Crankbrothers Highline 7 £264.99
“EVERYTHING WAS A POSITIVE AND EASY EXPERIENCE WITH THE HIGH LINE 7, FROM FITTING IT THROUGH TO USING IT ON THE TRAIL, AND MANY HOURS ON THE BIKE HAVE CEMENTED ITS PLACE AT THE TOP OF THE HEAP”
The Highline 7 won us over fairly quickly. It’s beautifully made and presented, as is the Crankbrothers way, and it all went together extremely easily on the bike. The post’s noticeably short stack height makes it compatible with more frames, too. Crankbrothers have adopted our favourite ‘cable nipple at the post’ design. Simply drop the nipple into the receiver, pop the outer in and pull the cable through. Nip it up and adjust at the remote end, and you’re done. Lovely. The remote, while £55 extra, is worth every penny. Not only is the paddle well-proportioned with a crisp and punchy action, but the ball-and socket clamp means you can draw it right in close, adjusting the angle to squeeze past bar furniture to exactly where you want it. There’s little flex – the downfall of many remote levers – but we did find that the sandpaper grip on the paddle only lasted two rides before going AWOL, the glue simply not being up to the job. That was a minor gripe though, and only took five minutes of DIY to sort. The saddle clamp is an excellent, dependable twin-bolt design, which makes it easy enough to get the saddle into position and keep it there. No fuss and no jamming of the mechanism, which can happen with single-bolt expander designs. Once out on the trail, nothing about this dropper made us waver from our positive first impressions. The return action is quick but not too quick, and no amount of abuse on cold or wet rides had the slightest effect on it. Crankbrothers are stepping up with a four-year warranty on the Highline 7 (compared to two years on the Highline 3) – a statement of their confidence in this new, more durable design. www.extrauk.co.uk