e*thirteen TRS+ Seatpost Short-term review

I have used this dropper post for few months, but I was feeling horrible most of January & February so did not put it to as much use as I hoped for, but also used it some in January, and trough march.

The remote version 17J V10SS :

For better clearance for the cable for dropper post I flipped  Timber Bell.

Some shots before installing housing and wire

Here it is with the Grip Tape it comes with:

The 17J V10SS remote on the bike

With Tesa anti slip / grip tape installed.

The remote came with grip tape already installed but I installed rougher grip tape, the grip tape that came with it showed slight signs of wear, but I prefer the rougher grip tape.
 

The remote is fastened with a Torx bolt

Cons:

• After few weeks of riding the stanchion got a slight discolouration about a cm below the top it is where when the it’s fully down, it’s I side the collar, I am not sure why this happen, but it’s barely visible, and try to get it to show on photo.

• You have to have weight on the middle to drop it, but not a problem, if done like that it drops smoothly, it’s faster than Turbine dropper, so light feel drop, this is not surprising at all nor is this a major flaw.

• The slot for the brass key holding the head straight is too wide so the head rotates few degrees, this could be felt when riding, especially if doing wheelies There is also up & down play, forward backward rocking play, so a lot more play than the Turbine, which only had side to side rotational play.
• The top of the stanchion gets very grease after a long ride with dropping the saddle a lot, a lot of up and down, combined with rocking play back and forth.

• Clamp head saddle rail bolts can get loose, and might undo enough for the saddle to slip back, I think it’s due to temperatures changes & the loads, this is what happens when you take the bike out from the warm home out and ride for few minutes in subzero temps, this has happen with the Bontrager rigid post too, also the Race Face Turbine post.

When I got home I had to fix this, and yes I had on Loctite 243, but this eventually happens anyway, Loctite eventually needs reapplying.
So a multi tool is a must, even if everything on the bike has been checked, i had to do this every time, but of course how much it loosened varied.

But I haven’t had issues like this on the Renthal Apex stem, but with Atlas Stem I had to Check it before and after every ride, and during ride to be sure bolt’s did not get loose and the handle bar were spinning.
also I got issue with Hope Tech Seat post clamp & Shimano brake levers too. the bolts might undo enough for the saddle to slip back, but these are side effects rapid temperature change, shrinking things slightly, of course different materials will be effected at different rates. You just have to expect this and tighten it down when you are out and check suspension too see if pressures are right, because it can drop a lot, so if this post was a air post it would need to to work with something like 10psi drop or increase, but as this is a mechanic dropper post you don’t have to worry about the pressure.

Once when greasing the collar and screwing on the collar there was resistance, it turned out to be the dust wiper seal which has was skewed, and got worse when threading the collar on, so I had to take the collar off, and hammer it in using a bearing press block. I don’t know why this happen, but I suspect it might be the play in the post, the front to back rocking.

Pros

• The lever has nice ergonomics.
• Easy to install.
• The Torx bolts in the seat clamp have not worn out after several weeks of use, it looks promising.

• The barrel adjuster on the lever for wire tension has not snapped or bent yet, so it looks promising.
• The barrel adjuster has a ice wheel to turn, it makes it easy to adjust the tension even with one finger

• the dropper is easy to service with common tools.

It has two springs and have plastic spacer holding them in together.

I use Mudgugger Rear so the dropper post stanchion is a lot cleaner than without a mudguard, but some dirt will stil get there, fro mother directions.

It uses a NAK WP35 25 dust wiper seal.

35 is probably 35mm 25 probably is 25mm which are the measurements of this seal.
www.nak.com.tw/index.php/en/product/product_subcategory

I know the first version had SKF wiper seal, but I don’t know why the switch or exact differences.

which is mentioned & shown in this review, also showing the internals and closeup, no poin’t in me doing this when it has been done : https://nsmb.com/articles/ethirteen-trs-dropper-post-review/

I wanted a fully rebuildable dropper post I could service at home fast & easy, which this dropper offers.

service guide: https://service.bythehive.com/Guide/TRS+seatpost+service+-+disassembly/83

Product page: https://bythehive.com/products/trs-seatpost

Flickr Photo Album: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmwhkt5H

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Race Face Turbine – I returned 4 dropper posts

Race Face Turbine & Easton Haven dropper posts licensed tech from 9point8, cut 9point8 claim the tech is the same but not the materials or tolerances, and not made by them. But I can’t know if these issues will happen with both or if it’s just bad tolerances from Race Face.

Both of the replacement droppers had issues:

brake stopped working on the two replacement posts.

The bolts rounded off way too easy on all 4 of them.

a crunchy sound at end of bottom travel, on the two replacement droppers, I could also feel, it was rough, like there was crushed metal or sand in there, but the seal was intact.

long very noticeable scratch on the same place on the station.

Foam ring failed on one of the droppers, moved the foam ring to apply

Sram Butter/Slickoleum, but this is not a surprise, they eventually wear out they are not strong, but I was careful, but even so it snapped.

Frlickr album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskRPzcwh

The dropper has a side to side rotating play, which Is annoying, but not noticeable while riding, But the play is bad, play leads to premature wear, noises.

But the play in the station is considered normal, But my next dropper should not have this.

Verdict:

I need to try something different. I desidedon a refund.

There are many options, there is so much I am researching but now it’s the time for dropper posts.

I can’t recommend this dropper due to these issues, the issues came after only a few months, so This is unacceptable.

Race Face Turbine X1 Dropper post remote Revised Long term review

The remote has a well-designed clamp, there are 2 threaded holes for inward-outward adjustment to get the lever positioned perfectly.

The lever is ergonomic feels great feels to use it. The lever diagonal groover, for improved grip, I have not experienced any issues with my finger slipping along the lever, but it can slip down or up the lever, so holes or multidirectional grooves would work better, But So far I have not experienced any issues with this, the grooves in the lever are helpful.

 

 

 

Taken apart:

here you can see the 2 bearings.

The barrel adjuster is very fragile, it can easily be bent or kinked, It’s likely this will happen in a crash if the housing forces it to bend, but it’s so weak you don’t need a crash for it to fail, I never crashed so badly that the barrel adjuster would bend.

Check out Peter Verdone’s post about remote:

the barrel adjuster on his remote snapped.

https://www.peterverdone.com/bullshit-engineering/

 

A closer look at the lever:

The bearing measurements:

Outer 10mm

Height 3mm

Inner6

Flickr album: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm6h8Mih

So far I’ve not had a crash where there was an impact on hte lever, So I can’t comment on this at this point.