I’m considering (nothing urgent nor firmly decided) adding a dropper post to my seldom-used Canyon Grizl (the previous one with external routing at the headset). The leaf-spring Canyon seat post is very comfortable, but I really feel too high on steep descents. The bike is 1x so the routing port for the front derailleur at the top of the downtube is available to route the dropper’s cable internally.
What would be a no-nonsense, easy to use / maintain and not-too-expensive 27,2 option ?
There’s an AXS XPLR dropper in 27.2, if you are already running SRAM drivetrain the install takes minutes. I have a 60mm version I’d be willing to part with if you are at all interested.
I’ve been using various 27.2 dropper posts on all my gravel builds for a couple years now. The KS ones are fine if you don’t mind a little weight. My favorite is the OneUp v3 but it’s not super cheap. I’m using a PNW post on my most recent build and it’s good, not too heavy, but not as responsive as the OneUp and it has more slop at the saddle.
As for routing, it’s basically the same as a mountain bike dropper - just put the housing up through the seattube. Careful measurement is needed before putting the cable through because the housing can’t be cut once the cable is run. I strongly recommend investing in the Wolftooth dropper lever, it’s expensive but the dual actuation is very good (though its cable entry port is terrible).
Second the OneUp V3. It is a very good option with well-regarded reliability and easy servicing. Alternatively, the PNW Coast post is kinda unique in that it’s also a suspension seatpost (avoid if you don’t want any sag/bounce in the post!).
For me the big issue with droppers on dropbar bikes is always the lever. Figuring out where you’ll place that lever (on the drop or at the tops nearer the stem), and whether it’ll be convenient to use, can be big hurdles.
I personally only like droppers on dropbar bikes when the lever is integrated with the existing shifter (as written about here). SRAM AXS is the best example (although the 27.2mm Reverb has rattle issues in my experience). Shimano GRX left-hand swing lever is another. Or a converted SRAM Hyd lever. Being on Ekar forces an additional lever.
I control the dropper on my gravel bike using the left Gevenalle shifter. This can be done with their mechanical or hydraulic brake levers: what one needs is Gevenalle’s shifter mount for the left side, plus a Microshift or other down tube or bar-end shift lever that can be modified to remove its internal friction/ratchet mechanism. I did this easily with a Microshift lever. Then that left shift lever swings freely to operate the dropper.
I frankly don’t know why Gevenalle doesn’t sell this ready-made. I wrote them once to suggest it but never heard back, so I hacked my own.
IRD also makes a shifter mount designed for the front of a road brake lever, which should also work. Those may be available separately, which Gevenalle doesn’t (currently!) do.
Anyway, on the original question: I’ve had good experiences with PNW, both with their products and with their customer service. They offer 27.2 droppers with external routing in up to 120mm travel.
Thank you all for your advice. I’ve clarified my first post, the frame has a port available for internal cable routing (I wrote « external » about front-end routing to differentiate with the current Grizl).
If you’re in the USA and want a very reasonably priced and complete solution, Bike Closet have the Enve G (Gravel) Series dropper in 27.2 with the G series Drop Bar Lever for $99.
If you’ve never ordered from Bike Closet before and saw some of their prices you might think it was a scam, but I have ordered multiple times from them and always had a great experience including fast delivery.
I still recommend considering PNW. I chose their internally-routed Rainier dropper because 125mm is the most travel I could find in a 27.2 dropper. It’s been great for me, in ~9 months of regular use, plus the price, warranty, and customer service are all good.
I run a One Up v3 and absolutely love it. I have mechanical GRX and they make a dropper actuating left lever. Makes for a super clean set up.
My fingers are double super hard crossed for Shimano to release di2 dropper posts for gravel and MTB this year, I have a burning desire to upgrade my gravel bike to di2 but can’t until they make one, and an MTB waiting for one.
It would be amazing to have the battery redundancy of derailleur and post sharing the same set up…like SRAM has had for ever!
I think it’s great! Well at least it used to be. It a bit more squishy now than it was new (it’s about 4? Years old I think) it’s due for service, or maybe just replacement.
I started out using some rs685 levers. I cut the pawl out of the left side lever to make it compatible with a dropper. It worked fine that way but I swapped to 2x so I moved to a wolftooth dropper lever. It works well too. I do want to try the Pro (Shimano) lever next time I need to wrap my bars.
Setting up the cable with the head at the lever is a bit annoying for a dropper. Especially when it’s not exactly easy to just remove the lever from the bar to get extra slack.
Prior to Shimano’s move to wireless, I would have loved for them to release an electronic dropper powered by the central DI2 battery. An electronic dropper without the bulk of the external battery would have been super slick.
Now that they have begun the migration to wireless it would be nice if the could release an electronic dropper that uses the same batteries as the RD, or maybe even then license the electronics to other brands like Fox etc.
I prefer Shimano, but it’s pretty much a certainty that they will continue to be 3-5 years late to any ideas that may be even the slightest bit “Cool” or “Innovative”.
Yeah this would be great, buy I can’t imagine them doing it. I was given a very strong wink wink nudge nudge that wireless droppers were coming by a Shimano guy at TDU last year, so it seems they have plans, I just don’t want to wait 7 more years for it!
