Don't forget the original, if it failed, would fail in the extended position on purpose. The cartridge ones will sink down and likely not leave enough exposed seatpost to pedal in the saddle.
This is what's wrong with The Industry™
- Thread starter Electric_City
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isn’t the lightweight fox one also fully mechanical?
All of us who have droppers on the fat bike love them. No more awkward crap trying to get off or back on your bike when you fall off the packed trail.
And easier bailing, because as I'm sure you know, sometimes you just hit a patch of soft snow or the bike just decides to slide away. Way easier to ditch the bike when the seat isn't up your ass.
Is Gravity Dropper still in business? I still have a Turbo LP with 1" and 4" of drop on my classic hardtail. Very agricultural-level tech, but nothing that can go wrong with it. Just a coil spring in two sliding tubes and a cable-actuated dowel pin.
The remote is super flimsy, the stanchion boot is from another era and there is no seal...but apart from that I think it's a great design if you're looking for absolute reliability in cold weather. With a seal and without the ugly boot it would be excellent for fatbikes IMO.
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yes, but max travel 100mm, and is only two position: full up or full down (regardless of travel)
Yeah, I love being able to lower partially and still have some pedaling/saddle support, especially on downhill-but-not-crazy-steep, vs. all the way for bigger steeper descents.
I have BikeYokes on both my MTBs. Got them several years ago and they're still running flawlessly. I'd like more drop on my Mega at some stage but its not something I'd change until I had a better reason to.
i have zero complaints about my gen1 oneup other than a small bit of lateral play at the head. maybe 4 years on it?
this. i've got three in use, no issues with any. all the same size, picked up two spare cartridges and two basic rebuild/service kits two years ago with some pandemic suplly chain panic buying. am good for droppers for a while! bonus is they still support with spare parts.
caveat: got to pay attention to cable/housing routing a bit on initial setup, but otherwise have been flawless. a basic service once a year is all.
THIS is what's wrong with the industry. Trying to push a new way to call our bikes!
www.singletracks.com
EDIT: Luckily, it seems most of the people in the comments got it right.
What Should Riders Call Non-Electric Bikes? [Survey]
Words are weird, and it seems like the lingo mountain bikers use is in constant flux.
www.singletracks.com
EDIT: Luckily, it seems most of the people in the comments got it right.
After a few years of the industry pushing e-bike, enduro, grvl, downcountry and whatever other genre specific products, we'll soon see omg regular bike targeted products.THIS is what's wrong with the industry. Trying to push a new way to call our bikes!
What Should Riders Call Non-Electric Bikes? [Survey]
Words are weird, and it seems like the lingo mountain bikers use is in constant flux.
EDIT: Luckily, it seems most of the people in the comments got it right.
Chain lube........rated specifically for your all mountain acoustic country bike!
In my riding group and customers the Bike Yoke and One Up have been the most reliable. Lots of failed PNW, Fox and Reverbs. But riding temperatures never got below the 20s.
Could you use a thinner liquid, like gasoline?
The air spring is so small in droppers that the temp makes it a problem. At 10° you need a coil. Maybe we can market a dropper warmer lol. Since it's not used enough to heat up.
For you guys that ride in artic weather. Have you thought of nitrogen in your dropper? You only loose 1psi per 10° difference.
I would hope that non-serviceable spring droppers are already nitrogen. The ones that are servicable would be a PITA to get nitrogen into, coming up with the right warm-PSI and taking it to a place to do it. All too often, it's the grease that really screws us over. It becomes like glue at cold temps. Some hubs don't work for crap because of the stock grease in the bearings. Had a guy with a DT that wouldn't engage on the Iditarod for this reason, he was able to clean it out, but some of us had already changed out our BB, hub and ratchet grease. You usually don't need to go *that* far riding in the cold, as far as changing out grease, but below 0F everything really starts to slow down with the resistance and the thickening grease isn't helping. The air droppers still work...they just return slow. That's fine by me as long as they still work. It's when the seals bypass air/oil into the cart or the actuator seizes. Those are the real problems IME.
KS and Brand-X.
My first KS (950r from 2010) was perfect for 3.5 years. Then it returned up except for the last 10mm. $100 later and it lasted another 4 years and I sold it.
My KS Integra is still working fine @6 years old. It was expensive ($350ish maybe +/-?). It sticks down the first time I use it in the parking lot and then works flawlessly. But from the first day I used it, it seems to have some scratches on the stanchion that are too perfect to be from a wreck or something.
The Brand-X was purchased to be a disposable one that was going on my hardtail. 4 years old now. I purchased it for $100 from CRC. Flawless, smoother than the KS, no scratches and no stiction.
The BX is now my choice. They're inexpensive and work perfect. The remote is supposedly a POS, but I'm using a Bontrager lever in place of the oem.
My first KS (950r from 2010) was perfect for 3.5 years. Then it returned up except for the last 10mm. $100 later and it lasted another 4 years and I sold it.
My KS Integra is still working fine @6 years old. It was expensive ($350ish maybe +/-?). It sticks down the first time I use it in the parking lot and then works flawlessly. But from the first day I used it, it seems to have some scratches on the stanchion that are too perfect to be from a wreck or something.
The Brand-X was purchased to be a disposable one that was going on my hardtail. 4 years old now. I purchased it for $100 from CRC. Flawless, smoother than the KS, no scratches and no stiction.
The BX is now my choice. They're inexpensive and work perfect. The remote is supposedly a POS, but I'm using a Bontrager lever in place of the oem.
Those are the Win-tec cartridges, right? Literally only lasted 1 month the last time for me?
I've used a KS Eten for 3 years, more recently a Brand-X for 3-4 years without a single issue, and on my fat bike I've been running a Tranz-X (same Wintec cartridge) that's been working well for the last 2 years down to -18-20C. It's slower when it's really cold, but it works and I'm fine with that when I'm riding my fat bike (only in the winter). The TranzX lever is fine but the Brand X felt really cheap.
The OneUp V2 on my main bike works well except for the small lateral play, but it doesn't bother me much. They've sent me the bigger pins free of charge and I used the next biggest from stock, but I might need to use the biggest ones.
Honestly, the cheap ones from Brand-X, Tranz-X etc. seem like the most reliable and they're cheap. That would have to go to the "what's right" forum though!
The OneUp V2 on my main bike works well except for the small lateral play, but it doesn't bother me much. They've sent me the bigger pins free of charge and I used the next biggest from stock, but I might need to use the biggest ones.
Honestly, the cheap ones from Brand-X, Tranz-X etc. seem like the most reliable and they're cheap. That would have to go to the "what's right" forum though!
KS Lev - would stick randomly
Fox Doss - super reliable
Easton Haven - would randomly go up mid decent
Fox Transfer - kind of temperamental, sensitive to collar bolt torque
One Up V1 - would constantly stick no matter how often I rebuilt it
SDG - 1 season with no issues so far
PNW Loam - 1 season with no issues so far
Fox Doss - super reliable
Easton Haven - would randomly go up mid decent
Fox Transfer - kind of temperamental, sensitive to collar bolt torque
One Up V1 - would constantly stick no matter how often I rebuilt it
SDG - 1 season with no issues so far
PNW Loam - 1 season with no issues so far
I'm on my second sencond-hand Reverb. I serviced the previous A1 before selling it, and now, after three years under my butt, it's time to service the B1 Stealth (it sags maybe 1cm at full extension). I'm knocking on wood, but count me among those rare Reverb owners who haven't had any major issues.
I've ridden a long time on Reverbs. They always had a little vertical play, until i started using the SKF Ifp. Seen a lot fail because of poor lubrication and peeling teflon bushings (shit design).
Then went for one up v1, super smooth, but broke the (plastic) lever with my knee. They sent me a new one in a week. After 2 years the post was sticking, couldn't find a service kit that was available at the time. They sent me one for free, new bushing, problems in the past....
I've also seen quite a lot of brand-x/tranzx droppers with friends, and they've been extremely reliable.
Next one will still be One-Up though, mostly because of the clean no-bullshit design and the great service.
Then went for one up v1, super smooth, but broke the (plastic) lever with my knee. They sent me a new one in a week. After 2 years the post was sticking, couldn't find a service kit that was available at the time. They sent me one for free, new bushing, problems in the past....
I've also seen quite a lot of brand-x/tranzx droppers with friends, and they've been extremely reliable.
Next one will still be One-Up though, mostly because of the clean no-bullshit design and the great service.
Apart from the low-temperature (lack of) performance, I have been served relatively well with my Reverbs.
- OG one from 2012 (I think) is still working perfectly fine. Been serviced 3X in 10 years
- More recent one from 2018 performs well, but it's better to rebleed it every 12 months or so. Otherwise, it slows down to the point where it will stop working.
- The one on my GF bike is still very recent, but it working perfectly fine.
I opted for the OneUp V2 for the Honzo ESD I am currently building. The price was right and I can fit the 180mm model on this frame.
- OG one from 2012 (I think) is still working perfectly fine. Been serviced 3X in 10 years
- More recent one from 2018 performs well, but it's better to rebleed it every 12 months or so. Otherwise, it slows down to the point where it will stop working.
- The one on my GF bike is still very recent, but it working perfectly fine.
I opted for the OneUp V2 for the Honzo ESD I am currently building. The price was right and I can fit the 180mm model on this frame.
I have first production run, first generation Reverb that finally died a year (2?) ago.
Never a problem with it, hell I even ripped the hose out of it once in a crash.
Really should pull it out of the box and get it rebuilt.
Never a problem with it, hell I even ripped the hose out of it once in a crash.
Really should pull it out of the box and get it rebuilt.
Yo Jm what greases you running?
Ks post owners
How often are you cleaning them out and regreasing?
How often are you cleaning them out and regreasing?
For? Low temp hub/bb grease? Molykote low temp.
I've had a few KS Lev's in our fleet, all gone now though. I'd maybe add some fresh slick honey under the collar every season. Every few years I'd swap the bushing, bearing and brass pins. I think I killed the cartridge in them once or twice.
How much caustic ass sweat are you dripping in to that thing??That's what my LEV looked like after 3 years...
All of it.
3 years all year round riding. It's still running strong after a complete rebuild on my third bike.
What's that?
JK, I only do the slick honey under the collar when I feel like there's stiction.
That said, one thing that I noticed that makes me like the Brand-X more is that when I want it, it's there. Sometimes I'll go to lower the KS and even with my weight on it, it doesn't react immediately. It's like I need to get up and kinda force back on to it to initiate it. It's not frequent or bothersome really. But it is noticeable and a hindrance when it happens.
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What kind of riding do you do at 10F that needs a dropper? Aren't most places pretty covered in snow by that point? I kinda get bundling up on my road bike just to feel tires rolling when it's in the 30's, but past that it just seems like kind of a bummer. 10f sounds gnarly. Fatbiking?