Pinkbike Poll: What's Your Ideal Amount of Dropper Post Travel?
Is 210 the new 150? Modern dropper posts are longer than ever.
Four years ago, we were just starting to see bikes show up spec'd with *gasp* 150mm dropper posts. That seemed like plenty of drop for most riders, and at the time the vast majority of participants in a similar poll to this one thought the same thing.
Fast forward to 2020, and 150mm of drop seems to have become the bare minimum, while 170 and 200mm dropper posts have become much more common on larger frame sizes. Seat tube lengths have gotten shorter and shorter, and many companies have modified their frame designs to provide room for fitting a longer post without running into a pivot or kink in the seat tube.
Santa Cruz were early adopters of the shorter seat tube / longer travel dropper post movement.
On the new Transition Sentinel, a size medium gets a 180mm post, while large and XL models get 210mm of drop.
What's the reason for this increase in average dropper post length? Did everyone's legs suddenly grow six inches longer? Nope, there wasn't a global growth spurt – it's modern geometry that's the culprit, specifically steeper seat tube angles.
With those steeper seat angles, there's not as much change in the position of the seat in relation to a rider's body between full extension and full compression. The seat now travels in a more vertical path, compared to the more diagonal route it would have followed with a slacker seat angle. Hence, more drop is needed to get the seat fully out of the way for descending.
Different bikes and different riders, but a similar saddle position for descending.
Is it possible to have too much drop? Of course, but it would take a seriously long dropper post to reach that point. As it is, many modern droppers have adjustable travel, which allows them to be fine tuned so that the fully compressed position puts the seat exactly where a rider wants. In most cases, that's a couple inches above the kneecap when the pedals are in the 3 and 9 o'clock positions – take a look at photos from World Cup DH or EWS races and you'll see the the similarities in seat heights and descending position.
How much longer will dropper posts get? That's a good question, and one that doesn't have a totally clear answer. We are seeing more and more bikes with 34.9mm seat tube diameters, which allows for posts with more robust internals, and there's no doubt that 200mm dropper posts will become increasingly common over the next couple of years. I could be wrong, but I doubt we'll see posts longer than 250mm any time soon. After all, seat angles can only get so steep, and it's not necessary to have a seat positioned at ankle height to get down a gnarly run. We'll see.
For now, vote below for your ideal dropper post length.
Author Info:
Member since Feb 1, 2009
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
That said, life is not binary. What's right for me is not necesarily right for someone else. I'm not hating on anyone who likes a different drop than me. Celebrate diversity.
I would not need it 95% of the time though, 125mm would do.
I still have a 150 on a hardtail, and don't generally miss the extra travel.
At some point, if posts keep getting longer, it seems like stanchions are going to have to get bigger, and seat tubes with them.
@Snfoilhat - when you say "slightly", what do you figure would be a good angle if in a nose-down position?
Now I already have my saddle tilted up and I rarely rest my chest on it for descending (as it is so low that I'd already be touching the rear wheel before I'd touch the saddle). But yeah, I'd say a convex saddle may be a good idea for many people.
Only frame frame are new, bought at end of the year discount because not many people ride size small, all other parts are carry over from previous build.
I just wanted to give info on the bike frame and size because my height doesn't match a 200mM dropper, but on a size small frame from SC it works.
So heres my answer: exactly the right amount of travel to put me in comfortable climbing and descending positions..
Nerd alert...
For my 150 dropper...between having a bike with a 74deg STA and a bike with a 77deg STA . At full drop, the seat will be 7mm farther forward and 2mm lower with the 77deg.
I fail to see how having the seat farther forward and lower makes it worse and necessitating the development of the longer dropper..
It's not really worth talking about 74 vs 77 or 73 vs 80 because the actual STA, the forward offset of the tube in front of the bb, and the position you end up putting the seat on the rails all makes a difference. The one thing that matters is that if the seat is further forward when it's dropped, the wide part of the seat is more in the way of your legs.
If we kept the actual seat tube angle really steep (like Pole) then we'd have less of a problem.
Ok still 7mm... isn't a whole lot.
No? Hmm. So maybe there’s an in between length that is ideal. What do you think that length of drop is for you?
This doesn't make sense. As the seat tube gets steeper, more of the post's drop becomes vertical. So a 150 dropper at 80 degrees moves further vertically downward than the same 150mm at 65 degrees when measured only on the vertical. So by the "steeper seat tube" logic, we would actually need slightly less drop in the post to get the same vertical drop.
Even if you wanted to disregard that, how about the fact that a steeper seat tube is already going to put the seat more forward, soyou would actually need less drop to be able to get behind the seat. And if you have a big rear wheel, eventually you'll pass a point where more drop only allows you to plant your ass-crack even more firmly onto the rear wheel. Where-as the slacker seat tubes might benefit more from the big drop because it moves the seat even further forward, so it's more out of the way even if you're not rubber-buzzing your butt-cheeks.
It is true that droppers made it easier to steepen seat tubes, but massive droppers' real benefit is being able to get pretty close to sitting on the bike with feet flat on the ground. This makes bailing or saving all that much easier. Think about how many times you've seen a slopestyle or BMX rider land with their ass on the seat and both feet skidding down the landing as outriggers. No imagine you could have that same margin of safety on a trail bike, but not absolutely destroy your knees when pedaling.
Hell, saving knees is how I've sold a bunch of people on droppers. Everyone but XC rippers ran our fixed posts at like 3\4 ideal height for trail riding, maybe slamming it for an extended downhill or a big drop and only going full height for an extended climb ("winch & plummet" type stuff). I reminded them they could have the slam, the 3\4, AND the full height for climbing and thus save their knees, with a dropper, and easy sale.
Now imagine you have a seat tube that's at an angle. When you lower the seat, it moves forward and away from you. When you're in the standing / descending position, the seat on the bike with the angled seat tube would be less in the way.
It's more about the position of the seat rather than the actual amount of drop.
Kazimer’s explanation makes no sense and I’ve heard it repeated by a few people with no geometric explanation. It’s all about the long reaches on the current crop of bikes.
You've got an odd way of describing something that I've noticed about bikes, and I can't tell if we agree or disagree.
Ignoring STA and considering only fore/aft seat position when it's dropped, do you want a seat to be further forward or further back?
I find that bikes with a very slack actual STA (eg: Trek Slash) are worse because the seat, when dropped, is further forward. The wider part of the seat is more in the way of my legs. A bike with the same raised seat position but a much steeper tube (so actual = effective) means the seat doesn't move forward as much when it's dropped and it isn't as much of a problem for me.
Modern effective seat tube angles mean the seat is more forward. Which IMO is bad when dropped but is worth it for the climb, and can be fixed with more drop anyway. But, if you had a bike that had an effective STA of 76 at your raised seat height, would you prefer an actual angle of 76 or a slack Slash-style seat tube with an actual angle of 66?
In reality, for what we’re paying for this crap the seat post should be integrated in the frame and should be adjustable. Max drop, max weight savings, max simplicity, cost????
I have a 210mm Oneup shimmed to 200mm on my Banshee Titan and it is indeed awesome to have the post so out of the way. It's at 200mm because the Banshee linkage gets in the way otherwise it'd the entire length.
a) As much as my frame would allow for my body type (85% of the votes placed here no doubt)
b) None. I like having my seat in my chest while going downhill. High post for life. (2% of the votes. No one knows anyone who'd vote this way, but here we are at 2%)
c) I don't want a dropper post - I prefer manually raising and lowering my seat. (13% of the votes. Same 13% also hate e-bikes and insist 26" isn't dead)
Not as interesting a read I'm sure
Umm not according to pythagoras theorem.
I’m 5’3”, ride a medium Transition Patrol and run a 120mm dropper post, which when slammed into the seat tube and with the post fully extended, sets the saddle at just right height for pedalling.
With seemingly no end to how low people want that seat tube, and the amount of dropper drop, we will need a cheap post that lowers itself not by ass-load, saw one on here recently?
Srsly, if you want to do squats, you can do it without a bike. Get a kettle bell thing and a yoga mat.
Patiently waiting for SRAM to release a 200mm Reverb AXS.. *taps fingers*
Yt has very low stand over/short seat tube so works great
Ideally, I live near a park that's open all year thanks to global warming, and don't need a dropper.