So the UCI now classifies the supertuck as “dangerous conduct”.
Are we going to see dropper posts in pro racing??
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Yes. I’d say imminently. Especially because there isn’t a rule forbidding them yet!
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I classify the UCI as “dangerous conduct”.
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I used a dropper at Leadville a couple years ago. Not really needed from a technical standpoint, but very useful to get aero on some of the fast and smooth downhills. If you could make one light enough, I think a road dropper would make sense on some courses.
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How heavy is a standard dropper post? With a lot of bikes having weight added to meet the minimum weights maybe they could just be used in place?
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The weight is already added by the industry pushing disc-brakes 
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What am I supposed to do with my ISP frame? 
How many crashes have happened in super tuck? How many crashes have happened in sprints? How many crashes have happened in pouring rain? I’m far from a “BACK IN MY DAY WE SWITCHED GEARS WITH OUR TEETH” but yeesh; I hope cycling doesn’t become F1. It seems like, in the pursuit of ‘fairness,’ F1 effectively regulated out competition.
Yep, got one on the gravel bike. Its useful for road during the tuck, and to just change positions during longer rides. On a longer and steeper gravel descent it’s really nice and lets you rip corners. If my road bike would fit one, I’d have one there too.
Haha I think would be the real challenge for pro teams. All these high end bikes have wonky proprietary “aero” sit posts and clamping mechanisms. They would need to custom design the posts for each bike.
Also, given how tradionalistic riders are, I can’t see anyone adopting something as “fringe” as dropperposts on road bikes.
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They said that about disc brakes once. A dropper post will be a harder sell for GT riders than disc brakes but I could see it happening especially since it will allow faster, and safer, descending. Fair points on all the aero posts on bikes now though, with aero trumping weight I guess I that’s an even tougher sell. Outside the constraints of world tour level racing I can see it.
But they control where the weight is when adding them to make the minimum I guess.
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Once they don’t take it away from zwift 
I loath to defend the UCI, but they are kind of caught here a bit. They’re trying to push safety, and don’t address this, and a crash does happen, they’ll get asked why it was allowed.
I’d suggest there’s also an issue of amateurs copying and not having the skills/ open road.
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^^^this, it’s pretty wild how many people I’ve seen try to replicate the tuck not realizing how dangerous it can be if they lose control of the bike.
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I’ve seen people nearly come off trying to do the “puppy dog” aero position in real life too. A wobble that nearly took out the group!
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I think taller riders may be the first to adopt droppers, as they benefit more than shorter riders in getting center of gravity closer to the ground, and more aero (ask Nate!)
That said, bigger frames have less room to add weight and still be under the weight limit. I guess we’ll see.
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There is no upper weight limit, just a lower one. Riders obviously want their bike as close to that as possible, but they can be heavier without problems. Currently a lot of top-end bike are actually under the weight limit, so the team mechanics have to add weights to them to make them legal. These weights serve no other purpose. The idea was that instead of them, a dropper post adds weight, but the end result would still be very close to the weight limit.
I don’t see dropper posts being a big hit in the peloton and could see it being banned too if it catches on. Also the hydraulic or cables would just be a mess on the bars, and while wireless is a thing with AXS, mine weighs close to 700g
I’m sure I saw some testing to show that most of the tuck positions barely gained you anything so in terms of staying broken away or getting away I doubt it makes a measurable difference. I’d think the difference is made up in handling the bike when you get to the point of tucking.
In my opinion, it may be low hanging fruit for safety (sort the bl**dy barriers out) but it’s trending in the right direction.
If you were to use a dropper then a bike like a TCR with an integrated seat post would be perfect since ytou could still have it shaped to be aero, and then a small 20mm or 30mm drop at the top. Like the BMC Rad XC dropper.
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