Hiding in plain sight in Trek’s recent promo image announcing Jolanda Neff joining their XC race team could be a wireless, electronically controlled Rockshox Reverb dropper seatpost powered by their eTap battery system. What caught our eye was the tiny box sitting under her seat. It’s way too small to be a saddle bag, or even a tube, so we started poking around…
Turns out, Rockshox has been testing a wireless Reverb on the EWS circuit, too, under different riders. What gives it away here are the lack of additional cables and wires coming off the front of the bike:
Because Neff’s bike is running the (presumably) upcoming Eagle eTap group, there’s no shift cable, leaving only the two brake lines, and two remote shock/fork lockout cables coming off the top of the handlebar on the left hand side. Underneath is what looks like a shift pod that’s very similar in shape to the eTap shifter pod prototypes we’ve spotted (here, here and here)…with no wires or cables coming off it. The unit under the saddle is sized to fit an eTap battery, which makes sense – keep it easy to access for recharging. And let it save the day should your derailleur battery run out.
We like the idea of a wireless dropper post, and here’s hoping it has a quick response that can match hydraulic or mechanical systems. Why do we want something like this? For travel, it means the dropper can come in and out quickly and easily. Set up or moving it between bikes would take just seconds…effectively letting you buy one dropper post for all of your bikes, assuming they share the same diameter. Rockshox is keeping mum on official details, but it’s out in the field being tested by their sponsored riders, which is a pretty good indication it’s on its way.
