Don’t be loyal. Here’s how to mix and match your dropper post and remote lever for performance gains. Pick and mix!

>>> The best mountain bike dropper posts

A / top-down routing … Cable is routed like a shifter…

A / top-down routing … and clamps at the base of the dropper post

B / Bottom-up routing … Cable is clamped at the lever…

B / Bottom-up routing … and nipple anchors at the post end

Dropper remote Compatibility

Here’s a newsflash most of us won’t have considered: you don’t have to use the stock remote that comes with your dropper post. You can mix and match with half the field out there, combining the best post for your bum with the best lever design for your thumb.

In fact there are at least a dozen good dropper posts on the market, but remote lever performance has dragged far behind in some cases. Some manufacturers only sell old-school 2x designs and not modern under-bar 1x options, and some remotes lack things like angle adjustment and matchmaker compatibility. There’s also quite a wide variance in the price of remotes, so if you pick and mix you can actually save yourself a bit of cash too.

Unravelling the tangle

Cable-activated dropper posts are routed in two ways,either with the cable anchored in the mechanism at the bottom of the post or at the remote lever secured via a grub screw. There’s not really any advantage to doing it one way or the other but dropper posts with the cable anchored at the top are interchangeable with one another and vice-versa.

To unravel the compatibility issue we’ve put together a simple path puzzle showing how each type of post is routed. A dropper post that is routed from the top down, like a shifter, follows route A. Bottom-up designs follow route B. That means that every dropper post from a manufacturer using route B will work with every remote that runs route B. And vice-versa. If your dropper is not on the list simply check to see where the cable head (the small cast nipple on the end of the cable) is held and work back from there.

£ – Route – Matchmaker compatible

BikeYoke – £55 – A – Yes
Brand X – £29.99 A No
Crank Bros – £54.99 – B – No
E13 – £69.95 – B – Yes
Fox 1x – £69 – B – No
Fox 2x – £69 – B – No
Giant – £19.99 – B – No
KS Southpaw – £37 – A – No
KS Southpaw Carbon – £59 – A – No
Race Face – £49 – A – Yes
Ritchey – £30 – B – Yes
Specialized – £55 – A – Yes
Thomson – £54.99 – A – No
X-Fusion Manic – £45 – A – No
X-Fusion Joystick – £35 – A – No

The mbr pick

BikeYoke Revive dropper and Crank Bros remote.