Review: Thomson Elite Dropper
23 October 2013 | By AngusMcIntoshCheck out MoreDirt's review of the Thomson Elite Dropper Post that test pilot Greg Berry has been running recently and find out what we make of the fresh kit!
Before the dawn of the dropper post the number one seatpost to have onboard your saddle perched upon was the Thomson elite. That was for quite a few reasons actually but the main one was quality and simplicity.
Thomson obviously lost a large amount of market share with the boom of the dropper post and the cries were heard far and wide for when their own incarnation of the post would be arriving.
Quite sensibly Thomson opted to make sure that they did this properly as they were only going to get one shot at entering the market from fresh. With the likes of Rockshox, Fox, X fusion and KS already with a strangle hold on the market they had to get it right.
You may of noticed from the list of brands aforementioned in the above paragraph all but one (KS who are more well known for their posts than any other products despite actually having a line of rear shocks) are full on dedicated suspension manufactures with prior knowledge of dampers, seals and making high end mountain bike products with moving parts that will keep both moving and performing to a very high level for years, as opposed to Thomson who are a brand renowned for quality engineering of seatposts, stems and handlebars that ironically will not budge for years upon end.
The Elite dropper was turning into a product that is somewhat out of Thomson’s comfort zone so to create a post that was fit to brandish such a name.
All other Thomson products are manufactured in the USA so they were a little wary of taking production overseas unless they could guarantee the best quality production. They got in touch with big name suppliers such as Trelleborg for the O-rings and seals, Motul for the oils and Norglide to supply high quality bushings at very close manufacturing tolerances in an attempt to make a post that will keep dropping as smoothly as it was on day one even when your two years down the line.
Technical Observations.
The top half of the actual post is inherently Thomson with years of research and development gone into it with the Thomson elite post before the dawn on the dropper era. Everything from the clamp design to the offset and angles of the post have been thought out carefully to make a comfortable and high performing post.
Internals on the lower part of the post come from Trelleborg, Motul oils and Norglide as I’ve discussed above. Unless you are total engineering geek you probably won’t of ever heard of those names but they are the guys who offer some of the highest quality internals that Thomson could get their hands on. The level of attention to detail that working with these manufactures is evident when it comes to little things like lining the bushings with PTFE to not only make them last longer but actually run smoother as the post cycles up and down. That’s only the tip of the iceberg.
At the end of the day, higher quality internals obviously mean higher costs but equally on the whole they can mean improvements in performance and reliability so this is the dice that Thomson have elected to roll.
Colour and styling wise the post looks good. From a distance it could easily be mistaken as a fox D.O.S.S with very similar colours and shape!
The Elite dropper has one of the tidiest little remotes we’ve seen. It’s even able to flipped into multiple different angles straight from the box to ensure that its always comfortable and matches rider preference.
Fitting the post was a breeze and even after adjusting the cable routing fitting the post to the bike was a 5 minute job. Maintenance wise he hasn't looked at it since!
"During my limited time on the Elite Dropper I've been really impressed. Fitting was easy, the remote is tidy and the opperation is oh so smooth!"
Greg Berry
A few problems
Now the Thomson Elite isn’t without a few little teething problems especially when we see some features becoming fairly standard from other mountain bike manufactures such as a hydraulic remote system or internal (stealth) cabling options but is that actually as much of a problem as it seems?
Bleeding both brake and dropper hoses is a right faff when compared to cleaning what is effectively a glorified gear cable or even replacing the thing as a whole. I know loads of fellow riders who would never dream of and almost appear scared of pulling out the bleed kit but they would perhaps have a go at changing a cable. Sure, it feels a little medieval when pitched against some of the other options available but I’m not entirely sure we need to overcomplicate things. The cable may start to wear but you could perform a complete change in about 5 minutes flat. Changing a hydraulic system would be a whole lot longer!
The lack of stealth cabling and to an extent the actual placement of where the cable meets the post is however a bit more of a problem for us. If you are going to use a cable based system you would of thought it would be sensible to try and protect the cable and entrance to the cable outer from the elements therefore making it last longer. As more frame manufactures have options for internal cabling on dropper posts it feels almost a necessity to have that as an option to develop the true market leading post.
The ride.
The post is smooth and slick in terms of not only appearance but also operation. If we are honest we expected nothing less.
The remote is smooth and is pretty comfortable to operate aswell as being lightweight and small. Its pretty much all a dropper post remote needs to consist of for us. It's a big positive over some of the options we've seen from Rockshox with that awkward plunger and Fox's monster dual lever.
On the whole the post looks beautiful with some classy colour combinations and a super tidy rotating cable guide that swivels to stop the cable outer being pinched as the seat rises and falls.
It looks just the ticket on the Intense 5 point 5 it’s been mounted to for the recent past and test pilot Greg has been really impressed with both reliability and performance.
"The speed of the rise on the post while it isn't adjustable, it is pretty much spot on for what I would personally set it at anyway. It's a really top bit of kit and one of the smoothest droppers I've come across! It's a big thumbs up."
Greg Berry
We can't guarantee that the Elite Dropper will make you as happy as Greg but we would of thought it might take you some of the way!
Conclusion
It’s probably the most expensive option available on the market today for a dropper post but not many others get near the elite dropper in terms of build quality. It’s a thing of engineering beauty not just function and it really is a post that should be allowed to bear the “elite” name.
We haven't spent enough time on the Elite Dropper to give a definitive long term opinion as of yet but from what we've seen so far we are very impressed and are hoping that the same level of performance will continue!
Thomson are distributed in the UK by I-Ride.
You can find out more about the Elite dropper from Thomson on their website here…
