Ah, the myriad of mountain bike dropper posts! We’re very spoilt for choice in this field but ultimately they all do the same thing yeah? Well, Yes and no. Read on to find out more on the sweet OneUp Components Dropper Post and remote available from Mountain Bikes Direct!
Item: OneUp Components Dropper Post and remote
Purchased From: Mountain Bikes Direct (Click Here for the product page)
Purchase Price (approx): $264.95 for the post, $64.95 for the remote. Both come in several options for sizing and clamp preference.
Product outline: If you’ve used a dropper post then you know the drill. They turn a good bike into a great bike and make the capability of riding gravity trails more enjoyable by dropping the post and saddle out of the way so you can holler all the way down, flick the remote lever and pedal back up without needing to undo the quick release clamp like we did back in the day. This particular post is what we refer to as a stealth dropper post meaning the cable that actuates the system is connected to the bottom of the post and needs to run inside the seat tube of your frame and come out towards the front of your frame to join the bird nest of cables attached to your handlebars.
Fitting: Fitting is a total breeze. Actually, it’s the easiest stealth dropper post I’ve ever fitted. For this review I’ve got the 31.6mm post with a 150mm drop. There’s a 30.9mm post too and both come in two drop sizes; either 150mm and 170mm. The remote I run is clamped into my SRAM components using the Matchmaker clamp. There’s a few options with the clamp you can choose so jump on Mountain Bikes Direct’s site and suss out your options.
What makes this so easy to fit? The cable ends are better positioned with the ball end of the cable attached to the bottom of the post meaning all you need to do is attached the ball end to the actuator on the base of the post, run your cable housing through your frame, slide the cable into it and set tighten your seat post clamp. You then set the length of the cable at the remote end, mark it so you can double check where you want to cut the outer then just undo the post clamp slide the post up with the cable attached enough so that when you cut the outer to length it doesn’t lop the end off the cable. Make the cut, slide the cable back in, clamp the seat post and slide the cable through the small cable clamp on the remote and pull the cable tight. You have a barrel adjuster to firm the cable feel on the remote so give that a few turns to take any small play out of the lever and double check it all. Be generous with any loop you may need to leave in the cable outer so it isn’t kicking or clamping the cable. Once you’re happy with the layout, cut the cable off at the remote end but leave enough hanging out to give you some extra length for perhaps a future build. Chuck a cable end on and you’re done!
On the trail: OneUp Components are really kicking arse for me the last few years. I totally love the Every Day Carry tool that slides so snug into your steerer tube and the Ever Day Carry Pump that not only gives you a lightweight 100cc pump but offers more storage options for gear you need on the trail. The functionality of that stuff is setting the bar so it’s an obvious choice to give their dropper post a go. The first thing that appeals to me is the price, its relatively cheap compared with other known high end models, it is a simple cable design that is damn easy to fit, it has an amazing option of adjusting the drop height via the available shim system but above all else, the quality of this gear is a big plus for me.
The post has none of that wobble that you get when you hold the saddle and try to move it around. Tick! After giving the thing hell on a hardtail of mine for most of this year, it feels like new. The only adjustment I have had to make is to adjust the clamping of the cable to give the carbon remote a firm feel. You know how I said it makes a good bike into a great bike? That’s a proven gimmick on my setup; a 29er hardtail with 100mm travel forks. Why would you put a dropper on an XC hardtail you ask? Good bike made great, thats why.
There’s two points of contact when riding a bike with a dropper post; the saddle and the remote. The seatpost doesn’t have any bob and doesn’t feel like it’s sagging and nor does the lever. It is a very firm feel and the action of dropping the post is very relative to the remote feel. You push it in slowly and the post will drop slowly or you punch that lever hard and the post is down in a flash. The same goes for the return to full length feel although the raising action is a little slower than some other posts. That isn’t entirely bad though, it gave me confidence that the post is running smooth and accurate.
I’m not a lightweight on a bike and I have felt flex in rigid posts and some keyway movement in other dropper posts. This guy doesn’t have any of that feel and is super rigid in any position you run. The 150mm drop gives me effectively three options; all the way up for pedaling, all the way down for things that are way too steep for an XC bike and roughly two thirds of the way up for “just riding along”. That third position (we’ll refer to it as JRA) is so important to me and finding the right feel in a lever to get the post to stop at that point can be tedious. With the OneUp, it does drop pretty quickly so getting into the JRA position is best done by dropping it lower than the JRA position then creeping it up with a slow push on the lever. Once it’s there you can chew the fat with your pals about that last damn climb!
Pros – Great quality and great finish, super cheap price for a top level dropper post, cool additional functions from an innovative company.
Cons – The remote lever feels a little plastic at first, it may bother some that there isn’t an external cable option, they are selling out everywhere!
Summary: There isn’t a ton you can say about this post that isn’t positive: Its a neat finish, it works so well, it is so easy to fit and has some cool features that come across as new to most dropper post users. A good dropper post will always feel great but when they start to pack it in they feel terrible whereas a mediocre dropper post will feel terrible from the start. Comparatively, the OneUp dropper is priced the same as those mediocre feeling dropper posts but functions as good as the top level posts. The cable affixing to the post end and adjusting the length at the remote end is so neat and so obviously critical that all dropper posts with a cable should follow suit.
The shim needed to fit to change the drop height is sold separately but not entirely necessary if you want a 150mm drop as minimum. Another great point of this post is it is a bit shorter overall meaning it can fit into some frame that have a random curve in the seat tube and only requires 90mm of the seat post to be in the frame. In total, the 150mm version measures 410mm at full length plus the small fitting for the actuator, thats a big bonus if you’re limited to the length of post you can shove in your bike.
All in all, I’m so stoked I have this bolted into one of my bikes. Of all the posts I’ve used, this is easily one of my two favourite posts and I will prefer to buy this to stick in a future build for sure. Do your sums on a new bike or some new parts, put that post in your basket on Mountain Bikes Direct’s online store then spend the next hour finding something else to spend that spare $200 that you saved, thats the most blunt and obvious thing I can say about another awesome product from OneUp Components and as they so effectively say “Work less, Ride more”.
Item: OneUp Components Dropper Post and remote
Purchased From: Mountain Bikes Direct (Click Here for the product page)
Purchase Price (approx): $264.95 for the post, $64.95 for the remote. Both come in several options for sizing and clamp preference.
Product outline: If you’ve used a dropper post then you know the drill. They turn a good bike into a great bike and make the capability of riding gravity trails more enjoyable by dropping the post and saddle out of the way so you can holler all the way down, flick the remote lever and pedal back up without needing to undo the quick release clamp like we did back in the day. This particular post is what we refer to as a stealth dropper post meaning the cable that actuates the system is connected to the bottom of the post and needs to run inside the seat tube of your frame and come out towards the front of your frame to join the bird nest of cables attached to your handlebars.
Fitting: Fitting is a total breeze. Actually, it’s the easiest stealth dropper post I’ve ever fitted. For this review I’ve got the 31.6mm post with a 150mm drop. There’s a 30.9mm post too and both come in two drop sizes; either 150mm and 170mm. The remote I run is clamped into my SRAM components using the Matchmaker clamp. There’s a few options with the clamp you can choose so jump on Mountain Bikes Direct’s site and suss out your options.
What makes this so easy to fit? The cable ends are better positioned with the ball end of the cable attached to the bottom of the post meaning all you need to do is attached the ball end to the actuator on the base of the post, run your cable housing through your frame, slide the cable into it and set tighten your seat post clamp. You then set the length of the cable at the remote end, mark it so you can double check where you want to cut the outer then just undo the post clamp slide the post up with the cable attached enough so that when you cut the outer to length it doesn’t lop the end off the cable. Make the cut, slide the cable back in, clamp the seat post and slide the cable through the small cable clamp on the remote and pull the cable tight. You have a barrel adjuster to firm the cable feel on the remote so give that a few turns to take any small play out of the lever and double check it all. Be generous with any loop you may need to leave in the cable outer so it isn’t kicking or clamping the cable. Once you’re happy with the layout, cut the cable off at the remote end but leave enough hanging out to give you some extra length for perhaps a future build. Chuck a cable end on and you’re done!
On the trail: OneUp Components are really kicking arse for me the last few years. I totally love the Every Day Carry tool that slides so snug into your steerer tube and the Ever Day Carry Pump that not only gives you a lightweight 100cc pump but offers more storage options for gear you need on the trail. The functionality of that stuff is setting the bar so it’s an obvious choice to give their dropper post a go. The first thing that appeals to me is the price, its relatively cheap compared with other known high end models, it is a simple cable design that is damn easy to fit, it has an amazing option of adjusting the drop height via the available shim system but above all else, the quality of this gear is a big plus for me.
The post has none of that wobble that you get when you hold the saddle and try to move it around. Tick! After giving the thing hell on a hardtail of mine for most of this year, it feels like new. The only adjustment I have had to make is to adjust the clamping of the cable to give the carbon remote a firm feel. You know how I said it makes a good bike into a great bike? That’s a proven gimmick on my setup; a 29er hardtail with 100mm travel forks. Why would you put a dropper on an XC hardtail you ask? Good bike made great, thats why.
There’s two points of contact when riding a bike with a dropper post; the saddle and the remote. The seatpost doesn’t have any bob and doesn’t feel like it’s sagging and nor does the lever. It is a very firm feel and the action of dropping the post is very relative to the remote feel. You push it in slowly and the post will drop slowly or you punch that lever hard and the post is down in a flash. The same goes for the return to full length feel although the raising action is a little slower than some other posts. That isn’t entirely bad though, it gave me confidence that the post is running smooth and accurate.
I’m not a lightweight on a bike and I have felt flex in rigid posts and some keyway movement in other dropper posts. This guy doesn’t have any of that feel and is super rigid in any position you run. The 150mm drop gives me effectively three options; all the way up for pedaling, all the way down for things that are way too steep for an XC bike and roughly two thirds of the way up for “just riding along”. That third position (we’ll refer to it as JRA) is so important to me and finding the right feel in a lever to get the post to stop at that point can be tedious. With the OneUp, it does drop pretty quickly so getting into the JRA position is best done by dropping it lower than the JRA position then creeping it up with a slow push on the lever. Once it’s there you can chew the fat with your pals about that last damn climb!
Pros – Great quality and great finish, super cheap price for a top level dropper post, cool additional functions from an innovative company.
Cons – The remote lever feels a little plastic at first, it may bother some that there isn’t an external cable option, they are selling out everywhere!
Summary: There isn’t a ton you can say about this post that isn’t positive: Its a neat finish, it works so well, it is so easy to fit and has some cool features that come across as new to most dropper post users. A good dropper post will always feel great but when they start to pack it in they feel terrible whereas a mediocre dropper post will feel terrible from the start. Comparatively, the OneUp dropper is priced the same as those mediocre feeling dropper posts but functions as good as the top level posts. The cable affixing to the post end and adjusting the length at the remote end is so neat and so obviously critical that all dropper posts with a cable should follow suit.
The shim needed to fit to change the drop height is sold separately but not entirely necessary if you want a 150mm drop as minimum. Another great point of this post is it is a bit shorter overall meaning it can fit into some frame that have a random curve in the seat tube and only requires 90mm of the seat post to be in the frame. In total, the 150mm version measures 410mm at full length plus the small fitting for the actuator, thats a big bonus if you’re limited to the length of post you can shove in your bike.
All in all, I’m so stoked I have this bolted into one of my bikes. Of all the posts I’ve used, this is easily one of my two favourite posts and I will prefer to buy this to stick in a future build for sure. Do your sums on a new bike or some new parts, put that post in your basket on Mountain Bikes Direct’s online store then spend the next hour finding something else to spend that spare $200 that you saved, thats the most blunt and obvious thing I can say about another awesome product from OneUp Components and as they so effectively say “Work less, Ride more”.
Scotch bottle case ftw.
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