Magura Vyron eLect dropper post review

There is no denying that the concept of a cable- and hose-free dropper post is an excellent one. If your frame doesn’t have routing for a dropper, you often remove your seatpost or you just want a really simple set-up, then Magura's Vyron eLect will appeal.

To fit, you simply attach the wireless remote with a rubber O-ring and drop the post in, that’s it – other than charging it with a Micro USB cable, which is required after every 400 actuations.

This is all great, but there are significant downsides too.

The remote manages to be simultaneously flimsy and clunky, and got gritty and sticky after only two rides.

It actually sports three buttons, only one of which is needed for the dropper. The other two are used for Magura suspension adjustment, which the majority of riders won’t need, so there's a snap-on cover that blanks them off and means you have one large platform to hit. A good idea, and it all worked, but felt a bit makeshift, compounded by the rubber band bar fitting that doesn't feel very solid.

On the trail I found it difficult to live with the contrived actuation; press the button and you open a one-second ‘window’ of time in which the post can move. This may not sound like a big deal, and you may get used to it, but it affected the way I rode.

The delay was a nuisance because once you’ve lowered your saddle to the desired position, you have to sit on it until the window closes or it’ll pop back up.

If you only occassionally have to adjust the seat, and have plenty of notice, then it isn’t much of a problem, but that's not the case on punchy, rapid-fire technical trails.

Compare this with the similarly wireless RockShox Reverb AXS, which holds the adjustment gate open as long as you keep the button pressed (more like a traditional cable or hydraulic driven post) and you know it is possible. So why not, here? I can only imagine it is related to battery life, but I would gladly trade other shortcomings for this ‘movement window’ option.

So while the concept is sound, I found the Vyron Elect to be too beset by niggles and poor hardware to recommend right now. I'd rather suffer the inconvenience and clutter of a cable for a punchier, more controllable post – at least until Magura addresses these issues.