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PNW Components Cascade Dropper. $200 well spent


AustinBike

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OK, my KS i950r was getting a little long in the tooth, dropped fine, but would not spring back. Even with service this condition has been a problem for most of its life. I was going to go have it serviced again (at ~$80-100) and then decided to try a PNW Components Cascade dropper. Holy crap, what a value. It is solid, well built and performs well. It is a bit slower than some of the other higher end droppers on the market, but that is something you get used to over time. I did 3 rides on it, 2 on the GB and one at Lakeway and it performed flawlessly. Not a huge fan of the lever but I can probably get used to that over time (they do sell an aftermarket lever that is an additional $60...)

We'll see how this goes over time, but I am real impressed with it. Not as cheap as the Brand-X but it comes from Canada and is sold through Amazon so I could get it easily, with prime shipping. Installation and adjustment were a snap, had it on and ready to go in about 15 minutes, including getting the saddle mounted.

You can shop for them here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XZ7TQ6N/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

For those of you that want the full run-down with pics:

http://www.austinbike.com/index.php/product-reviews/341-review-pnw-components-dropper-post

 

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  • 2 months later...

As a follow up to this, I was trying to grease the stanchion and ended up breaking the dropper. Took it to the shop and $20 later, plus a 6-pack, we were running again. And then that broke. Reached out to PNW and they not only replaced it, but they sent it second day air so I had it in time for the death march. Awesome service, great people to work with. Will be buying another one for my hardtail now

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just to add, I have had great experiences with the One Up dropper posts also.. which are available in stock at the peddler bike shop Parmer lane & 1431 location.

 

the one up, and newer reverbs with cable actuated wolf tooth remote have proven to be solid dropper setups! 

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It looks like the dropper industry has finally started to coalesce around a handful of models that are all equally good. This is a very good thing.

Yesterday Chuck and I was talking about how an Ibis Ripley rode and the general consensus was "about like any other >$2500 bike." At this point, if you are spending over $2500, everything rides fairly similarly and it is hard to choose a bad one.

Life is good.

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My German-garaged bike is a Marin Pine Mountain, and I added the PNW dropper last summer. I can only compare it to my Transfer, but it works great every time. Excellent for the price. Only downside is that it's heavy. There is a German version of the same post under a different brand and other countries sell it as Lyne.

https://www.lynecomponents.com/external-droppers

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I bought a One Up and it's been so-so.  Out of the box, it would not return to the full upright position.  I tried Slick Honey, re-did air pressure, loosened the seat clamp to the point the post would drop to the collar.  Nothing worked.  After a month, I took it to the Peddler to warranty it.  The factory requested that we take it apart and grease the internals.  Turns out this has been a widespread issue.  Evidently, they sent a number of them into the market without sufficient (or any) grease in the internals.  2 months later, the issue is starting to occur again. 

If you do purchase a One Up, save yourself the headache and disassemble and lube the post before installing.  Hopefully, this won't be something I have to repeat every couple of months.  When it works, it's fine - but in hindsight, I would seriously consider alternatives (especially BikeYoke).

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As a PSA, the Brand-X replaced an X-Fusion dropper that had the seal fail, oozing lube down the seat tube.

My choice came down to buying the $40 rebuild kit for the X-Fusion post, then having to expect to do that each year, or, buy the cartridge style Brand-X and not worry about it.

It was an easy choice.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for the review. 30.9 x 125mm Cascade was installed last week. Fit's perfectly on the Blur LT. The little thumb lever that comes with the shorter travel posts is fine, but I wish I had the 1x style lever.

Well, I took it to last weeks R&I and the lever kept getting stuck in the down/unlocked position causing my seat to stay up unless I tried sitting on it. I had to use my thumb to pull the lever back in order for the seat to stay put. Very frustrating especially for it being my first dropper post ride. I contacted PNW about it and they had some things for me to try in order to get it fixed with the comment that if it didn't work they would just ship another one.

I take a close look at the lever and realize that my KNOG Oi bike bell was installed too close and the lever was getting stuck against the bell 😛 I felt a little silly. But when I tried to adjust it to not rub I realized that the lever for the bell and the lever for the dropper were not going to work well together. I got back to PNW asking them about the possibility of swapping the 2x lever for the 1x lever that comes with the longer travel posts. They got back offering me to swap them for no cost, or...they could credit me the cost of the 1x lever towards the purchase of their upgraded lever the "Loam Lever". That basically brings the Loam Lever down from $70 to $40. That seemed like a good deal to me, so they sent me a custom coupon code and they'll send me a return shipping label for the 2X lever when they ship the other one. The guys at PNW have been super easy to deal. Looking forward to seeing what they come out with next.

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  • 1 year later...

I am that uber rare guy who cannot stand dropper posts  (Useless Crutches) I am in the minority for sure.

That said I am a fan of PNW Components. They announced today a new program  to sell refurbished droppers. 

Worth checking out if so inclined , good to see a company keeping their products from the trash pile 

https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/PNW-Announces-Refurbished-Dropper-Post-Program,3593

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I’m happy to see them keeping their kit out of landfills and I have a PNW dropper post and love it. However, I guess this confirms that dropper posts are consumables and they don’t expect the user to service them. That’s a bit frustrating. The only thing better than keeping it out of the landfill through recycle is keeping it functioning for the original owner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • 7 months later...
  • 1 year later...

PNW Cascade dropper  (125mm x 31.6) + thumb lever + cabling on the way from REI.  

20% off, so everything + tax was right at  $180 w/ free shipping for REI members. 

The REI cycling sale was supposed to end yesterday but their sale prices are still up. 

The PNW site is 20% off as well. 

LBS will install for $30. 

 

Edited by June Bug
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