Hi everyone, as more and more my friends are getting dropper posts for their bikes
I came across this one. This is a Race Face Turbine dropper post that is not a
hydraulic post as you probably know, it uses the 9point8 technology, the DropLoc.
Box is held together by this sleeve and once you remove it it's just a black box.
The only usable information is on this end.
Made in Taiwan, dropper post Turbine information about it is 31.6 diameter
350 millimeter overall length and a 100 millimeter drop.
As we open the black box here's the dropper, all black inside, dropper is hold in place with that piece of cardboard
And here it is. So two bolt head (Hunter head), you have a nice indicator here of the tilt
maximum torque. Race Face Turbine as we know it, this seems to be laser etched
you have insertion indicators here, minimum insertion point. And this is
minimum insertion is 8.5 centimeters and you can see down here
DropLoc technology by 9point8. Compared to the Fall Line this lower tube looks
identical, this head area here looks the same, it probably needs the same type of
lubrication. Looking down a bit more obviously different markings.
The actuator it's screwed in right here and this looks exactly the same just a color
difference. 9point8 provides this innovative type of head that also
provides you 20 mm offset if you need it. The Turbine is just a simple two bolt
head design (called Hunter Head).
Quick Start Guide that should show us a little bit about how to get this installed.
You have what it is the actuation assembly.
Also in here is a full length of housing, has the cable ferulles
at both ends but you're only gonna need to use one of them.
This is 1.6 meters long, the inner cable it's 1.7 meters long. They will connect
to your remote over here. This is what they call the Universal remote. Bar clamp
two-piece so pretty easy to install, this has a little spring that brings it back
and this is the noddle that comes with it.
Noddle gets installed right here in the back, something like that, and you have
this barrel at the end of it this allows you to adjust the tension on your cable housing.
Dropper with cables and remote, standard remote, is 567 grams.
Just by itself - 472 grams.
The installation doesn't need much more than a few Allen keys and a cable cutter.
But before you do that I would just grab a tape measure
go to the bike that you're installing this on and measure a couple things.
First you want to know the distance between the saddle rails to
the top of the collar over here. And just to make it easier for you afterwards
just measure the distance between the tip of the nose and your stem.
First up in installation is going to be to find a suitable spot for your remote.
All you need is a 3 mm Allen key. Remove that little screw, this is a
two-piece clamp design so I don't have to remove the grips.
Nicely textured, not just painted but it was hitting the front shifter so I had
to move that inboard. Also keep in mind that you have the noodle coming
here in the back. In my case I routed it nicely right along the brake cylinder right there.
Next is going to be the cable routing. In this case the cable port is right here.
With the cable routed through the frame we have to install the
actuator assembly so you are talking about
the cable Seal Nut, this one goes in first, then you have the actual T-nut. This gets
pushed in here in the actuator assembly. Then goes over the cable and will be
threaded at the end of that cable housing until it bottoms out.
At this point with no inner cable we're ready to measure the length of the cable housing.
So grab your dropper, hold on to the actuator assembly and just thread in the
dropper by hand. There's no need to thread in this cable Seal Nut at this point.
Actually can leave this out if you are space constraint inside the frame.
Measure the distance between the saddle rail and the top of your seat clamp here,
in my case I need to bring it down all the way.
The other end of the cable is going to take a cable ferrule, connect it to the noodle and into your remote
and just make sure that you have the proper cable length in here to allow for
free movement or your handlebar. Cable housing is set so time to remove the dropper again.
With the cable housing the correct length most probably you'll
have to remove the remote from the handlebar. Feed the cable through it just
like this, then you feed it through the noodle, just make sure there's a plastic
lining in there. You feed it right through it
then finally feed the cable through your cable housing.
On the quick-connect at the other end just make sure you loosen up the two set screws over there evenly.
And then you push the cable through it, so as you push the cable
through, this would NOT be correct routing.
You want to push it through in between the two screws, just like that.
With he cable tight everywhere along the way just make sure that you push this T-nut up
to line up with your little white line here on the Quick-connect
and inthat position all you have to do now is use your
2 millimeter Allen key just to tighten up the two bolts.
You tighten up the two bolts evenly, making sure that they don't proturbe out at all from
the surface of the actuator here.
Last step here is just to trim the inner cable. Make sure you don't leave more than a couple of millimeters up top.
And at this point you're ready to install the dropper properly so hold on
to the actuator and turn the dropper. Hold on to the dropper,
rotate the cable Seal Nut until it stops.
Push the cable through the frame and now you can zip tie it nicely in place.
Dropper installed
works just fine. Now the last thing I want to do is actually remove this head
and just make sure I have the right pressure in there.
More pressure in this case gives you a faster extension of the dropper.
At the bottom of the saddle rails you have this rubber cap that seems to just plug right in.
Just covering your Schrader valve so push that right in and then you have an
actual direction here, you see the arrow, then you have your two screws
They're 4 millimeter Allen keys and maximum torque for them is 8Nm.
And that is pretty much the installation of the dropper. See it functioning just fine
So what do I think about this dropper?
Well first of all if you use the information on this Quick Start guide you're gonna get it
installed. It's a bit cryptic but it's pretty much all the steps that you need
to get it done. When it comes to maintenance and yes this is going to
need maintenance, you're going to need to regrease at least this seal over here.
They recommend using Slickoleum or Slick Honey, 9point8 recommends using
theirs. Up to you what you have, what you want to use. Because they use the
mechanical brake here in the tube you can actually lift this bike on to
the saddle regardless of the position of the dropper
and that won't damage anything. That's a feature that I love for this
technology among other things. I'm not too crazy about the lever I think is
pretty big, it works well in this kind of setup. Because it uses a mechanical
brake it needs that a little bit of play here on the cable. If it's too tight your
DropLoc is not going to engage. Also if you expose this dropper to huge
temperature swings what you might find is that it might slip down a little bit
or not hold properly. In that case you might want to do a brake reset.
The brake reset is actually fairly simple to do you, just push down the remote all the
way, hold it down for 5 to 10 seconds and you're good to go.
And yeah, that's pretty much all I have for this guys.
I think it should be a decent dropper.
If you have any questions let me know in the comments below.
Don't forget to keep an eye on my channel.
Subscribe and follow me on social media.
And until next time I will see you on the trails guys. Cheers!