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27.2 dropper seat post for road bike?
 

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BobB
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 171
Location: Columbus, OH

10/24/21 12:40 AM

27.2 dropper seat post for road bike?

Between retirement and a very extended dissolution/ divorce, I have hardly ridden much in the last 3 or 4 years. Now I find that I can hardly (if at all) get my leg over the saddle to get on or off the bike. Last year I even had to take my front wheel off while I was still on the bike to lower the seat enough so that I could get my leg over the saddle to get off. My balance is so bad, mainly caused by a stroke 25 years ago, that laying the bike on the ground to either get on or off doesn't work very well. Surprisingly, balance while riding is just fine.

I see that they have manual dropper seat posts for 27.2 frames and I wondered whether anyone has used these on their road bikes. I think if I could just lower the seat an inch or so it would help a lot (more would be even better!). I look at the post specs and on one day I think it would work great and the next day I think not at all. (Perhaps it is best that I never used my engineering degree.....) On my Habanero there is 7" from the top of the seat tube to the bottom of the seat rails. On the Airborne Zeppelin it is only 6.5 inches.

Any thoughts or recommended seat posts would be very much appreciated.

BobB

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KerryIrons
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 3234
Location: Midland, MI

10/24/21 9:22 AM

Flexibility

I can't help you on the seat post but I can tell you that I have to keep working on my flexibility continuously or I have challenges swinging my leg over. At my age (72) I am finding more and more that the things I don't use, I lose. It's just a little harder every year to keep my abilities and skills up, but I know that if I don't things can spiral fast. Try some yoga or flexibility exercises if possible.

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stan
Joined: 14 Feb 2004
Posts: 467

10/24/21 1:09 PM

I’ve seen people mount differently that works. They stand the bike up on the rear wheel so it’s vertical. Then they slightly raise one leg, keeping the saddle against their pelvis while lowering the front wheel to the ground using the bars.

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

10/25/21 11:27 AM

Another option is to swing your leg over the bars instead, but it's only beneficial if the bars are lower than your saddle. I mount my bikes this way occasionally, if only for the novelty aspect.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

10/25/21 4:12 PM

@Brian

Brian, I’ve never tried that, but I see nothing good resulting form me trying….😅

Otherwise, I have nothing to offer on droppers, and I don’t know if this could remedy Bob’s problem, but I agree with Kerry that stretching exercises (and perhaps targeted physical therapy) can help depending on the nature of the problem. After hip soft-tissue injury from my recent crash, I had a hard time swinging the leg over, and PT helped with that a lot (as did the passage of time of course). If an inch makes a difference, I think it would be reasonable to look into this.

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KerryIrons
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 3234
Location: Midland, MI

10/26/21 8:47 AM

Another trick

Something else to try is leaning the bike to one side. You stand maybe a foot to the side of the frame and then tilt it toward you. This lowers the saddle and top tube significantly so it is easier to get a leg over. You can put your foot on the pedal as a way to stabilize yourself as you move the bike upright and then get on.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

10/26/21 8:59 AM

Holding a brake during mouting process I'd add.

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

10/26/21 12:45 PM

Kerry's Trick

I've been using this technique ever since I had my unscheduled hip replacement. Stretching and getting motion back is critical as well, but--particularly if you like saddle bags & such--The Lean is the way to go.

At some point, when I can't get on with The Lean, it'll be time for either an Omafiets or a recumbent.

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

10/26/21 2:17 PM


quote:
Another option is to swing your leg over the bars instead, but it's only beneficial if the bars are lower than your saddle.

I've been mounting my bikes this way for decades - I think I started doing it because I was doing most of my riding with large Carradice saddlebags behind the saddle. But I've been stretching on a daily basis - Yoga and/or Tae Kwon Do - all my adult life.

As for the dropper post question, there are quite a few in 27.2mm. Here is the selection from one of our OZ web retailers: https://www.pushys.com.au/parts/cockpit/seat-posts/dropper/27-2mm.html .

I think when BikeRadar reviewed some dropper seatposts a while ago, the Crankbrothers Highline XC/Gravel dropper post in 27.2 was recommended.

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

10/27/21 1:04 PM

droppers

>As for the dropper post question, there are quite a few in 27.2mm.

Some of those are, um, expensive!

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

10/27/21 7:20 PM

Nick, I would have figured you do it on your tandem so you don't kick your favorite stoker in the head when mounting. That wouldn't make for a happy marriage... ;-)

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

11/1/21 1:48 AM


quote:
Nick, I would have figured you do it on your tandem so you don't kick your favorite stoker in the head when mounting. That wouldn't make for a happy marriage... ;-)

Yeah, that would be a good reason:-) The stoker is always right... But on the tandem, I always mount the bike first and dismount last. I can't remember that in 40 years of tandeming, she's ever mounted first or dismounted last.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

11/1/21 12:09 PM

For a bit after Elaine's total hip surgery she'd have to mount by me laying down the tandem. She'd stand over once stood back up and I'd do an over the bar leg swing being normal for tandem prior...

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

11/20/21 1:22 PM

I'll second Bob's recommendation of applying the brake while mounting up.

And I'll add that (learned from doing fast CX re-mounts) gripping the bars tightly during the remount helped greatly with keeping my body aligned so as to land more precisely on the saddle.

I was hit by an auto-immune polymyalgia syndrome eight years ago which had me having to lay my bike down and remount like I was approximately 95 years old.
One thing that I learned from that was that my coordination was such a huge part of reliably re-mounting, and that only by climbing on the bike on consecutive days did I maintain good enough "form" to do the remount successfully.
I'm probably one of very few people to maintain my riding though an extended fierce bout of (albeit somewhat rare) PMR, as it's bi-lateral bursitis manifestation caused such motion-induced joint pain to the point of distracting any coordination efforts.

KS has offered inexpensive ($100 or so) 27.2mm dropper posts which incorporate actual adjustable suspension action, and which complimented my hardtail MTB build several years ago.
Not a lightweight post, and with just 2-3" of drop as I recall, but perhaps just the ticket for your near-term recovery needs?

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