Dropper posts on gravel bikes? or heaven forbid, Road - yikes!!

[sandyrs]

Originally Posted by John H.

I recently rode with a woman who had a dropper on her new Diverge.

She was complaining that the lever to engage it was in the wrong spot.

At the end of a trail she had some time to play with it. Come to find out that she also had the dropper all the way down when she set her saddle height- So when she let the post rise, saddle height was way too high.

I maybe wouldn't trust this person's opinion

Lever placement on drop bars really is a concern- I've seen a lot of bikes mount the dropper lever on the tops, which makes no sense since that's the last place you'd want your hands on a technical descent. The Norco solution of using a left-hand shifter and a 1x drivetrain makes a ton of sense to me. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before someone comes up with a mounting solution that doesn't require repurposing a shifter though.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

For a pro to use it? First you'll need a time machine to go back to 2011 to when Ivan Basso used something very much like a dropper:

https://www.bikeradar.com/us/news/ar...raphics-30831/

so there are two reasons for road "droppers"

1) the neutral support/Basso idea that saddle height should be easily adjustable within the race to allow for a variety of riders and pedaling conditions (apparently Basso wanted a slightly higher seat for mashing and a slightly lower seat for tapping out the cadence)

2) the OP suggested (and perhaps Nibali implemented) idea that one could get aero, get a lower CG and still have better control around the corners on descents.

I don't think weight is an impediment on pro bikes - they are already putting weights in their crank spindles to meet UCI minimums.

[bigbill]

I could easily see it on gravel bikes. I did a 45 mile ride on Sunday that had several steep descents on gravel and my normal position (I'm tall) had my center of gravity pretty high. It would have been nice to be lower and lessen the chance of an endo if I hit a big rock or had to grab brakes.

[Tony]

In mtbing having the ability to drop ones seat is magic.
I can see the benefit for road. On descends, especially in the twisty's you can shift your weight around and find a good position without the seat in the way. That lower position is comfortable, much better control.

This also applies for me with motorcycles, lower seat position gives me more confidence in tight twisty descends.