2013 Thomson Elite Dropper Seatpost and Downhill Handlebar |

CLIENT

PROJECT NAME

Aug

2012

2013 Thomson Elite Dropper Seatpost and Downhill Handlebar

8/31/2012 : sicklines

Seat Post lever option

At Eurobike this year Thomson had a few new products they were displaying including a new Elite dropper style seat post as well as a new downhill handlebar and more. Check it out inside.

The Thomson Elite dropper seatpost was quite impressive for their first prototype. There is a bar mounted lever to actuate the post or a under the seat mode as well.

Handlebar mounted option pictured here

Seatpost lever option

The basics of this post is that it is a 5″ dropper and it can stop anywhere in the 5″ range. They’re planning on having it available in 30.9 and 31.6 to start and weight / price wise will be competitive with the current market. They’re aiming to have this post ready to go by the spring next year but Thomson won’t release it until they’re happy with it. They teamed up with a Taiwan team to create this post and it certainly has the Thomson style finish to it.

The actuaton point is controlled on top in this prototype

Both of the remote levers felt quite good and its nice to see an option available for under the seat mode as well as a remote handlebar lever option. The routing is pretty clean and isn’t quite as ideal from a cable management perspective as say a Reverb Stealth setup but we’ll have to wait and see what the final product looks like.

Cable routing

The seatpost had a good return speed in our opinion and wasn’t a ball slapping affair nor did it feel too slow. The nitrogen cartridge is meant to be set and forget so no real fiddling with it internally from a consumer standpoint.

Internal cartridge inside of the seatpost

Moving onto handlebars, Thomson is offering a 31.8mm – 780mm wide bar that will be available in a few weeks. Its got a 12mm rise 6º back and a 4º upsweep.