The Japanese giant that is Shimano, has long been hailed as the worlds leader in cycling driveline components. Of course they also supply some pretty top notch fishing equipment and surprisingly, rowing equipment... In recent times, the umbrella company has formed Pro Components and has steadily been making waves in the world of cycling add on's and accessories and decided to take on the world with their new Koryak ASP dropper post.

Whoopdy doo you may say? Well notably there has been many companies try (and fail) at dropper posts with only a few managing to play in the space with great success. The dropper post market is now flooded with many, many different brands, re-branded and re-purposed brands, knock off's and few successes.

So what is it? The Pro Koryak dropper post is an internally routed, 120mm travel only, cable operated 30.9 and 31.6 diameter post available at a very affordable $350 NZD. On top of that, the post takes an easy 20 minutes to install (if you're good with internal routing) and setup and comes with an ergonomic, sleek lever and snazzy single bolt seat clamp.

On our first ride and while test riding the Orbea Occam TR, we killed two birds with one stone with the recent availability to the New Zealand market and put the Koryak through it's motions on various different terrains and locations.

Our first impressions were that of a solid player in a market well filled already. Pro's goal of the Koryak was to "create a post that is reliable and easy to live with" offering a replaceable cartridge and while being relatively affordable.

So how did it stack up?

Pro's:

  • Easily installed
  • Affordable
  • Infinite travel adjustment
  • Single bolt seat clamp
  • It's Shimano
  • Ergonomic Clamp
  • Easily operated
  • Functional

Con's:

  • Single Bolt Seat clamp
  • A touch heavier then others
  • Single Travel option
  • Internal routing only

With the above in mind, and noting we've mentioned the single bolt clamp in both the pro's and Con's, our first few rides found the saddle to slip more then one would like resulting in an upward wedgie of ones cycling chamois....

In theory the single bolt clamp is a good idea. Easy to install, no swearing and cursing when trying to fit the bloody saddle to the bloody clamp and less room to trap mud and debris.

In practise, the seat clamp was awkward from an operational sense and needed a little extra attention to reduce the butt pain and awkwardness. Tightening it to the designated torque was an absolute must as anything short of that resulted in an easily slipped seat angle. It's important to note here too that the best allen key to use on the clamp is not that of a round head allen key as you will soon be asking Pro for another bolt....

On the whole, the post is a good player in a market that generally favours the bigger pockets and higher specs. At an affordable price, the post will benefit the not so weight conscious (component wise) riders and certainly wont break your bank in securing what has become to me an absolute must on a bike.

Available at all Shimano stockists Nationwide or notably for our test, MyBike Whangarei. The post will give your dropper free bike a modern necessity, gained control of said bike and a touch of bling. If you're unsure of what will work and what won't with your bike, pop in and give Brian a holler to take all the fuss out of it.

Disclaimer We don't condone drilling a hole in your bike to make it internally routed... We recommend that you contact your LBS to determine that this post will work for you.