PNW Components Range Dropper Post and Lever First Ride Review – Spencer Harding | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

PNW Components recently released their Range Dropper Post and Range Lever. Iterating off their premium Loam dropper and lever the Range series offers a simplified and budget-friendly dropper post package. We think it’s a pretty solid deal, with the combo post + lever coming in at $199 total. Check out Spencer’s first ride review below…

The Range lever and dropper post appear similar to other products across PNW Components’ growing lineup. Essentially, the Range-level parts are simplified and more budget-friendly versions of the Loam-level parts but share the brand’s established DNA.

The Range Lever is forged instead of CNC’d, as with the Loam lever. The Range Dropper Post uses a sealed air cartridge that doesn’t have adjustable pressure or travel. Those features—or lack thereof—are the tradeoffs for the budget pricing on the Range Lever and Lever.

Range Dropper and Lever Quick Hits

Diameter Options: 30.9mm, 31.6mm (reviewed)
Travel Options: 125mm, 150mm, 175mm, 200mm (reviewed)
Weight: 570g-666g (depending on size)
Stanchion Diameter: 26mm
Cartridge: Sealed Air
Routing: Internal
Range Seatpost: $159
Range Lever: $49
Seatpost/Lever/Cable Kit Bundle: $199

With up to 200 mm travel, the Range dropper has diameter and travel options for almost any modern mountain bike. The sealed air cartridge means no air pressure adjustment or travel, but that also means less maintenance since the cartridge is, duh, sealed. When you service the post, you will need a new cartridge. Fortunately, PNW has a lifetime warranty on their posts. I’ve had a great experience with their warranty dept in the past getting replacement parts or shipping the post back for service. Obviously, this post will weigh a bit more than more expensive posts, but PNW is trying to shed dollars off the price not grams off the post.

Range Dropper Post

Out of the box, the PNW Range Dropper post feels familiar. The actuation lever on the bottom of the post is unchanged from when the dropper post cable routing went in the opposite direction (cable end on the lever), which was a nightmare to set up. The Range Dropper simply threads a standard shifter cable end onto the actuator arm. This does feel less polished than the actuation levers of other dropper posts designed for the newer style of cable routing, however. But, does it work? Yes, it works fine.

The collar at the top of the post is tall, in this day of ever-lengthening dropper posts. I was able to achieve a similar saddle height as my 210mm Oneup V2 dropper post (setup 200mm). However, on the Range, my seatpost is slammed rather than having ~10mm of breathing room to adjust. Once again, this is a budget-level dropper post. If you want adjustable height and a lower stack height, check out the Loam Dropper Post from PNW.

The sealed cartridge creates a measured return speed. It lacks the return top-out thwack of a Bike Yoke or Wolf Tooth, but the action is nonetheless solid. The Range post has an understandable amount of side-to-side movement in the stanchion. All budget dropper posts have some of this movement, but I’ve also felt much more from premium brands out of the box in the past.

Range Dropper Lever

Accompanying the Range Dropper Post is the Range Lever, a paired-down version of their premium Loam Lever. The Loam lever has been a favorite of mine over the past few years. The Range utilizes forged aluminum instead of the more intricate and expensive CNC process used to make the Loam Lever, which means the tolerances aren’t as tight. It also appears that the bearing size has been reduced in the Range while still utilizing a sealed bearing to keep the motion smooth.

The Range and Loam share the same signature rubber thumb pad for secure and grippy actuation.

The Range Lever has three mounting positions and can also be set up with SRAM’s matchmaker system. When mounting to the included 22.2mm collar I noticed that the engagement of the two pieces was less than great. I don’t think this will affect the usage of the lever or post, but it illustrates the difference in machining tolerances.

Within Range

The Range strikes a balance between budget and great features. The dropper post uses some dated technology while offering modern travel numbers. The lever is less polished (understandably) but still feels great with sealed bearings and enough adjustability. If you are looking for more drop for your buck, it will be hard to beat the Range bundle with the dropper, lever, and cables all for $199. I’ll stand by dropper posts being one of the best upgrades to any bike. In the past I looked to PNW for budget options to get a dropper on my bikes. PNW continues offering great products at a great price with the Range Dropper and Lever.