The BikeYoke Revive dropper seatpost that set the benchmark for reliability and serviceability is quickly to go wi-fi, in a brand new electronically actuated improve that may put an finish to any inside cable routing hassles. We obtained a primary look and a few first saddle drops on some almost completed prototypes at the moment, and it appears actually promising.
Plus, BikeYoke’s Stefan Sack all the time has lots of cool concepts bouncing round within his head, so he confirmed me some prototype mountain bike pedals and a brand new handlebar, too!
BikeYoke Revive Wi-fi digital MTB dropper seatpost
The key to BikeYoke’s new Revive Wi-fi dropper is that the one elements which are utterly new are the digital dropper actuator, the wi-fi distant, and every personal’s rechargeable batteries. The technical hydraulic internals are the identical confirmed Revive mechanical dropper applied sciences, all the way down to the truth that the wi-fi put up shares the identical service elements because the common Revives.
That’s form of an enormous deal, as a result of that is going to be an costly dropper, however you’ll be able to make certain that the put up will proceed to go up and down easily for a very long time, and any bounce you get from air sneaking previous its inside seals is well corrected with the little Revive reset lever.
Tech particulars
The Revive Wi-fi dropper communicates with its wi-fi distant by way of Bluetooth LE. That additionally means there is a chance for a little bit of adjustability within the pace of return by way of a companion cell app, however you received’t want an app to make use of and even arrange the dropper. Each distant & dropper have 2 tiny LEDs (pink & inexperienced) that may present the battery standing of one another at a easy look.
Each wi-fi dropper and distant have their very own self-contained li-ion inside battery that’s mentioned to work for ‘a number of’ months of normal use, rechargeable with a regular USB-C port on every. Meaning eradicating the put up out of your bike to cost, which Stefan says is form of a bonus function to verify mountain bike riders don’t go away their put up in without end till it seizes of their body.
BikeYoke says the brand new wi-fi dropper is definitely even a bit lighter than the unique variations. The electrical actuator that opens and closes the valve to function the put up does add a little bit of weight, however that’s offset by the truth that the small self-contained wi-fi distant is significantly lighter than a mechanical distant with an extended section of steady housing and wire cable inside.
The addition of the actuator does add about 13mm extra general put up insertion size on the backside of the dropper, however BikeYoke has additionally trimmed roughly 5mm of stack off the put up’s head – ensuing within the wi-fi dropper being about 10mm longer than a mechanical Revive.
First Drops
The usual distant is tremendous tiny and made to take up minimal house on the bar – it is going to be an injection molded plastic half in closing manufacturing, doubtless with a detachable alloy clamp. It requires little or no power to actuate, and felt as quick as any mechanical dropper I’ve used. There’s not a ton of tactile suggestions pushing a tiny button in about 2-3mm to drop the put up (in comparison with the lengthy throw of a mechanical dropper distant). Nevertheless it solely took me about 3 pushes of the button to get a way for the quick press-then-drop movement, and it was in fact, quite a bit simpler than any mechanical distant.
BikeYoke additionally confirmed us a good smaller distant that makes use of a small wired-in separate battery that may be mounted within a handlebar for bars with inside shift wire routing.
That may doubtless be an OEM-only choice a minimum of at first, but it surely reiterates the probabilities of how simply you’ll be able to function a wi-fi dropper with all kinds of distant. BikeYoke additionally makes their very own lock-on multi-density Grippy grips, and has thought-about the chance they may even combine the distant button into one among their grips sooner or later.
Fascinating potentialities, certainly.
BikeYoke Revive Wi-fi Dropper – Pricing, choices & availability
Formally the brand new BikeYoke Revive Wi-fi is a MY24 (mannequin yr 2024) product which means you’ll have to wait till the beginning of subsequent yr to get one – ideally they need to be prepared for shoppers by the spring using season. That’s nonetheless fairly a methods off, and as BikeYoke finalize a few of the manufacturing particulars of their distant, they nonetheless don’t have an official worth but. However on-the-record/off-the-record, they prompt that BikeYoke are concentrating on a retail worth that’s a very good bit cheaper than the SRAM AXS dropper or possibly half once more costlier than mechanical Revive posts – together with the wi-fi distant.
As for sizes, it’s going to primarily be provided in all the identical choices because the mechanically-actuated Revives since they share lots of practical internals – so which means a minimum of 30.9 & 31.6mm diameters, and journey choices from 125mm as much as 213mm. It would come on this silver anodized model if there’s good response previous to manufacturing, in any other case they will all the time fall again on black.
Prototype modular platform pedal challenge
One other prototype challenge are these modular platform mountain bike pedals. The concept was to develop a strong, dependable alloy pedal physique with a serviceable axle and rotating elements, then bolt on a replaceable composite physique with the traction pins.
That modular design will enable BikeYoke to supply a minimum of a few platform sizes, and in addition allow them to tweak supplies and pin placement. These prototype pedals are machined from slippery Delrin engineered plastic with 7 lengthy replaceable traction pins per facet, and 4 bolts that maintain the alloy & plastic bits collectively.
Now that BikeYoke have ironed out the supplies and connection factors, the following step might be optimizing the decrease forefront of the pedals’ outer platform to slip over trailside obstacles. We’ll maintain tabs on the following phases of BikeYoke flat pedal improvement.
Prototype 35mm consolation mountain bike handlebars, too!
The brand new BikeYoke wi-fi dropper additionally occurred to be mounted on high of some in-development carbon mountain bike bars that weren’t solely spherical. With a flattened profile within the rise of the bars, BikeYoke is ready to steadiness some actual vertical consolation with the torsional stiffness of recent 35mm diameter bars. The bars additionally function titanium mesh reinforcement within the brake/shifter/distant clamping space for further safety.
BikeYoke says the brand new carbon bars don’t have a set launch date but, as they’re nonetheless working to optimize layup to get the most effective rider consolation, whereas nonetheless passing essentially the most stringent power, stress & impact-resistance testing in the marketplace.
Don’t fear, I personally discover nearly each fashionable 35mm bar too stiff, so I’m be protecting an in depth eye on this challenge and can share extra information at any time when I do know extra.
And for certain, we’ve put our identify on a brief listing to check the BikeYoke Revive Wi-fi dropper as quickly as one is able to overview!
