[Phoenix864]

Hi all,

I've got a 150mm Giant Contact dropper. Over the past few months the stanchion of the post has developed increasingly severe stanchion wear. The post's cartridge still works fine - it goes up and down no problem (though the stiction has been getting worse due to the stanchion wear). I can't seem to find a stanchion or even a seal/rebuild kit online for the post.

I've attempted to speak to Giant directly regarding getting parts, but I never got a response back. I've taken the post to a Giant dealer, but they were unable to get parts for the post. All they could do was to warranty it, which required a receipt (unfortunately I don't have one as the post came on a bike I bought used).

I would be happy to purchase service parts, if they could be found anywhere. Has anyone managed to deal with something like this before, or is my only option to run the post into the ground and then buy a new post that actually offers service parts?

Thanks.

 

[Trinimon]

Did you ever get this sorted out? Is this normal wear for a dropper? Did you service it regularly?

 

[fmendes]

Not normal, but common if the seal gets contaminated with sand and gets bad. Looks like this is a seal kit:
https://www.amaincycling.com/giant-contact-switch-seatpost-service-kit-non-sl-150000083/p705762

 

[Trinimon]

Thanks. I'm looking at picking up a Giant dropper. Guess I'll order a seal kit just in case...

 

[targnik]

Not worth getting parts...

Look at it this way.

You can spend $300+ on a top end dropper post e.g. Reverb & spend $100+ every season getting it serviced i.e. new internals...

or

Spend $150 every couple of seasons getting a new Contact dropper from giant.

I owned a Reverb & sure it was nice... but, having to spend close to full price of a Giant dropper every season to service the bloody thing had me seeing red.

I'll happily shell out the service price of a Reverb every two+ seasons for a new Contact SL.

Sent from my Nokia X6

 

[Phoenix864]

Just a heads up, those seals are for the non-SL post. I don't think they will work with the SL version.

As far as the post itself, I haven't found any solutions. Giant will not sell any replacement parts, neither new seals nor a stanchion. I've just decided to run the post into the ground. It still goes up and down, though it's a bit rough. In the future I definitely won't be buying another giant dropper - OneUp, PNW, and others offer inexpensive droppers with some means of servicing.

 

[Trinimon]

Too bad Phoenix. I can see how that would leave a bad impression on the company. I don't see what the big deal is with selling replacement parts. Unless they only want to sell parts to deals so they can do the service work for you and charge you an arm in labor.

Targnik, I think you hit the nail on the head. At the cost of rebuilding one of these cheap droppers, it makes sense to pony up the extra and get a brand new one. Nice to see so much more affordable droppers hitting the market.

 

[Phoenix864]

Too bad Phoenix. I can see how that would leave a bad impression on the company. I don't see what the big deal is with selling replacement parts. Unless they only want to sell parts to deals so they can do the service work for you and charge you an arm in labor.

Targnik, I think you hit the nail on the head. At the cost of rebuilding one of these cheap droppers, it makes sense to pony up the extra and get a brand new one. Nice to see so much more affordable droppers hitting the market.

Unfortunately they wouldn't even sell parts to dealers. The only way to get anything done was to have a receipt and warranty the entire post through a dealer.

As the post came on a used bike I didn't have a receipt, and as such wasn't able to get any work done. It seems like if you needed any spare parts outside of the warranty period you would also be out of luck.

At this point there is literally zero reason to buy a Giant seatpost. With OneUp you can get a cheap, decent dropper that actually has service parts available.

 

[major go]

I just wanted to tune in on this old thread as I've had the same problems with my dropper. Seems like the (aluminum?) bushing that is pressed between the stanchion and the outer sleeve picks up a bit of corrosion and wears away at the anodizing. It looks like it might even wear metal-on-metal against the stanchion. Slick honey and wet chain lube can only help so much to smooth it out.

Bummer that that little metal washer can't be easily replaced (or even removed and cleaned properly for that matter). If that was the case, I could see myself continuing to use this 6-ish year old dropper for some time. But as it is, I'll have to look elsewhere soon.

 

[Trinimon]

Knock on wood, haven't seen any wear on my Contact dropper stanchions. Then again, mine is going on 3yrs.

 

[major go]

Knock on wood, haven't seen any wear on my Contact dropper stanchions. Then again, mine is going on 3yrs.

knock knock 😅

Have you been able to take it apart and service it?

Does yours also have a metal split ring washer as the part that the stanchion interfaces with?

 

[Trinimon]

knock knock 😅

Have you been able to take it apart and service it?

Does yours also have a metal split ring washer as the part that the stanchion interfaces with?

Sorry mate, I took it apart once but that was the first year I had it and don't remember what the insides looked like. Since then, the GF rides that bike like 6x in the last 2 yrs so I never bothered to service them.