A week or so ago, Doug Ballard posted a photo on PBMA‘s Facebook page of a cross bike with a dropper seat post installed on it. The bike had SRAM Force 22 HydroR controls. The bike was setup with a 1x drivetrain. The left shift lever was modified to actuate the dropper seat post, similar to early hacks on MTB bikes. The result is a super clean setup that works very well. Currently, the best way to control a dropper post with drop handlebars.
I asked Doug about the modification and was pointed to Matt LaPrade at Prologue LLC, our local SRAM rep. where the solution came from. Neither of these guys had any photos of the details of the mod but said it wasn’t hard. Best of all, the modification is easily reversible.
You don’t have to take the whole unit apart! I am just showing you this disassembly for clarity.
This is what needs to be removed. Unclip the circlip, pull the pin, remove the bits.
Since I was on the fence between drops or flats for my new cross bike I figured this would tip the hand. I ordered up a set. Last night I made the mod.
The modification is very simple. Remove the circlip, remove the pin, spring, and pawl and it’s done. Dropper lever complete. Bag and tag the parts and they can go back if you want the bike to shift again. Make sure to have a nice cable adjuster on hand to tension and release the cable on the bike. This 4mm Pro Indexed Inline Adjusters (BSA0540) from Jagwire unit is nice.
To have the ability to use a 170mm (or 200mm) dropper post or any Reverb hydro type there is a small conversion. A Bike Yoke DeHy cable conversion to work with the drop bar shift lever for actuation. The Reverb has been updated with the new B1 style IFP (11.6818.034.000). It’s backwards compatible and a must for any A1 or A2 rebuild as IFP blowby is one of the main failure modes of a Reverb.
It’s nice to see this stuff come by my screen. Good job guys!
FYI, here is the HydroR service instruction video for the trimming and bleeding the system.
