Swiss Manufacturer, Fair Bicycle, Launches with the Seat-Angle-Steepening Drop Best

Among the many things that have changed throughout The Great Bike Geometry Revolution, seat tube angles have been the slowest to catch up. Plenty of bikes out there have the right fit, the right head angle and the right travel numbers, but will put you way off the back until the next generation swoops in to fix it. My personal Scott Ransom is absolutely perfect, except for its 75-degree seat tube angle that measures closer to 74 degrees at my ride height. The Switchgrade is a novel solution, but may also prove to be a little polarizing. If all you want is to get a degree or two steeper, you were stuck. Until now.

A brand new Swiss manufacturer called Fair just launched with their debut product, the Drop Best. Like the Switchgrade, it replaces all the clamping mechanism of the seatpost with its own. Unlike the Switchgrade … is just about everything else. For now, it only works with the RockShox Reverb, but not the Reverb AXS. It doesn’t increase the stack height, but all it does is move your saddle forward (or backward if you need it to) by 27 millimeters.

That essentially will increase your effective seat tube angle by about 2 degrees, depending on your saddle height. The Drop Best is made in Switzerland, and it seems that Fair is committed to sustainability, both in its products and its production. Lots of details on their low-impact packaging, their favorable labor practices, and a general sense of do-goodery. Of course, that all means that the Drop Best isn’t cheap. $120 may seem like a bit much for a saddle clamp, but the payoff to riders could be huge. At least, I hope it will be. The Drop Best is available now, and I already got my order in. Review coming soon after it makes its way from Europe to California, which Fair estimates at around 25 business days. In the meantime, below are the bullet points.

• Forward or rearward offset: 27mm
• Effective seat angle adjustment of 2º (e.g. from 76º to 78º at 680mm seat height)
• +15º / -15º saddle tilt adjustment at 76º seatangle
• Stack height identical to original Reverb® seat clamp
• Weight: 125g complete assembly, Reverb® assembly: 74g. Weight difference: 51g
• Independently ISO tested in Germany, to MTB standards and beyond
• Compatible with all Reverb® seatposts except for the AXS®versions
• Compatible with all saddles which measure 16mm or more from the top of the rail to the lowest point of the saddle shell. Depending on how soft the saddle is, it might touch the seat clamp when the rider lands hard on the saddle.

The Drop Best is available now at fairbicycle.com