Dropper post for a hardtail

Another upgrade. This time I decided to fit a dropper post to my hardtail. I obtained a Brand X post from Chain Reaction Cycles, during their black Friday sale period, paying around half the retail price. A great amount of thought went into deciding which post to obtain, as they now have an external activated post in the line up.
Being a hardtail, I did not want a cable around the pedal cranks so I decide to do the unthinkable and drill three holes in the frame, and opted for the internal routed cable of the Ascend Post. After reading the instructions where it is warned not to drill holes in your frame, mainly due to loosing your warranty.  I checked this out, and my bike only had a 12 month warranty, which virtually only covers you if you ride softly.

I, firstly mounted the activating lever, making sure there was room to operate my gear levers. (one day these might disappear), but till then this works, finding the best position to activate the lever with aid of the operating cable.
First of all, I followed generally, the instructions from the follow video on how to drill holes into the frame. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFmN8cQDiaU
The difference was that I used a Dremell drill with a metal grinding tool, to enlarge, after drilling the first pilot holes, instead of all that filing. The file came out only to finish off the edges. As seen in the photo below, I then fitted a Vitus Bikes Zenium Internal Brake Cable Guide, which press fits into the hole. I then guided the cable housing in through and down the frame.

Next step, was the second hole. This was easier than the first, then hole three. I used a small hook to pull through the cable wire, then the housing, then slipped on the cable guide. These were not pressed in till all was fine with the holes.

Finally, I pulled through the cable to a point ready to cut the excess off, remember to take in account that the seat post has to go back into the tube, and not having too much at the handle bars. (Remember to allow for swing).

Also note: the collar of the seat tube should be as low as possible, so that the seat drops as low as it can to the bike frame.

The final component change to come, is to replace the seat clamp, from  the quick release, to a bolt type, as the quick release is no longer required.

And of course to test, which I did on a recent training ride, operating the post of a down hill run. Gives more stability when descending steep hill, as ones center of gravity is lower across the rear wheel, then on the level, just press the lever and the seat pops back up.

Three months down the track and no signs of any problems, yet.The scratches were from the drill when I started, Will cover with a name sticker shortly.

March 20128