We have a few dropper posts in the garage so we did a little comparison on them. Dropper posts have been around for about 20 years with the original Hite Rite product sold many decades ago.

The concept is make a seatpost that fully extends during climbs for proper leg extension and allow it to drop down during descending while the rider keeps riding on the bike. This allows the rider to lower the center of gravity and use the body to move around the bike to center it to maintain balance and traction. And since the rider does not need to get off the bike (twice each time), the rider is able to maintain flow and momentum which is critical in difficult sections of the trail. Though simple, execution is very difficult as the seatpost bears most of the load of the rider and takes a lot of stress specially in technical riding.

This year, the space has heated up as companies with intensive R&D have joined the category. Check our round up of dropper posts and let us know what you think.

Video Round-Up


The posts in the line-up are:

Gravity Dropper Turbo LP - $325
Crank Brothers Kronolog - $300
Specialized Command Post Blacklite - $275
Fox Racing Shox DOSS = $339
Rockshox Reverb - $438
Rockshox Reverb Stealth - $415

The KS Lev did not make it in the video but our comprehensive review of the KS Lev is here.

Squinky Elevation Test Video
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpkIF58bsR0&hd=1

The user reviews for these posts and dozens of others are here in the Mtbr Dropper Post Reviews.


Unfortunately, the Hite Rite is no longer available for purchase. It did however launch the lucrative market of aftermarket mountain bike upgrades!


Here's a summary of Mtbr User Reviews and where to buy them. Read the reviews or write your own if you'v tried any of these.

KS Lev reviewed here.