The target audience for a 240mm dropper post is small. Or, rather, it’s tall. Like, 95th-percentile-North-American-male tall. That may be why it took nearly two decades for one to hit the mainstream market. The world of long droppers is still pretty new, which also means it’s still pretty misunderstood. And Travis Engel learned that he had misunderstood some things until he tested OneUp’s longest post.
I’m 6’2”, which puts me squarely in most brands’ XL frame sizes. And for years, those XL frames have had low enough standover and deep enough seatpost insertion that I should be able to run a dropper much longer than 200mm. But the best I could get was around 210mm until just last year when OneUp released the 240mm V2. It’s got OneUp’s signature low stack height, netting a minimum exposed length of just 273mm from frame clamp to saddle rails. And if you’re still on the cusp of fitting your desired length, you can shorten a OneUp post’s drop by 10mm or 20mm. What you can’t shorten, of course, is the length of the post’s lower half. To run this 240mm post, you need at least 337mm of insertion depth. Compare that to 297mm on the 210mm version. The weight penalty isn’t much, though, at 648g for the 240mm compared to 570 for the 210mm (claimed, 30.9mm diameter, without cable or remote).
My first concern on the 240mm OneUp V2 was durability. Fox, for example, had to redesign the Transfer dropper’s entire chassis to create a 200mm version. So, before I submitted a verdict on the OneUp, I rode it for six months, and over one of the wettest winters in California history. I’ve encountered issues on some 200mm posts after less abuse. I figured this 240mm post was bound to show some wear after a half a year under a 190-pound rider who carries a chainsaw once in a while. And those concerns are mainly just about structural elements like the bushings and body. There’s also the cartridge. The longer the travel, the greater the increase in stored pressure when dropped. I know I asked for this, but 240mm suddenly seems like it’s asking a lot.
OneUp took some measures beefing up the post to accommodate the longer drop. The bushings in the lowers are 10mm further apart than on the 210mm V2. And it helps that OneUp uses a thicker-than-average 26mm upper. Whatever the reason, I experienced no extra wobble, twist, or flex. The cartridge is also still going strong, but the post developed a nagging slow return speed about three months in. That was after about 170 on-bike hours, well past the recommended 50-100-hour service interval. Before I went blaming the cartridge, figured I should do what’s recommended and get to servicing. It was involved, but straightforward. There’s no dexterity puzzles or spring-loaded time bombs. The whole process took me about 25 minutes, with no muscle memory and lots of YouTube. And it’s good now, aside from some very minor thinning of the anodizing on the back of the post’s upper. After another three months (but fewer and dryer on-bike hours), it’s still returning quick and smooth.
Beyond that, the post functioned like any other OneUp I’ve used. It’s got a boutique-level polish that’s impressive at $199.50. I like seeing external air pressure adjustment, which is lacking even on some more expensive posts. It allowed me to dial up the return speed to my liking. There’s also some quality of life benefits, like a compact actuator that leaves all the cable-pinching to the handlebar, and a saddle clamp with a wide angle-adjust range that accommodates nose-down folks like myself. Usually, there’s not much else to say in a dropper review. But usually, I’m not reviewing 240mm droppers. I have things to say. And, well, it’s not you, OneUp. It’s me.
The truth is, I will be going back to my 200mm post. If I had a 210mm V2, I’d absolutely pick it over the more expensive, non-user-serviceable Fox Transfer or RockShox Reverb posts that I happen to have on standby. But I learned something during my time with the 240mm OneUp. There can be such thing as too much drop.
It’s not that the saddle got too low. As expected, I liked how low it could get. Even though it wasn’t often, I did notice tangible benefits of the extra room when leaning the bike to hold a narrow line, or throwing a little extra steez in the air. It was not a distraction that the bike hit my legs in a different spot, and I didn’t feel unmoored simply because the saddle was lower. It’s just that getting it that low was surprisingly taxing. Part of it was the extra split second it took to get there and back again, but more of it was the stress it put on my knees. Like it forced me just beyond my threshold of comfort. I couldn’t pop back up nearly as easily or quickly as I could with my 200mm post. That phenomenon is actually why some XC racers choose to run 60 or 70mm droppers. There would be minimal weight penalty to a slightly longer post, and a measurable stability benefit. But it saves energy not to have to drop that far. So, I shortened the OneUp’s travel to 230mm, and then 220. And it helped, but it turns out that both were past my sweet spot.
Key word here is “my” sweet spot. I have a friend who’s 6’4”, and the 240mm post was an unmitigated triumph for him. Granted, his knees are younger than mine. So, that may be part of it. But also, his “low” position is a bit higher than mine. He’s still traveling the same distance, but maybe that “threshold” I mentioned is governed by proportions. The 240mm post is more proportionate to his body, and a 200mm post is more proportionate to mine. That was confirmed in my first ride on the Canyon Spectral 125 (before I swapped to the OneUp to minimize interruptions in my six-month test). I did not miss the extra 40, 30, or 20mm. That’s not the case when I go below 200mm. My first ride on a current test bike was soured by its criminally short 185mm post. I knew immediately something was wrong, and have since pulled my personal 200mm post out of its half-year hibernation and put it back in service.
This was an interesting experience. I’ve spent over fifteen years wishing my dropper posts could be longer. 3” droppers went to 4”, then the metric system brought them to 125mm and 150mm. I’d be satisfied for a few months, and then need a 175mm. Then 200mm. It only made sense that this would continue until my mountain bike looked like my trials bike. But I guess it’s not that simple. There are a lot of factors that I hadn’t considered. I’ll remember that, when judging gear trends, sometimes I’m wrong. Except for headset cable routing.
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