. They recalled ALL of their road brakes. A significant portion of Pikes were duds. I've had three fork failures by my own hands from their products. And they made Elixirs. If you get a good one, it probably is going to work pretty well. If you didn't, then ????
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weird, I have only owned 4 pairs of elixir's, they all worked flawlessly.
2 pairs of Code R's, again flawless (and I like them better than my currently unpredictable and inconsistent Shimano Zee's)
juicy 3's, working just fine on my daughter's bike.
Juicy 5's, one seized piston, flawless after a rebuild.
Codes on my son's DH, work great after I took the time to put a good bleed on them that the previous owner was incapable of.
Currently own a pike, it's my first rock shox fork, seems to be working just fine so far.
Currently own a reverb, bled it after cutting the hose down, no problems yet.
Wife is currently running Guide RSC's on her DH bike and they are one of the best feeling brakes I have ever used.

I still don't understand all the hate on sram products. Outside of dealing with DOT fluid during bleeds, I've had barely any problems at all.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,883
24,467
media blackout
kickstand said:
weird, I have only owned 4 pairs of elixir's, they all worked flawlessly.
2 pairs of Code R's, again flawless (and I like them better than my currently unpredictable and inconsistent Shimano Zee's)
juicy 3's, working just fine on my daughter's bike.
Juicy 5's, one seized piston, flawless after a rebuild.
Codes on my son's DH, work great after I took the time to put a good bleed on them that the previous owner was incapable of.
Currently own a pike, it's my first rock shox fork, seems to be working just fine so far.
Currently own a reverb, bled it after cutting the hose down, no problems yet.
Wife is currently running Guide RSC's on her DH bike and they are one of the best feeling brakes I have ever used.

I still don't understand all the hate on sram products. Outside of dealing with DOT fluid during bleeds, I've had barely any problems at all.
Click to expand...

then you're like me having good luck with crank bros products. total anomaly.
 
vinny4130

vinny4130

Monkey
Jun 11, 2007
454
215
albuquerque
The 2nd gen giant post is great! It has a very easy cartridge to replace if anything goes wrong, it can be external or stealth, and it's pretty solid for the money. It only comes in one diameter so that could be a bummer for some. That being said the Thompson is the nicest functioning and smoothest opperating dropper on the market and I have not seen a problem with them yet. Also the cable stash in the trigger is genius. I also think that this will help some people that have a lever like the Thompson http://www.lindarets.com/remount22/
 
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