Orbea Wild FS owners, dropper post thoughts

fenwick458

Active member
Oct 6, 2020
295
187
Cumbria
I've had my new Wild FS M20 for a few weeks, the dropper post was always tough to drop, but at first once I'd drop it right down and up a few times it would free up and bit and the rest of the ride it was ok. I thought it might get smoother with use but it seems not...
tried to put the seat down today whilst in the garage just to put it on the rack, it's stiff as and almost impossible if you aren't sat on the bike and you jump up and land on it. as it's going down it sounds like theres grinding.
so it's going downhill rapidly. I've already contacted the bike shop I'm hoping to get it fixed or replaced with a better one its absolutely useless.
 

Gyre

Well-known member
Jan 25, 2021
630
422
Pasadena, CA
IMHO with this kind of bike it's a big benefit to get the maximum amount of drop travel and the smoothest lever actuation you can, so I replaced mine with a BikeYoke Revive 2.0 the first chance I had.
 

Mteam

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Aug 3, 2020
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Take the post out of the frame and disconnect the actuator cable, then you can unscrew the bit where the cable fits in (there's a hole for an Allen key) then you can slide the inner post out of the outer post, clean and lube it. You can get it working reasonably smoothly, but it needs relubing reasonably frequently.

It's dead easy to do though.
 

fenwick458

Active member
Oct 6, 2020
295
187
Cumbria
Just to update this, I cleaned and re greased it one last time, took it for a ride and it was tiny bit better.
next day it had stiffened up again. when dropping it, it felt like something was binding....so removed it, sent back to shop where I got it from, and fitted a Oneup components 210mm post.
shop said Orbea have approved a new one under warranty and thats on its way to me as we speak.
the Oneup one is fantastic, works smoothly and consistently, plus it's got more drop
 

Mteam

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Aug 3, 2020
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Just to update this, I cleaned and re greased it one last time, took it for a ride and it was tiny bit better.
next day it had stiffened up again. when dropping it, it felt like something was binding....so removed it, sent back to shop where I got it from, and fitted a Oneup components 210mm post.
shop said Orbea have approved a new one under warranty and thats on its way to me as we speak.
the Oneup one is fantastic, works smoothly and consistently, plus it's got more drop
What size orbea do you have, and does the oneup post slide all the way into the frame all the way up to the collar?
 

Mteam

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mines an XL, and yes it goes right in. the bottom part of the Oneup post is almost same length as the Orbea one
ah - was hoping you had a size L.

I was looking to swap my 150mm orbea post for 170mm drop post, but from what I can tell by reviewing the specs from orbea , a 170mm dropper from one up or pnw (or any of the other manufacturers for that matter) cant be inserted all the way into the frame.
 

Thedoc

Member
Jan 19, 2020
17
2
Uk. Staffordshire
ah - was hoping you had a size L.

I was looking to swap my 150mm orbea post for 170mm drop post, but from what I can tell by reviewing the specs from orbea , a 170mm dropper from one up or pnw (or any of the other manufacturers for that matter) cant be inserted all the way into the frame.

I’ve order a L which hope to get in 2 weeks with a 170mm and was hoping to get full drop to insert. Got me thinking that may not work out as I’d hoped. I have about 31 inside leg. And 170mm saddle to bottom bracket.
 

Mteam

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Sorry mean 1700mm to 1720mm

The orbea blue paper for the wild fs says that the size large has a max insertion of 225mm for the carbon frame and 210mm for the alu frame.

The manual for the orbea dropper post says that the 170mm dropper has a collar to bottom of actuator length of 275mm, and the 150mm dropper is 255mm.So the 170mm orbea dropper will stick out of the seat tube by 50mm (assuming you have the carbon frame)

Most (probably all?!) 170mm dropper posts are longer than that max insertion depth of the frame, eg the PNW loam dropper is 260mm, so wont be able to be slid all the way in to the seat tube.

I'd like a 170mm dropper , but only if I could slide the post all the way into the frame -which doesnt look possible with the current set of dropper posts on the market
 
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Thedoc

Member
Jan 19, 2020
17
2
Uk. Staffordshire
Thanks that’s really helpful. I look forward to checking out the stand over.

I can see myself taking my 150 transfer post off my current non E

Doc
 

fenwick458

Active member
Oct 6, 2020
295
187
Cumbria
that is interesting, so it seems the blue paper is not that accurate! seems a big margin to be off by too, I measure the bottom of the 170mm post at 280mm and according to Orbea the max should be either 210-225mm so this is a discrepancy of 70mm max :oops:
 

Pigin

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2020
300
400
Saddleworth
It feels cheap, loose and needs plenty of welly. It works but good points of contact makes my rides sooo much bette.
 

hainman

Member
Apr 8, 2021
74
42
Glasgow
that is interesting, so it seems the blue paper is not that accurate! seems a big margin to be off by too, I measure the bottom of the 170mm post at 280mm and according to Orbea the max should be either 210-225mm so this is a discrepancy of 70mm max :oops:
The collar of the one up is small so might take up a few mm
 

Gyre

Well-known member
Jan 25, 2021
630
422
Pasadena, CA
that is interesting, so it seems the blue paper is not that accurate! seems a big margin to be off by too, I measure the bottom of the 170mm post at 280mm and according to Orbea the max should be either 210-225mm so this is a discrepancy of 70mm max :oops:

I don't believe the Blue Paper is terribly far off on a size large frame. @hainman is using a OneUp dropper, not an OC2. According to OneUp, the total possible insert length of a 180mm post (assuming it's shimmed to 170) is 267mm, and 15mm of that is actuator. Depending on the orientation of the cable the actuator length may not count, so maybe 252mm is the part that matters, and that's only if we're talking about "slammed" meaning true collar-to-collar contact.

From my experience with my BikeYoke Revive, I got away with just a little bit more insertion that the specs allowed for, but I did have to rotate the actuator to prevent some kind of binding.
 

fenwick458

Active member
Oct 6, 2020
295
187
Cumbria
I don't believe the Blue Paper is terribly far off on a size large frame. @hainman is using a OneUp dropper, not an OC2. According to OneUp, the total possible insert length of a 180mm post (assuming it's shimmed to 170) is 267mm, and 15mm of that is actuator. Depending on the orientation of the cable the actuator length may not count, so maybe 252mm is the part that matters, and that's only if we're talking about "slammed" meaning true collar-to-collar contact.

From my experience with my BikeYoke Revive, I got away with just a little bit more insertion that the specs allowed for, but I did have to rotate the actuator to prevent some kind of binding.
I actually misread I thought hainman had said that they fitted an Orbea dropper ?‍♂️
the numbers are still off though, just by a slightly smaller margin!
 

Thedoc

Member
Jan 19, 2020
17
2
Uk. Staffordshire
I have the 170 mm and works for me as the pedal arm are 160mm so 12.5mm shorter than my previous bike . I’m 5.10 and about 31 inside leg. Works perfectly
 

Mteam

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Aug 3, 2020
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Heres a pic of the one up 180mm dropper pushed as far into the seat tube of a carbon size large wild fs as it will go. the seatpost collar sits about 10mm above the seat clamp.
WhatsApp Image 2021-05-13 at 15.37.09 (1).jpeg
 

Zed

Active member
Feb 26, 2019
369
320
Brisbane, Australia
Aaargh it doesn't make sense... that 180mm dropper in Mteam's pic shouldn't go in that far according to the Orbea dimensions for the bike and the OneUp dimensions for the post :)

I'm on an alum frame, and I'm actually more concerned about getting it slammed at the bottom than I am about correct leg extension at the top. So many times I've bought too much dropper and had it too high at the top, or not low enough at the bottom :)

Still, with the Alu frame insertion depth being 15mm less, I'm thinking the OneUp 150 is the way to go, that should get it close to slammed (222mm insertion with a 15mm actuator on top). If I get a discrepancy for my Alu frame anywhere like Mteam's carbon frame has above hopefully fully slammed. Unless I can find a 150 with LESS insertion depth than the OneUp 150 of course...
 
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Mteam

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Aaargh it doesn't make sense... that 180mm dropper in Mteam's pic shouldn't go in that far according to the Orbea dimensions for the bike and the OneUp dimensions for the post :)

I'm on an alum frame, and I'm actually more concerned about getting it slammed at the bottom than I am about correct leg extension at the top. So many times I've bought too much dropper and had it too high at the top, or not low enough at the bottom :)

Still, with the Alu frame insertion depth being 15mm less, I'm thinking the OneUp 150 is the way to go, that should get it close to slammed (222mm insertion with a 15mm actuator on top). If I get a discrepancy for my Alu frame anywhere like Mteam's carbon frame has above hopefully fully slammed. Unless I can find a 150 with LESS insertion depth than the OneUp 150 of course...

I think the oneup post is supposed to be the shortest (in terms of insertion depth) dropper seatpost available.

You're right, according to the orbea specs that post shouldn't go into the frame that far, but it does and it's not forced in, I could probably get it 5mm or so lower but it feel like there is some resistance so I'm reluctant to force it further down.

The 180mm one up is perfect for me (me being 177cm tall), I wouldn't go for 150mm drop.
 
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Zed

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Feb 26, 2019
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Brisbane, Australia
I think the oneup post is supposed to be the shortest (in terms of insertion depth) dropper seatpost available.

You're right, according to the orbea specs that post shouldn't go into the frame that far, but it does and it's not forced in, I could probably get it 5mm or so lower but it feel like there is some resistance so I'm reluctant to force it further down.

The 180mm one up is perfect for me (me being 177cm tall), I wouldn't go for 150mm drop.
Yeah it's question I guess of how much ACTUAL insertion my bike has. It's supposed to be 10mm less than the carbon, which means if it has the same deviation from the spec as yours does, I'd still have 20mm poking out, and I don't think that's going to be optimal for me. I'll rip mine out and measure up the insertion before I buy (it'll be a couple of weeks until recover from the financial shell shock of buying the bike :)). That will also give me time to run the stock one as it is and work out if little less overall height at the top would work for me. Probably it would. I use my ebike for blasts, not big days out, and I don't need a pedalling-optimal full leg extension, I'd trade it for more drop at the bottom I think.
 
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jbrown15

Well-known member
May 27, 2020
810
672
Chilliwack, Canada
I just installed my 150mm OneUp dropper post in my large aluminum Wild FS because the stock one would still stick out almost 2-1/2" when it was slammed all the way down. The OneUp goes right to the down and gives you extra clearance which is really nice to have. I have an AXS coming but if it can't go as low as the OneUp or at least get close I'll stick with the OneUp 150mm post..
 

Zed

Active member
Feb 26, 2019
369
320
Brisbane, Australia
I just installed my 150mm OneUp dropper post in my large aluminum Wild FS because the stock one would still stick out almost 2-1/2" when it was slammed all the way down. The OneUp goes right to the down and gives you extra clearance which is really nice to have. I have an AXS coming but if it can't go as low as the OneUp or at least get close I'll stick with the OneUp 150mm post..
Thanks!
Yeah I've been riding mine for a bit now, the same Large Alu @150, and I certainly wouldn't want it any higher in the top position - in fact I could happily go a bit lower. But would love any more drop I could get at the bottom. So a 150 OneUp seems like the right choice for me, I figured it would slam, but now someone's actually tried it, even betterer...
 

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