Andi Sykes from Singletrack Magazine reviewed our Loam Lever and with a title like "PNW Component’s Loam Lever Upgrades Your ‘Good’ Dropper Post To a ‘Great’ One" we were immediately excited. We thought we would pass on what the UK's preeminent MTB magazine and blog had to say about the product:
We’re a varied bunch here at Singletrack Towers. We have riders who prefer carbon and others who prefer steel. Some of us ride on flat pedals and others ride clipped in. There are even riders in the office who don’t have any suspension at all! But with all of our differences, there is one item that each of us runs on our bikes, and that’s a dropper post.
Dropper posts have improved significantly over the years, with pretty much every modern post offering predictable and reliable performance. While the posts themselves are generally good, there are some changes that can be made to a dropper to boost the usability though and the most effective is a lever upgrade.
PNW Loam Lever Review
Meet the rather lovely PNW Loam Lever.
We’ve tested a couple of lever upgrades over the years including some really nice examples from Cane Creek and Wolftooth, but if you’re after something that adds a little creative flair as well as function to your bike then take a look at the PNW Loam Lever.
PNW, or Pacific North West, is a U.S based component company that specializes in designing a range of dropper posts, dropper post accessories, and even the odd stem or two.
The Loam Lever is a £66, CNC machined custom aluminium lever that’s designed to replace the stock lever on pretty much any cable actuated dropper on the market. The PNW website lists 19 dropper post makes and models that the Loam Lever is guaranteed to work with, but they can also add the X-Fusion Manic to that list as it works perfectly on mine.
As a large majority of riders are running a 1x gear system these days, the Loam Lever is designed to sit where a front mech shifter would have once been. An underbar design means it gives your cockpit a nice clean finish and is easily actuated with your left-hand thumb.
PNW have been smart enough to design its lever with a cable clamp bolt rather than relying on the cable head that we see on some designs. This makes the Loam a universal fit for all cable operated posts, and speeds up installation time too.
Installation is a doddle, and the only ‘specialist’ tool you’re going to likely need is a cable cutter or good quality set of snips. For my install on the X-Fusion Manic dropper I first removed the old lever, thankfully it was a split clamp design like the PNW so I didn’t need to remove my brake lever or grip, then I chopped off the cable end as the PNW doesn’t need it.
Before installing the Loam Lever I did need to remove an inch or so of outer cable. If you’re careful you won’t even need to remove the internal cable to do this. With enough cable showing to install the lever all that’s needed is to bolt it all up and fasten it to the bar.
Read more of the article here.