RockShox Reverb seatpost – £274.99
Sometimes a product comes along and you know it’s a cracker, and wonder why you didn’t think of it before. That’s the case with adjustable height seatposts, or ‘dropper’ posts as they’re commonly referred to. I first used one several years ago, but as with most early examples back then it didn’t work very well, creaking, squeaking and grinding, it was horrible. But the concept, well that was sound.
Fast forward a couple of years and suspension maestros RockShox have taken up the gauntlet, the result is the Reverb. And it’s a real corker. We got a chance to ride one for a for a decent length of time recently at the BMC launch in Switzerland, and came away impressed. Very impressed. We’ve been hearing good things on this latest evolution of the concept and it appears RockShox has nailed it.
RockShox might have taken a while to jump on the bandwagon, but boy was the wait worth it. The company has put its considerable experience with suspension and sealing to great use in the Reverb. It provides 125mm (4.92in) of up/down adjustment and is actuated via a hydraulic handlebar mounted push button, either mounted separately to the bars or using SRAM’s MatchMaker to attach it to the shifters. A neat touch is the barrel adjuster on the remote lever, for adjusting the speed of return of the post. Nice.
Back to the post and inside the forged 7050 aluminium shaft fully sealed air and oil internals that provide an incredibly smooth action. Triple lip seals do a great job of keeping water and dirt out, which certainly stood up our one day of riding but it’s too soon to judge the long term durability – more on that when we get a Reverb into the office for testing. Atop the post is a an easy to use two-bolt saddle clamp up top, simple but does the job brilliantly.
Riding with the Reverb soon becomes second nature, and jumping onto a bike without one afterwards and you’ll really miss it. Ourt test ride featured lots of long steep descents and here being able to slam the saddle right out of the way was a massive benefit, with no delay to our riding, and no having to get off the bike, stop riding and carefully adjust the saddle height. For all-mountain riding, it saves your ride becomign a stop/start affair, and as a result you’ll make more use of it, and enjoy the descending that much more. For XC riders too, who enjoy the descents just as much, the Reverb is a bonus.
There is a weight penalty with the Reverb at a claimed 550g. But for the kind of riding where the descents are to be enjoyed to the max, it’s almost inconsequential. Two lengths, 380mm and 420mm, are available with 30.9mm and 31.6mm diameter options.
Verdict
While it remains to see how the Reverb stacks up over a long term test, particularly on the durability front, based on our time with RockShox’s new post we’re extremely impressed. It won’t be for everyone, and it’s not cheap, but it’s more than a luxury item and will change your riding in a good way more than many other products. All bikes should have a dropper post.
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