PNW Bachelor Dropper Post: Rider Review

Nowadays pretty much every mid to high-end mountain bike comes with a dropper post. Unfortunately, they are not always the best quality. Our customer Dustin recently swapped out his Rockshox Reverb for a PNW Bachelor Post and Dropper lever. Was he happy with the switch? Read on to find out!

Overview

"It's getting cold...I can feel it in my bones." That's what my grandma used to say. While grandma wasn't one to lie, I can't say if she could actually feel the cold in her bones. But I can say that with my original dropper post, I could most definitely feel the cold. My Ibis HD3 came spec'd with the Rockshox Reverb post. After upgrading to their somewhat pricey 1x lever and purchasing the reverb-specific bleed kit, the post seemed to work well enough. It went up and down as expected, albeit not really as fast as I'd like, even with the speed adjusted to the max.

Problems with the Reverb

Where the Reverb really showed it's true colors was when the temperatures dipped. Anytime the air temp got down into the low 40's or lower, it was VERY evident on the Reverb. To describe it as slow would be an understatement. For the 150mm post to return to full height would take about 5-6 seconds. That's an eternity when you need to get back in the saddle. It was so affected by the weather, that rides with major elevation changes (and by association major temp changes) would produce a post that started great, sucked mid-ride, then finished normally. I just couldn't take it anymore so I started the hunt for a cable-actuated post.

Why I Went with PNW

Enter the PNW Bachelor Dropper seatpost. After reading a few positive reviews on the Bachelor, I decided that for the price, I couldn't go wrong. I purchased the 150mm post, which is the max size I can fit on my bike for my height. Installation was a breeze and self-explanatory. I like that they don't even bother with printing off instructions but instead direct you to the place you'd probably go anyway, the web. But this post was easy enough to install that I didn't even need to use the web. Right out of the gate, I liked the PNW Bachelor. The stock lever works well and has a nice comfortable feel. I have it paired with my XT brakes (not the I-spec) and they match together well on my bars. I'm sure the PNW Loam Lever would be even better, but the stock lever seems to work just fine.

Performance and Final Thoughts

The actuation is great. The post drops smoothly, returns quickly (but not command post quickly), and has pretty much zero play side-to-side. If I were to have anything negative to say, I guess it would be that I can no longer use my dropper post to tell how cold it is. This thing works great, regardless of the temps. Given this post was only $250 with free shipping, you really can't go wrong. I'd recommend this post to anyone! Oh, and if anyone is in the market for a used Reverb, let me know.