Very few cable-operated dropper posts come with particularly ergonomic remote levers, and hardly any (apart from the KS Southpaw) will fit beneath the handlebar. This is because they’re designed to work on bikes with or without front shifters.

If you’ve switched to a single-ring drivetrain, you won’t be needing that front shifter any more, so why not recycle it into a custom dropper post remote?

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We have used an old SRAM X0 shifter for our conversion and, while X9, X7 and X5 shifters are held together in a slightly different way, the parts you need to remove or modify are identical.

Inside the shifter is a simple ratchet mechanism. The ratchet wheel has teeth machined into the edge, which catch on the control slider when changing gear. One option is to grind off these teeth, but it’s much easier to simply remove the control slider altogether. The ratchet will then spin freely and you don’t need to make a mess with a Dremel.

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Note that this mod will only work with posts where the gear cable barrel anchors inside the remote, such as posts from Thomson, KS and Specialized.

The five simple steps to make your own dropper post remote

1. Remove the spool spring, it should just unclip, and discard.

2. You’ll need to remove the ratchet wheel to get to the control slider. On the X0 shifter the wheel is held together with a two-part bolt, which has a square fitting underneath. You’ll need to hold this square bolt by jamming something inside, like a screwdriver or Torx key. SRAM X9, X7 and X5 shifters all use a Torx bolt here.

3. The silver control slider is held in place by two black bolts. One of them is poking out from underneath the lever housing, but you should be able to access it with a pair of needle nose pliers.

4. When you dismantle the shifter, the control slider spring may pop out. You can discard this part.

Video: The simplest dropper post ever?

5. Cut off the plastic release-lever with a Stanley knife and clean up the rough edge with Emery cloth or a file. Reassemble, fit the cable and hook it up to your seatpost. The barrel adjuster can also be used to tension the cable.