there are a few considerations when it comes to getting
the correct dropper post for your bike
but its not too complicated and its worth taking the time
to make sure you dont buy the wrong one
so the first is to get the right diameter post for you bike
now the easiest way to do this might be
just to cheek out the website of your bike manufacture
or sometimes the actual seat post has it marked on there somewhere
so just remove your existing post
most modern bikes will fit dropper posts
they tend to be the 30.9 mm
or 31.6 just like my nuke proof mega here
so ive got a 31.6 post thats gonna fit this bike
so the next thing to think about is the cable routing
it doesn't matter if its hydraulic or cable actuation
but there either internal
or external routed stealth or non stealth
again most modern bikes now come with
that internal routing availability
its definitely the nicer option in my opinion because you just dont get
that big baggy cable on the out side of your bike
everything is kept nice and neat again this bike is modern
so you can see the hole there
where the internal routing pops out for that dropper post
now one of the most important considerations when buying a dropper post
is the amount of drop on that post
this crank brothers high line is available in
100mm 125mm and 160mm drop
and again my preference would be for the biggest drop possible
that fits on that bike however some XC riders
will go for the smaller drop like the 100mm
just because they dont want to feel like that seat completely disappears
and they keep it up at that good pedaling position most of the time
but can get it just out the way when they need to
and they are slightly lighter however like i say
id rather go for the bigger dropper post so my seat gets right out the way
how ever the bigger drop post arnt gonna fit
all bikes and all riders
so you need to take some measurements and that is the length of the seat post
but also the stack height because you dont want that to be too large
that would mean at full extension of your post
your saddle would be at too high of a position
yes you could drop that saddle slightly into the travel
to get back to your normal riding position
but thats not gonna be a great use for that dropper post
so this is a really important measurement to get
if you want the maximum drop post like i do
so the stack height measurement is
from your seat post collar up to your saddle rails
so using your original seat post
setting that maximum height for peddling
get that distance do i can do it as well and this comes out
at 235 mm
on my bike
then you need to subtract about 50mm to account for that seat post collar and
the bottom of that clamp
in crank brothers case its only 47 mil so if i do that it comes out
at 188 mm
which means that i can run a dropper post up to that size
so i can easily fit
a 160mm dropper post into this bike
so i worked out the maximum drop i can have, obviously
you can run less than that if you wanted to
the next important measurement is gonna be the insertion length
so thats how far the seat post will slam into the frame
before it hits any obstruction on most
sort of
traditional bikes thats not gonna be an issue, if you on this bike
i got plenty of seat tube down there
maybe on some bike we've got an interrupted seat tube
maybe thats where the shock sits or something like that
then your gonna have more of an issue but to do that
just remove your seat post and drop a tape down there
until you hit an obstruction or a bend
like you see on my frame, some thing else to think
about, especially when running the shorter travel posts
is to never bring that seat post out of your bike
above that minimum insertion mark, because
that can damage your frame or the post, so
to make sure you dont do that you also need to
measure you saddle height, so this is more
of like a roady measurement and its coming from
the middle of your BB up to the top of the saddle
so i know that my desired stack height is 235mm
so this is the biggest
drop post that 160
that come out at about that 17 mark on the post
so i definitely got plenty of post inside that frame
theres the minimum insertion mark. but its definitively now worth cheeking
that i can get that insertion into the frame
without it sticking up too high
one other thing to think about is that remote lever
thats gonna run your dropper post
so this is easier if your running a 1by bike, so you can get that lever
underneath the bar on the left hand side
that make it super usable so do think about where your gonna put that lever
the lever that comes with the post that your gonna buy
well, there you go ive got a 160mil drop crank brothers post
fitted to my bike now and that is in that stack height
that i know i need to make sure my saddles in the right position
so, cant wait to ride it, if you haven't got a dropper post already
i would definitely recommend it, they do make riding
technical steep stuff that much easier, and if you wanna see
if there faster, click over here to see a video about that
and for how to use a dropper seat post on the trails click over here
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thumbs up if you like dropper seat posts