I have been riding mountain bikes for a few months now, I soon found out that with the hobby comes a thirst for upgrades and gadgets. So I started slowly but surely upgrading the bike step by step prioritizing the upgrades with a “bang for buck” approach, now anyone who gets in to mountain biking finds out quickly that Mountain Bike parts are not cheap and if you buy something relatively cheap you might end up paying more later down the road or even worse get injured riding a trail.
So I started asking all my MTB friends what they thought my next upgrade should be, since I had just upgraded my tires most suggested I get a dropper post to help me change my body position easier in technical sections. So my search for a dropper post within my budget began, low and behold I came across the Brand-X Ascend II. Chainreaction Cycles had a special offer on the Ascend II dropper at only 140 Euros, so I grabbed the opportunity and a week later my Dropper Post arrived.
The Ascend II came in a neat black box that exposed the mid section of the dropper post. It included the control lever, a cable and the Dropper post. My local bike shop installed it for me via the internal routing of my Trek Fuel ex 5 and I took it out on the trails the next day.
Now after apx 3 months of riding with the Ascend II I am ready to give some good feedback on the Ascend II.
Built Quality
I was able to tell straight out of the box that the built quality of the Dropper was very good, once we had installed it, we found that there was a slight wiggle between the seat clamp and the piston. My friends run more expensive droppers and don’t seem to have this issue. After 8 months of riding the wiggle is exactly the same, since it has not become any worse I assume it will not break any time soon.
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The lever controlling the Ascend 2 does the job but is not of the best quality, nor is it very convenient. It took a little getting used to as the lever is on the side of the handle bar and not underneath like a gear shifter for example. Since I run a 1×11 drivetrain, the position under the hanlde bar is free and would have been a lot more convenient. The cable became lose a few times and I had to tighten it but some cable stretch is normal with a new installation. I am upgrading the lever in the next couple of weeks which will cost another 30-40 Euros
Brand-X Ascend II Dropper Seatpost
€140.00
Pros
- Bang for Buck
- Easy to Install
Cons
- Low Quality Lever
- Slight wobble out of the box
Do you have any link to the manual? I have an issue with it, it does not work at all, i unscrewed the bottom cap, but the body seems to be unscrewed. It says read the manual before opening, but i cannot find it online…
Hi Zoobab,
I actually opened mine as well as I had a problem with it and there was no manual anywhere. I did the following:
1) Fully extend the Seatpost
2) Remove cable and cable cap
3) unscrew the bottom cap. Once removed you will see a lever where the cable attaches. My problem was that the cable was not tight enough so I unscrewed the bolt that held the cable in place. Note its not really a cable its a string. I tightened the rope as much as I could making sure that the level is in the released position and not moved. Be carefull not to let the string slip in to the body of the dropper. Mine did and I put it back using a guitar string. Be carefull not to scratch the inside.
4) once all is tightened put the cap back on and you are good to go
I am not sure if you have the same problem, but hope this helps. Feel free to message me if you need any more help
Best Regards
Romie