SDG Tellis Dropper Seatpost (The Solution to What Others Won't Fix)

SDG is probably one of the most profound companies in the Mountain bike industry. Why? Because every single product they produce is simply the best it ever could be with 25 years of experience backing their company. You may be thinking that SDG doesn’t really offer anything besides saddle or grips and to an extent, that is very true. More important than offering a bunch of different products is dialing in and perfecting the ones you already offer. SDG does this quite well and this is why you will see their products on a handful of bikes in the Downhill World Cup and the EWS. With the quality and performance of their existing saddles, there was no doubt set in our mind that the new SDG Tellis Dropper Seatpost was going to be nothing short of a great product. 

The Design was intended to be simple and reliable. This meant the least amount of moving parts, the better. The SDG Tellis features a fully sealed cartridge system and is constructed with an intelligent keyway system to eliminate lateral head movement. 2 years of testing lead to a post that performed in a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius and would withstand more than 6-months of constant cycling in Muddy/gritty water. Just watch the video down below and see the contraption Devyn put together to test it out!

“SDG has been committed to making saddles for decades and after watching silently, we’ve decided to address the four problems we found with dropper posts on the market: durability, simplicity, feather light actuation and affordability.” – SDG

Details:

Travel: 125 & 150mm (100mm & 170mm coming late summer)
Diameter: 30.9 & 31.6mm
Rail Compatibility: 7x7mm & 7x9mm C/F
Routing: Internal Only
Lengths: 390mm & 440mm + Actuator 27mm
Weight: 552g (30.9x150mm), 36g (Lever), 87g (Housing & Cable)
Warranty: Two Years
MSRP: $269.99 USD *Includes Lever and Jagwire LEX-SL Housing & Stainless Cable
Replacement Cartridge: $44.99 USD

Ride review by Alex Knott:

In this review, we mounted the SDG Tellis 150mm travel on a 2018 Transition Scout. With so many dropper posts on the market it is hard to get noticed and hit all the marks that someone expects to be hit but right away I was impressed. The first thing I noticed when I first touched the post is that there is zero rotational play. For me, this is more of an execution detail that I appreciate rather than something that affects performance but if a consumer is going to be spending hundreds of dollars, there are some details that should not be looked over. Also when first looking at the post you notice that the seal head is fairly sleek and low profile which will look great on pretty much any bike that you put it on.

Installation was nice and easy. Being a mechanically actuated dropper, setting this post up was nice and simple. The cable head hooks directly to the bottom of the post without the need of any additional small parts. The only thing I did notice that I had to adjust for was that when installing the post the cable needed to be kept under tension while inserting the post into the seat tube so that the cable head did not come out of its mooring. What I did to make my life a little easier was attach the cable head to the post and cover the opening with some gorilla tape. This prevented the cable from coming loose while I routed the cable and housing. The head of the seatpost where that saddle mounts also has a nice angle on it that I am sure will help support riders that have a bike with slack seat tube angle like an Evil for example.

As a great man once said, “A dropper post is only as great as its lever”. These ancient words still ring true. SDG has done a great job with the Tellis Lever. Mounting this lever is simple with it’s split clamp design. The cable routes nice and straight through the lever and can be cut and crimped clean out of sight behind the lever. The cable anchor bolt is not impossibly small or hard to access which will please pro and home mechanics. The lever itself has a dimpled texture were you place your thumb which is a nice touch, again the details! The feel of the actuation is very light. I was surprised at just how effortless it was to get the post moving. The lever is included with the purchase of the post which just makes sense. No need to upgrade here.

Out on the trails, this post just worked. Not once did I have to think about it, the light lever action brought the saddle up quick for unexpected climbs and I never noticed any delay or stiction when dropping it. The speed of the saddle is reasonable and easily feathered with the super light lever. SDG set out to make a post that hits 4 key marks. Durability, Simplicity, Feather Light Actuation and Affordability. From my initial experience, they nailed three. This post is simple with very light actuation and nicely priced. With the clean execution of these traits, I am sure that more time will only show that the durability is there as well. Nice job SDG.