Review: Ice Components Lift V8 Dropper Post

Dropper Post's might be great but they don't come cheap! We got our hands on the Ice Components Lift V8 Dropper for review! 120 quid. It goes up and down! What more do you need!

You often hear of people saying that the dropper post changed the way they ride bikes and they couldn’t genuinely be without one any more. I am another one of those riders.

You want to get in on the action to get all the performance advantages but you’re unsure of what options are available to you? The market leading Rockshox Reverb is a great choice but it has an RRP of £300. Maybe the Fox D.O.S.S? That too will set you back 300 smackers! Perhaps you like the look of Thomson’s Elite dropper, which is undoubtedly a thing of beauty? That will set you back £349.95…

There are loads of riders who want a dropper seat post but just can’t justify that amount of money if they don’t yet believe the hype and need a cheap alternative to get them going?

Introducing the ICE components Lift V8 dropper. A lever actuated dropper post that could be yours for only £120.

First Impressions.

In the legendary words of Anchorman’s Ron Burgundy. “Great Odin’s Raven” This post certainly extends with some punch!

The lever is simple, foolproof and pretty much indestructible. There’s no real noticeable play to be found in the stanchion portion of the post, It's available in 27.2mm which will keep all the hardtail riders happy and the actual seat clamp mechanism itself isn’t too shabby. It looks like a certain winner with an RRP of £120!

If we delve a little deeper…

The V8 dropper is operated by spring tension. The engineering is fairly simplistic internally but on the flipside that does however mean it’s very easy to maintain. When you push the remote it is basically pulling the pin that fires the top portion of the post out with all it’s might until it hit’s the stop after the full 90mm of height gain and a pin clicks back in locking the post at that height.

The manner in which I would describe the ICE Lift V8 deploys could be described as somewhat violent. Violent could even be somewhat understated? If you were in the unfortunate position to be in the wrong place when this badboy discharges, you have more of a medieval torture device than a dropper post on your hands. Need I say more?

There’s nothing stopping the shaft from being slowed up other than the pin that stops it firing out the top. There’s no fancy damping circuit or friction to slow her up… You push the trigger and it sends your seat into orbit for it only to be stopped prematurely by a metal pin that ensures your reproductive organs stay intact.

Another thing I grew quite fond of is the fact that you are left in no doubt whatsoever that the post is at the top of its travel. The ICE Components lift V8 gives a satisfying thump thanks to the aggressive nature of the post’s movement letting you know it’s hit the top and is ready for you to once again take to your saddle and pedal. I must add at this point, I don't believe this thump isn't the sound of the post ripping itself apart it is an actual design feature.

The Lever

The action of the post is actuated by a lever remote that uses a cable. This keeps things simple, easy to use and more importantly easy to adjust and dial in exactly how the lever will feel.

The actual lever is very simple and simply pulls cable through on a rocker switch type mechanism that relies on the leverage of the remote. After a while I did begin to have problems with the lever however. It might be a little down to the cable routing but the action of the cable was very stiff which made opperating the remote a bit of a pain.

Initially I dialled in the feel of the remote with the barel adjuster that can be found on the cable outer and it was working to a more than satisfactory standard. I thought I was on to a winner but after a few rides I found I was having to push the remote further and harder than previously and the post was still not firing.

I then had to re-adjust the lever and pull through some more cable but after that flawless function continued. I am not however willing to stick my neck out and declare the lever a fit and forget product. It does have it's shortcomings.

That being said... The simplicity of the cable design personally appeals to me as it would open up a whole load of Garage D.I.Y remote projects that I think would be quite good interesting to explore. Think of the possibilities of using creating a ghetto gripshift dropper lever to use on the fly and de-clutter your bars!

Styling

In the style department admittedly I don’t feel it has the same level of smoothness that you get from the Reverb or Thomson elite dropper with the Ice lift V8’s rubber gator which cheapens the look a little but from a purely functional point of view the rubber boot is a great way of keeping the internals of the post gunk free and keeping the post running smooth.

It is by no means an ugly duckling however. When you look at our Pyga One Twenty 650 test rig are you immediately drawn to how ugly the post is? Didn’t think so! Missed our review on the Pyga? You can find it here!

If you step back and look from a real “spades a spade viewpoint” I genuinely can’t see how the internals of the post will ever fail? I could see the cable and remote needing a bit of T.L.C but but beyond that the ICE Lift V8 is a certain winner.

The Verdict

120 quid. It goes up, it goes down and if you look after it it'll go back up and down again. The action might be a bit on the violent side but the Ice components Lift V8 Dropper is a great option for a dropper post if you are on a budget.

Ice Components are distributed in the UK by R53 Sports. You can find more about the ICE V8 Dropper and find service instructions here...