My thoughts on all aspects of cycling. International and local racing, commuting, bicycle advocacy, and the occasional (ok, probably a lot of) ranting.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Product Review: Thomson Elite Covert Dropper Seatpost
Dropper seatposts are coming on strong. And there is a reason. They are a complete game changer. I honestly cannot think of one piece of equipment that has added more to my mountain bike riding enjoyment since I purchased my 29er.
By getting the saddle out of the way I can drop back in steeps, have more room to move in technical gnar, and get lower and more aero going down straight descents. Like I said, a real game changer.
There is problem however. Not all dropper posts are created equal. I went through two. TWO. Rock Shox Stealth Reverb posts in less that 6 months. Each one developed the same problem of moving up and down approximately 2 cm just riding along. Now I know I'm a fat ass riding a hard tail bike. But come on! Couple that with having to bleed them multiple times and the super stiff control button. I was full up on what Rock Shox had to offer. I'm sure there are other people out there that have owned one that was flawless. But fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice and I'm really stupid.
So I knew I wanted another dropper and I also knew I didn't want the Reverb.
Along comes the Thomson. First, I must admit, I am a huge fan of there products. Three, no, four bikes in my stable have Thomson seatposts. And two of my bikes have Thomson stems. Needless to say I like them a lot. To my experience they are bomb proof. So that's what made me lean their direction.
Couple that with the ability to route the "covert" cable and housing through the seat tube and I was sold.
As you can see it has the same saddle clamp as there other seatposts which has worked flawlessly.
Instead of running a hydraulic line from the seatpost to the button on the handle bars all the fluids are inside the post itself. Which makes installation reasonably simple. Getting the cable tension correct at the lever was a little tricky but nothing like bleeding hydraulic fluid.
The motion of the seatpost is smooth and solid. Though you cannot adjust the speed like you can with some other dropper posts. But I didn't feel like I was missing anything. It moved plenty fast. But not so fast that it slapped me in the man bag. Good enough.
One of the things I love the most about the Thomson post and hate the most (I'm a complicated fella.) is the lever assembly. I love how small the lever is. It's machined, anodized aluminum. Which I love. And it doesn't stick out in a hideous fashion like some other brands. It just blends into the bars with everything else.
The things I hate about the lever is that the super small allen bolt that holds the cable in tension stripped out the second time I tried to adjust the cable. I think the area that the allen head fits into was just to shallow. So I ended up replacing it with a slightly longer one. The other thing is how the housing juts straight out of the lever. No matter how I tried to mount it the cable still looks dumb. I'm sure they have it set up like that to reduce friction. I just wish it looked nicer. It seems like they should be able to do that. Perhaps that will show up in a later model. Let's hope so.
So all in all I give the Thomson Elite covert Dropper Seatpost a thumbs up and a Big E's Pretty Darn Swell Award (Very prestigious.)*. If you have the means I highly recommend picking one up.
*- I reserve the right to pull this award at any second when said product no longer does what I want. Or isn't in the colors I like...
Thanks for reading!
Rubber side down,
Big E
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