Posted on April 7, 2022 by Jessie-May Morgan

Valentino Rossi’s launch of the VR46 eMTB spilled the beans on this one a few months ago, listing a “new premium telescopic seatpost, made of carbon and titanium” from Crankbrothers. Indeed, the Crankbrothers Highline 11 has arrived; a new lightweight dropper seat post with a carbon shaft and titanium bolts. With a drop range of 60mm to 170mm and post diameters of 30.9mm and 31.6mm, riders of gravel, XC, trail and enduro bikes can have at it, with a 4-year warranty too!

Joining Crankbrothers’ 11 series line of premium components is the Highline 11, their lightest and most expensive dropper seatpost to date, retailing at $399 USD (without a remote). The 30.9mm and 31.6mm options are both available in drop lengths of 60mm, 100mm, 125mm, 150mm and 170mm travel.

This one tips the scales at just 509g for the 31.6mm diameter 170mm drop model, thanks to its use of a carbon fibre shaft and head, as well as titanium bolts at the quick-release saddle rail clamp. To put that into context, the Highline 7 170mm dropper weighs considerably more despite its narrower post diameter of 30.6mm, coming in at 583g. 

Like the Highline 7 and the Highline XCG model for 27.2mm diameter seat tubes, the new Highline 11 runs a self-contained internal floating piston hydraulic cartridge, actuated mechanically via a cable. The quick-connect linear pull mechanism is said to offer ease of cable installation and routing, delivering a light action at the remote (drop-bar and flat-bar remotes available) and a quick return speed.

The Highline 11 gets a two-bolt quick release head for easy saddle installation, fore/aft, and tilt adjustment. The minimum stack height is short at 47mm.

The Highline 11 ships with premium a Jagwire cable and housing and high-end Trelleborg seals

We met Hannah Wilson from Crankbrothers’ UK Distributor, Extra UK, at CORE Bike where she was able to give us a closer look at the Highline 11.

Unthreading a small bolt underneath the clamp releases the shaft allowing you to pull it out of its lower post to re-grease the internals replace and or/replace Crankbrothers’ proprietary igus LL-glide bearings and keys

The Crankbrothers Highline 11 Carbon Dropper Post retails at $399 USD / €39. Remotes are sold separately; the flat-bar option retails at $59.99 USD while the drop-bar remote for the gravel contingent will set you back $49.99 USD.

Jessie-May Morgan is the UK & Ireland Tech Editor of Bikerumor. She has been writing about Mountain Bike Riding and Racing, and all the technology that comes along with it for 3 years. Prior to that, she was an Intern at the Mountain Bike Center of Scotland, and a Mountain Bike Coach and Leader in the Tweed Valley, and prior to that, a Biological Research Scientist at the University of Edinburgh. Based in Innerleithen, Scotland, Jessie-May can regularly be seen riding the Tweed Valley’s Enduro and Downhill Tracks, often with a race plate tied to the handlebar.

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You should probably omit the:

With a drop range of 60mm to 170mm and post diameters of 30.9mm and 31.6mm, riders of gravel

“gravel” bit, considering most of the gravel bikes on the market use a 27.2 post for ride compliance. I won’t pretend I’ve done an exhaustive survey, but the Crux, Rodeo Labs bikes, that 3T Exploro RaceMax Ultra y’all just reviewed, etc.

There are still not enough options out there for 27.2 dropper posts.

Adding even more tonedefness to the proceedings (not germane to this article per se): the DoubleTap hack and the GRX dropper “brifter” (ST-RX810-LA) both require the shifter fitting on the end of the cable for the lever to pull the cable. Many of the 27.2 dropper posts targeted at gravel (PNW, for one) flip that arrangement and want you to thread the shifter fitting from the post… which means they don’t work with the shifter style dropper levers. Usual incompatibility BS.

My gravel bike has a 31.6 post, odd how that works.

All that and seems around the same weight as the one up dropper that is half the price.

The oneup post is over 1/3 lb heavier (comparing 31.6 model of each brand). Yet, I agree that the cost of saving 1/3 lb of non-rotating mass is probably not worth it for all but the most weight-weenie focused xc racer.

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