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There’s an ideal lunch experience that begins about quarter-hour from my entrance door.
Depending on the variation, it’s an hour or so of quick gravel roads, punchy climbs and a few enjoyable singletrack to maintain you in your toes. There’s damaged up pavement, roots, unfastened pitches that nudge past 20 p.c and, even, a small rock backyard. Gravel bike, highway bike or MTB, the selection is yours however both method, you’re getting an excellent bang to your buck in that hour.
This is my testing floor for lots of merchandise, and since I’ve a really younger child, the place I’ll experience as a rule. With this in thoughts, I lately put a dropper put up on my private gravel steed, a Specialized S-Works Crux. And a cable-actuated one, no less.
Now, I’m aware this will upset a certain category of cyclist. Likely the same people who leave puke emojis on my Instagram whenever my bike appears sporting fenders/mudguards. How dare I deface a race machine? But, in doing so, they’re actually selling the Crux and its beautiful versatility short. Specialized gave it generous tyre clearance, suspension fork compatibility and internal routing for a dropper post. That isn’t accidental. The bike was designed to be ridden, and to be ridden hard. (I may have taken it too far beyond its comfort levels but that’s not my point.)
A dropper post absolutely comes with compromises. They add weight, and they’re stiffer than a carbon seatpost. Your lower back will almost certainly prefer a flexy carbon post if your riding is mostly seated pedalling over washboard roads for seven hours straight. And if you’re never riding terrain where a dropper actually matters, then yes, hauling around the extra grams is pointless.
But if your gravel rides regularly involve some “I wonder if I can ride that?” territory, then a dropper post changes everything. Mountain bikers figured this out years ago. At the push of a lever, the saddle is out of the way, giving you more freedom to move around when the terrain gets steep, loose or unpredictable.
(Image credit: Billy Sinkford)
With the saddle lowered, you can shift your weight farther backwards to avoid getting pitched over the bars. It also makes it easier to stay balanced when the bike starts bouncing underneath you. And in corners, the bike can lean independently beneath you instead of the saddle locking you into one position. In short, a dropper lets you move independently from the bike, and the bike independently from you. The result is better grip, more control, more speed and more confidence when things get rough. Most importantly, it makes off-road riding a lot more fun, and that’s really the whole argument.
I recently installed Teravail’s 125mm Telec dropper on my bike. I didn’t want it for the lunch loops, however I did instantly begin setting PRs on almost each descent. It additionally makes me smile each darn time.
But right here’s the half the place I climb onto my soapbox: in the event you’re going to place a dropper in your gravel bike, commit correctly.
Too many gravel-specific droppers, or these that can match a 27.2 seatpost, have too little journey. Forty millimetres of drop isn’t a dropper put up; that is a mildly adjustable seatpost.
Would I desire the clear aesthetic of the SRAM’s wi-fi dropper? Obviously. But to me, 50-to-75mm of journey simply doesn’t meaningfully remodel the bike on technical terrain. Plus, at almost $645 and round 560g of added weight (which is greater than a mechanical dropper), it’s a tricky promote.
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The Teravail Telec, in the meantime, does it proper. The 27.2mm model is available in both 100mm or 125mm journey, with journey adjustable in 10mm increments as much as 30mm, relying in your match and body measurement. Paired with the Telec Drop Bar Remote, the put up delivers an impressively quick response time. This is Teravail’s first foray into droppers, and I’m very happy with this $200, mid-range provide. At round 445 grams, it’s not absurdly heavy both. Compared to the carbon put up I eliminated, the load penalty is roughly 245 grams.
I wasn’t positive how I used to be going to love having a dropper put up, however I’m having fun with it way over anticipated. And now that it’s on there, I see no purpose to take it off.
Will I maintain enjoying with the cable routing to realize a cleaner look, sure, however do I care as soon as the path factors downward? Not even remotely.
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