Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:42 pm
loads of people said they were a waste of time and not needed
That's still true, just that the industry convinced people otherwise
Got to disagree with this entirely, well at least 50% of it, sometimes
I fitted a dropper to my Fargo about six months ago, mainly out of curiosity having ignored them completely..
Obviously I’ve managed so far, apart from one comical crash where I got hung up behind the saddle on a steep decent there’s not one situation where the dropper could have been considered essential.
But, I’d miss it a massive amount now. It even gets plenty of use on the road, on big long hills I’ll drop it completely to get aero, free speed! On short fast downhill corners I’ll often drop it a couple of inches. This sits you ‘in’ the bike rather than perched on it, cornering is much more fun, more stable and feels more like being on a motorbike.
Off-road I’d go as far to say I’d possibly choose it over a suspension fork (yes I know you don’t need one of those either) on a hard tail those situations where you need to out of the saddle you can drop it a little and still keep the centre of gravity low, on steep technical downhill sections it’s completely out of the way and I can move back and down and generally have more mobility.
I’m a complete convert, it’s not essential but adds a lot to off-road enjoyment, comfort and speed.
We’re all individuals, except me.
I woke up this morning but I’m still in the dark