Impressively tall folks want more drop because they have long legs. Vertically challenged folks want more drop because they have short legs. Thus, it falls to those of us who neither tower nor toddle to discuss some optimum dropper length that’s not the minimum available for purchase or the maximum that fits in our bikes.
I’ve been trying to write something on this subject for ages. But my thoughts are always blunted by a blend of appreciating that everyone has the ability to work out their preferences for themselves, and longer-is-better is the prevailing attitude of the day. Even with the same treatment as a couple of NSMB.com pieces that I wrote about handlebar width – Close Your Eyes & Cut Your Bars and Handlebar Width & Staying Gracious – I’ve never managed to hit on something I’m happy with.
Consider this then a bit of a thought dump brought on by the fact that I’ve taken apart two, very nice, dropper posts this week to reduce their travel. Both are beautiful examples of the premium end of the product spectrum, one being the Manitou Jack/BikeYoke Revive and the other being a new product that we can talk more about on and after October 11th (look for a teardown and first impressions on NSMB).
With both posts being of the infinite travel adjust variety I’ve been playing around quite a bit with setting different dropper heights and riding them. On fast & pumpy terrain, on slow & steep janky terrain, and you get the picture. The first half of my goal was to find my optimum dropped position where my seat never feels too high to attack a trail confidently but where I can also make effective use of it in steering and landmarking.
While infinite travel adjustment always sounds awesome, I’ll admit two of my favourite dropper post experiences on the trail have been the original Fox DOSS and e13 TRS+ both of which had three usable positions. Even then, I only ever used two. All the way up, and all the way down. This experiment aside, I generally treat my infinite adjust posts the same way. Sure, sometimes on technical climbs the old “an inch, or two, for fun” but slam-it-and-stand works just as well for me. The second half of my goal was to then limited the dropper posts I’m using to the desired max drop such that I can just slam them and ride.
On the Manitou Jack that meant disassembling the post partially to add two 1cm travel clips, to take the post from 185mm travel to 175mm travel. A job which I’ll note I managed to accomplish without spilling more than a drop of oil from the cartridge. On the mystery post that meant disassembling the post partially to add three 5mm travel clips, to take the post from 200mm travel to 185mm travel, then three more to hit 170mm. A job that I think I could accomplish next time without spilling more than a drop of oil from the cartridge (maybe).
Yes, there are easier travel adjust systems with OneUp’s being one of the simplest – I’ve also lowered my 180mm OneUp to 170mm – but even with these posts being more involved it isn’t like it’s a change anyone is making on the daily. There are strong arguments for the premium-level smoothness, serviceability, etc. for those with the cheese.
Anyway, if you drop your post all the way and your saddle is so low that you can bang your knees together, and you’re keen to experiment, then set it a bit higher, and a bit higher after that and you might find, like I’ve found, that your post has 1cm, 2cm, 3cm, or maybe even more drop than what’s actually optimum for how, what, and where you ride.
Just a quick shout out to Essential Cycles, the outfit where I turn wrenches part-time, for providing the shop supplies – Blue Towel, Slickoleum, ISO, and WT-G aren’t free.
If you are interested in a more in-depth look at the Manitou Jack (BikeYoke Revive) post -including more of the guts thanks to a teardown with my friend Pope Jimmy at SuspensionWerx – please check out my first look on NSMB.com.