Top quality lever and easy to fit – it’s the Funn UpDown Internal dropper post.
Funn UpDown Internal Dropper basics
- One piece forged 7050 alloy inner tube with hard anodized coating.
- 2-bolt type clamping
- 4-way mount remote lever
- Diameter: 30.9mm / 31.6mm
- Travel: 125mm / 150mm (more coming soon)
- Weight: 550g (125mm seatpost), 50g lever
- Approx £200
- Due in the UK December 2018
Is anyone trying really hard to find their perfect dropper post?
You know… one that (at the very least) doesn’t shit itself after a week’s use and leave you grounded? Beyond that seemingly extravagant demand, perhaps one that’s also light weight, affordable, has good range of adjustment and doesn’t cost a bloody fortune?
The previous version of the Funn UpDown dropper post (released a couple of years ago now) sadly didn’t quite make the grade. But, after a complete redesign Funn’s new UpDown Internal Dropper seems to be doing a much better job.
After a few months of hammering the new UpDown Internal, it’s time to see how it performed.
The post
At the time we were sent the Funn UpDown Internal dropper it was available in 125mm and 150mm travel options and to fit 30.9mm and and 31.6mm seat tubes. Since then, Funn have announced that they’re also going to release 175mm, 200mm and 225mm versions in the near future… Great news for long-legged cyclists.
The post is a ‘stealth’ style set up and routes internally, working with a simple cable lever. The seat clamp is a very normal two bolt setup that makes seat angle adjustment easy and is a big improvement on the old one bolt version.
There’s depth measurements on the outside of the post to help get your set up right and, we reckon, gives it a nice and smart look.
The insides
The insides are what Funn claim make the UpDown special and what they hope will see you spending less time waiting for warranty returns to break your heart.
The new post is, we’re told, designed to do away with issues caused by those pesky Internal Floating Pistons.
Most modern posts come with an IFP (Internal Floating Piston) which is usually the first thing to break in your post. It sucks in air, your post sags and you end up needing a new cartridge, costing you the best part of a hundred quid.
Funn’s post is built with with a “revolutionary” Twin Tube Cartridge system that “mechanically resets and restores oil and air locations within the cartridge whilst you use it eradicating saddle sag issues and retaining all the benefits of a cartridge dropper post”.
Funn’s explanation for their new system is as follows:
“The cartridge has an outer and inner tube that contains compress(ed) air and hydraulic oil. When the actuator is in a closed position, the seat post is locked. At this point the hydraulic oil contained in the inner chamber supports the rider’s weight.
When the actuator opens and dropper compresses, oil flows from the inner chamber to outer chamber, and compressed air enters the upper part of inner chamber. At full compression, the piston respells both hydraulic oil and unwanted air from the inner tube.
When cartridge rebounds from full compression, compressed air pushes the piston shaft upwards. Only the hydraulic oil gets sucked into the inner chamber.
This way the cartridge can effectively reallocate both air and oil back to its proper designated locations in the system. This ability to self-restore and refresh means less maintenance and lasting adjustability and performance”.
And the lever
A crap lever can really spoil your hunt for the perfect seat post… but I don’t think you’ll be bummed out with Funn’s efforts.
The lever is 100% metal, feels stiff and solid and has a smooth action that’s super easy to push even with cold fingers in gloves. The lever blade is a decent size and has little ridges to add a bit of grip.
Another nice touch is that the lever can be dismantled and mounted above or below your bars and on either side.
Fitting and setup
I’m a terrible, lazy and ham fisted mechanic. I’ll admit to being slightly daunted at the job of having to internally route a dropper.
Fitting the UpDown Internal was an absolute breeze. The dropper works using a gear cable to activate the up and down motion, meaning no faffing with bleed kits or oil and easy maintenance later on.
First up, I fitted my external gear cable to work as a guide for the internal cable. Next, I fitted the cable to the bottom of the seat post, which is held in place with the wee metal lump on the end of the cable.
Next, I fed my cable through the internals, pulled it through the lever and tensioned it with the metal grub screw on the lever. It was a 15 minute job and by putting all the fiddly stuff and cable tensioning at the lever end (rather than the post end) it made the job much, much less hassle. Top marks.
And on the trail?
The UpDown has been almost faultless, but not entirely.
The lever feels buttery smooth. It’s easy to press and feels very solid and very good quality. It hasn’t come loose, developed any creaks or squeaks or needed any maintenance at all.
The post hasn’t been through a winter of abuse yet but, so far, has remained very smooth and consistent. You push the lever and it pops dutifully up into position and slides easily back down again without any notchiness or clunkiness.
Is it perfect? Not entirely. We had one issue where the bottom cap of the post worked its way loose, causing it to stop working and partially dismantle itself. We pulled the post out of my frame, screwed it back into place and reattached the cable and it’s now working perfectly.
The design of the post meant that nothing leaked, lost pressure or was able to escape and it all just went back together without any bother. Whilst the failure wasn’t ideal, it shows that the post can be partially stripped, clean and re-assembled easily at home without any need to mess about with pressurised bits or fancy tools.
Funn’s answer to this was that our post was a pre-production sample and that final versions would have threadlock fitted to hold the cap firmly in place.
Aside from that hiccup, the post is performing as smoothly as the day it was fitted.
And the price?
Last but not least, cash money. The Funn UpDown Internal will cost you around £200 which puts it squarely up against the Reverb (which costs around the same if you shop around) but almost £150 cheaper than the Fox Doss (£369 for Kashima and £320 for Performance) and £70 cheaper than the KS LEV Integra.
Is it better or worse value than any of those? The Fox DOSS has also been faultless so far but perhaps doesn’t have quite as nice a lever. The KS is always great. Reverbs are harder to fit and maintain, with higher ongoing maintenance costs. So, yep, based on our experience so far of the post it feels like good value for money.
They’ll be distributed by Decade and available on ChainReactionCycles with stock meant to be in the UK in December.
We like
- Great quality, buttery smooth lever that works in any configuration
- Super easy to fit and equally easy to maintain
- So far, so good for maintenance and reliability with no loss in ‘feel’ of the post
- Not cheap but well priced against the competition at around £200
Could be better
- We had one issue with the post dismantling itself… but this was quickly fixed trailside with no loss of performance.
Final thoughts
The Funn UpDown Internal dropper has been a welcome surprise. It’s a massive improvement on Funn’s old dropper post and has held its own against any other dropper we’ve tested this year.
The lever is one of the best we’ve used, the post is smooth and consistent and fitting and maintenance has been a breeze. True to Funn’s promise we’ve had no problems with the internals failing and the one issue we did have was easily fixed on the trail.
It isn’t a budget post as some might have expected but it is a seriously good and seriously priced dropper that’ll take on the usual crowd.
You can learn more about Funn here on their homepage.
