Gen 2 PNW Loam Dropper: Teardown / First Impressions

My internal hard disc has been full for years, with new information constantly overwriting old information, and all that. But in this case, I realized in fairly short order that the first PNW dropper post I reviewed, in 2019, was called the Bachelor. As in, Mt. Bachelor. It was only the sweet cartridge-bearing-pivot dropper lever that bore the ‘Loam’ moniker. 

The point here is simply that, rather than an example of earlyish onset memory loss, the title Loam, Loam, & the Range falls under claims of artistic license. Somehow Loam, Bachelor, & the Range sounds like a Hallmark movie about a single mountain biker about to find themselves in a predictably scripted love triangle in Calgary or Colorado. 

Yeah, so. PNW Components, the company, is ten years old this year. They’ve been making really good dropper posts for a long time, with a goal of zero failures and some pretty legendary after-sales support in the odd moments when things do go soft or sideways. Today, we’re looking at the new Gen 2 Loam Dropper Post. I’m going to bullet the pertinent details before we move on:

• Available in Silver & Black.
• New dropped saddle clamps for a shorter effective length.
• New seal head for a shorter actual length.
• New super-smooth dual-chamber aluminum-bodied cartridge.
• 125mm, 150mm, 175mm, 200mm, and 225mm lengths.
• 25mm of so, so, easy tool-free travel adjust in 5mm increments.
• 6x anti-rotation keys (4x brass / 2x Teflon) – up from 3x brass in Gen.1.
• 34.9 posts use a larger (stiffer) shaft (29mm) than 30.9/31.6 posts (26mm). 
• 8x colours of rubber accent rings for the seal head (AKA midcap).

The Gen 2 Loam post is PNW’s more premium option, and in addition to the notably shorter effective stack height, it’s lighter weight and significantly smoother than the smooth-enough 200mm {fixed travel} PNW Range dropper that I’ve been riding. 

Both benefit from PNW’s excellent warranty support, but where the Range is available, in a bundle with an excellent remote, for US$199 {US$159 for the post alone}, the Loam droppers on their own, sans remote, are running US$229 for black and US$234 for silver. 

The various mid-band cap colours are US$5 a pop. Collect them all and accessorize for your ride depending on your mood?

I’m already working on running the budget-friendliest PNW Range through its paces, so the long-long-term review of the fresh Loam is going to fall to The Clairebarian. It’s a 150mm post that’s currently set at 130mm, so she has plenty of room to grow.

While PNW has significantly shortened its effective stack height, above the seat collar, there is still quite a lot of iceberg under the ocean. In the game of millimeters, I can imagine that the next generation posts will use a shorter actuator. Folks with desperately short seat tubes and maximal drop desires will still likely look to the Wolf Tooth Resolve or OneUp V3, but that said, PNW shortened the effective stack on this latest Loam post by between “one gummy bear and three Oreos, depending on post size.” 

For Claire’s super-short seat tube, this means that we can’t fully bottom the seal head on the seat collar without redrilling the exit for the dropper post cable. I’m merely mentioning this because it’s the case. She’s still pulling 1cm more drop than she was before, and she’s a ten-year-old with 130mm of adjustable bike-body separation at the saddle. Life is good with the Loam dropper. 

For exactly five seconds, I did wonder if a lower profile saddle might buy us another 5mm or even 10mm, but to what end? She loves the Chromag Overture, so why mess? 

Going deeper. PNW has the same assembly issue as every single other dropper post and suspension company. The average customer. Put too much Slickoleum* on the seals, and customers think that any excess purging means that their new squishy-bits are leaking. Not enough, and fresh products feel tired right out of the box. 

I will say that with this Loam dropper, PNW has approached the magical balance of BikeYoke, Wolf Tooth, and the Fox Transfer. No excess assembly grease, but also smooth action from the first push. It’s excellent.

That said, as with every post with an easily accessible seal head assembly, it takes a couple of minutes, max, to add a bit of Slickoleum under the hood, and it absolutely makes the action smoother. Just wipe away any excess after the first ride. 

For science, I made Claire ride the Loam stock out of the box, and, despite the cartridge pressure not being adjustable and her being a lightweight, the post went down smoothly with minimal effort. Adding some Slickoleum after the fact made the post a bit smoother, yes, but I wouldn’t say that it’s necessary, even for a grom ripper. 

*{Or whatever name is on their version of Arlo Englund’s secret sauce.} 

If you’re looking at the photos and thinking, Mandrew, Drew-Bob, old buddy, this is not a proper teardown. Well, I acknowledge your truth. I wanted to see the new two-chamber sealed air cartridge, and I had to travel-adjust the post for The Clairebarian, but I did not separate the shaft from the body and take a picture of the new key way assembly. Sorry. 

When we update this review, with some thoughts written by Claire, after a bunch of hours of riding, I will also be taking the post apart again to check out how the silver bits are holding up, so we’ll have a bunch more teardown photos then. 

On that note, the answer to ‘Why silver?’ is customer demand. The answer to ‘Why not silver?’ has always been issues with creating a sufficiently durable hard anodized finish. If you don’t care about the colour of your dropper post, black anodized is the sure bet. 

PNW is backing their silver posts up with the same warranty, so clearly they’re confident that they have the finish dialed after doing a previous small batch run of LTD silver posts. 

[Aside]

I like PNW’s Loam Lever, and the polished LTD version is très chic. But, as I discussed in last week’s SBTISAOAF, the lever sits farther away, lower, from Claire’s grip than she’s used to. The action is awesome, but in the game of millimeters, there’s a question of whether she’ll adapt to it or maintain her current preference. 

I’ve since corresponded with a few folks who’ve tried multiple options and love the Loam Lever, all with medium or larger gloves, and folks who’ve tried multiple options and love the OneUp V3 that Claire runs. All with medium or smaller gloves. Pseudo-scientific at best, I know, but food for thought, and it does explain my preference between two excellent dropper remotes. 

Once Claire has a few rides on the PNW, instead of going straight back to the OneUp we’ll try a few other remotes. The BikeYoke Triggy, my beloved, classic, Fox DOSS, the 9Point8 Digit 2.0, the Wolf Tooth Remote, and see where it goes. 

It’s going to matter more with very small hands and very large hands, but it’s a good reminder that these different premium dropper post remotes, outside their adjustments, have different positions and paths. For most of us, the Loam Lever is a great option, with most dropper posts PNW and otherwise, but it could be a great idea to put your thumb on a few options before pushing the trigger. 

[/Aside]

Going back to said polished silver post customer demand, a lot of folks may be inclined to blame or credit the Radavist’s John Watson for this aesthetic option. Not us. Our friend, and sometimes Radavist contributor, Tay, has been pushing the silver-dropper dream since the only uppy-downy post worth owning was the Gravity Dropper. This moment has been a long time coming.  

I only bring this up because when we found out that PNW had sent along a polished post, I had to tell Tay about it ASAP. You know, super mature, adult, respectful correspondence with an esteemed colleague whose writings I enjoy and whose unique take on bicycles I respect. Something like, “Neener, neener, Claire’s bike has a silver dropper post and yours doesn’t!“

Speaking of maturity, at this point, especially with zero-failure-focused brands like PNW, the dropper post is an established product. It needs to smoothly* go up and down, not wiggle more than a hair of two from side to side, and last neglected for hundreds of hours of riding. I have every confidence that this Loam dropper will function fantastically. 

What’s harder to comment on until one starts amortizing their life is whether the Range or Loam dropper presents a better value. Buying a post for The Clairebarian, the answer is simple: the Loam Gen.2 all the way. 

Decreased stack height for a shorter rider, improved smoothness for a lighter rider, and travel adjustment for a rider who is still growing. 

*{Or in the case of the budget-friendliest posts, like the Range, smoothly enough.}

The Range post I’m riding is essentially that same old Bachelor chassis from 2019 with a simple all-steel cartridge installed. An excellent example of trickle-down and simplification. With some Slickoleum under the seal head, it’s plenty smooth for my well-over-double-Claire weight. Noticeably less smooth than the Revive, Resolve, or this new Loam, but mountain bicycling on a budget, it’s smooth enough that it could make sense to pick up a Range and invest the difference elsewhere. 

I say could because on certain bikes I would get more travel, or be able to take advantage of the travel adjust, with the Loam post, thanks to the dropped clamps and shorter seal head. For example, I’m a hair away from the 200mm Range dropper being too tall for my legs and Will’s Chromag Arcturian. Comparing black-to-black, it’s US$70 extra for the Loam dropper amortized over some years, so I could certainly upsell myself. 

We’re in an interesting time with a lot of bicycle components where there seems to be a rift between the ultra-expensive battery-powered models, like the AXS Reverb, and truly budget-focused products like the PNW Range dropper. I’ve brought it up a few times in reference to super-premium, fully rebuildable, cable-actuated posts, the BikeYoke Revive and WTC Resolve. Is there still going to be a market for these superlative cable options when it seems like everyone seeking a trophy product wants it to be wireless? 

So far, suspension has escaped this siren’s call, but based on what’s happening with derailleurs and droppers, if I were Push, Vorsprung, EXT, CaneCreek, etc. I’d certainly be investigating ways to compete with Flight Attendant and Fox Live Valve. 

In this sense, I think that PNW’s Loam post still sits on the budget-friendly side of the breach. A smoother cartridge and seal, a more high-end finish, new drop clamps that will undoubtedly trickle down, but still plug and play for significantly fewer dollars than the top-end cable or battery-actuated options. 

Proven tech, excellent action, with some updated features and improved packaging, backed up by a decade of awesome customer support. Early days, yes, so we’ll be back again, and again after that, with a long-term review series. 

For more information, check out PNW Components.

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