New Trek Fuel EX

[wingguy]

Of course you can - you can just ride it easier and better with a dropped post. They're the best invention in mountainbiking since suspension that works.

[LeDuke]

Yes, and if you read MTB forums, they are awash with stories from people who blow out their dropper every third ride. Every brand out there. Incredibly unreliable.

[TheRookie]

Many people have no issues with them at all........

[LeDuke]

I'm sure that's true, too.

Just like many people had no issues at all with older Elixir or XX brakes.

However, I "broke" 3 (2x Fox DOSS, 1x RS Reverb) under my portly 65kg/143lb corpse, on an XC hardtail, in less than a year.

I stored the bike upright, seatpost extended, never picked it up by the seat, etc. Followed all of the rules and recommendations. Yet, still experienced failure.

[wingguy]

If you believe what you read on most bike forums you'd think that all campag rear mechs break in half, DA cranks snap, Zipps don't last more than 100km etc. etc.

On the flip side I've had two Reverbs and a Giant post, picked them up by the saddle, rode them dirty, smacked them in crashes, left them with the seat up, down, halfway, stored one on its side in a hot car through an entire european summer, never serviced them and I've had a total of zero issues ever.

[TheRookie]

Hardtails seem to 'create' a higher failure rate than FS, a logic I suppose is that it's possible to smack hard into the saddle on an HT, when the FS, would soak it up for you, whether that's why or just a guess I don't know!