MTB MAG Review: PNW COMPONENTS Bachelor Dropper Post
"We’ve been riding the PNW Components Bachelor dropper post all Winter, and have a run down of our thoughts in the video review below. The post retails for $299 USD, and comes with PNW’s high end ‘Loam Lever’. It’s built from lightweight 7075 alloy, and is available in 150 and 170mm lengths, and 30.9, 31.6, and 34.9 diameters.
PNW was founded with the idea keeping overhead costs low, working direct with manufacturers and focusing on a product that is high quality, but ends up in the consumers hands at a reasonable price."
[TLDR] What Simon likes about the Bachelor Dropper Post:
- The Bachelor Dropper comes with the top-of-the-line Loam Lever, and not an after-market lever.
- Installation is quick and easy and doesn't require working with fluids of any kind.
- The high quality, internal DU Bushing eliminates side to side play while riding.
- The Bachelor is reliable so you can set it, forget it, and focus on your riding!
Not into watching videos? Here's the video transcript:
"Hey everybody, Simon from MTB MAG. Today we're going to talk about the PNW Components Bachelor Dropper Post. We've been riding it all winter, it has some pretty cool features and we're going to show you the details today. The Bachelor Post sells for $299, comes in 150mm and 170mm travel adjustments, and it comes in three seat tube sizes; 30.9, 31.6 and 34.9. The two smaller diameters have an adjustable air cartridge so you can change how much air goes into it. The 34.9 post comes with a preset cartridge. The seat post is made out of 7075 alloy, it features a micro adjust, 0 offset, two bolt head and it has infinite adjustments so you can set your saddle height wherever you choose. The post has a three year warranty and a replacement air cartridge can be purchased.
So something we really like about the Bachelor Post is that it comes with the top-of-the-line lever. Some companies offer nice levers, but usually it's an after-market part and it doesn't come with the post. So we give some kudos to PNW for including the nicest lever they make with the nicest post they make because that’s how it should be.
The Loam Lever has some really cool features. It’s light, weighing a mere 48 grams, it can be used with a normal 22mm bar clamp, or it can be used with Shimano I-Spec, or Sram Matchmaker systems. Something that you don’t really notice with other levers until you try a nicer one is how much softness and sponginess they have to them. The Loam Lever eliminates that by featuring a really cool set screw that allows you to fine tune how crisp it is. After you get your cable tension adjusted you can dial in the screw a little bit to make sure there is no play or swap in the level, so it creates a nice sharp and crisp feeling when you drop your post.
We really like the silicon grip on the Loam Lever. In the wet and muddy conditions it makes it so you can find the lever and have a nice, firm grip on it. Also we’ve tried other high end levers that have kind of a neural pattern on them or some sort of texture. We thought that that was our favorite until we tried this one, but those are actually kind of rough on your hands, especially with no gloves and we prefer the silicone because it’s still grippy but in a nice, soft way.
We really like the look of the Loam Lever. It’s CNC’d aluminum so it has a really sharp and precise look to it and also it rolls on a nice sealed cartridge bearing so even when things get wet and you clean your bike off its still going to have a nice, smooth feel to it.
The installation of the post was super straight forward, it was really easy to figure out and it didn’t take too much time. That’s one of the things we really like about cable actuated posts. You don’t have to bleed or deal with fluid of any kind, especially when they’re internally routed like the Bachelor is.
So what makes a good dropper post? For us it’s something that you can set and forget. It’s not going to break when you’re out on the trails and it doesn’t take constant adjustments all the time. The Bachelor Post falls exactly into that category. We forget it’s there when we’re out on rides and that’s exactly what we’re looking for. The infinite travel adjustment allows so that you can put your seat wherever you want it and you don’t have to think about it, and it doesn’t feature any side to side play like some posts do due to a high quality DU bushing inside. So it doesn’t move around when you're climbing.
So the final take away is we really like the PNW Components Bachelor Post. It’s really precise, it’s easy to use, it’s easy to maintain, and we’d highly recommend it. If you already have a nice post on your bike but maybe it feels a bit spongy and it’s cable actuated, we’d totally recommend giving their Loam Lever a try. It’s sold separately, it’s a really precise, and crisp feeling lever, and it will probably give a nice upgrade to any of the cable posts that you might have."
