FOX Transfer Factory Dropper Seat Post [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for. 

Fox's Transfer Dropper Seatpost became the most successful ship to set sail in a sea of sinking ships. Dropper posts were absolutely awful and unreliable and when Fox released the transfer we all thought maybe it would be the same story. It wasn't. Fox's Transfer post quickly gained popularity for its reliability and durability on most enduro bikes. Our buddy Francisco recently upgraded to a Transfer Post, lets see what he thought:

Francisco's Review

I received the Fox Transfer from Worldwide Cyclery about 1.5 months after I ordered it. Unfortunately, it was on backorder as great bike parts were in great demand this winter. No big deal because trails weren’t rideable. When it did come, the Fox Factory packaging looked very sharp and well situated to avoid damage. I was also nicely updated by WWC on the progress of the delivery. WWC knew there would be a delay so they did offer me the chance to return the product. In addition to that, I received several emails from WWC with other products they thought may interest me.

The Fox Transfer is a 30.9 fit with 175mm of travel. This was way more travel than I was used to from my original Specialized Command post. The Fox Transfer was gorgeous when I opened it up... it is Kashima coated which gave it a gold appearance and high-end look. Then again, for $350, you’d kind of expect this.

I decided to install it myself, but I’m a low-level bike mechanic, so it took me about a week to find the motivation to start the install. After all, as I said, it was not quite riding season as I ordered this in the depths of winter.

Finally, I reopened the box. In it was simply the dropper post, a Fox cable connector, and a booklet that contained instructions and product information. I was a little bummed that there was no cable, no cable housing, nor the housing tips (I believe these are called ferrels). Since dropper posts range from $100-800, I would think a higher-end product like the Transfer would come with at least a cable and housing. No dice.

The Fox Transfer also did not come with a lever / remote and I quickly discovered that my existing remote for the Specialized Command Post was not compatible. So off I went to my computer to order a Wolf Tooth remote which is really nice but cost another $70. I ordered that from Amazon (sorry WWC) and it came 2 days later.

Then I was ready for the install! I grabbed the instructions and began to read. Within 2 minutes I realized how ridiculous that was and went to YouTube to simply watch a video, which was made by Fox. It made the install much easier. I did use a new cable, but I used my existing housing to make the internal routing painless. I did put a little SRAM butter on the cable before sliding it through. The whole process took about 20 minutes.

The Fox Transfer seat clamps were a little tricky to figure out as I’d never used this kind of mechanism. However, it’s really cool as it adjusts seat tilt and position all at once.

Of note, the Fox Transfer does NOT have a Schrader pump to adjust pressure. What you get is what you get. No adjusting. On the first experience, the dropper worked great. Went down and up easily without problems. However, this was only in my basement.

Out on the trails, the troubles began. The dropper is a bit slow to respond for one. Not crazy slow, but I was used to a faster reaction time. That only took some getting used to. The biggest issue was that after about 2 miles of riding, the post began to inconsistently return to the full-up position. This became a real drag at times where I wanted to make rapid transitions to tough uphills. I ended up having to lower the seat down some and then hit it again to make it fully rise up.

I got online to see if this is a Fox Transfer problem. It is. The issue has been the seat post clamp apparently, which cannot be too tight or it restricts movement. I loosened my clamp and it seemed to work better. Today, I took it out on the trail again and it worked wonderfully... for about 3 miles. Then the same issue began to happen, and the seat began to twist a little because the clamp was so loose. Ugh. Anyway, I brought it home and raised the seat about 2cm in hopes that a different clamping spot will solve the problem. So far, it seems to be better but it has not been trail-tested yet. We will see.

Conclusion

"Bottom line is that this is a nice dropper but way too pricey to not have a cable with housing and maybe a lever included AND have some quality control issues that the consumer has to try to troubleshoot. In my mind, it should work perfectly out of the box." - Francisco