Bike Yoke Revive Review

The Revive is an exciting and innovative product from German parts manufacturer Bike Yoke. The Revive had been getting great reviews, so we were eager to test it against our stacked selection of dropper seatposts. We chose the 185mm travel version, which just barely fit on our test bike. Once we installed it, we proceeded to put it through its paces for hundreds of miles of riding throughout the northern Sierra. We've also tested the Revive on some complete bikes like the Ibis Ripley and the DV9.

Performance Comparison

Smoothness and Functionality

The Revive's smoothness is one of its finest attributes, and it is among the best in our test in this regard. This post moves through its travel in compression and extension flawlessly and incredibly smoothly. It is also effortless to compress, both by hand or when riding. It takes little to no effort to drop this post all the way down.

According to Bike Yoke, their design facilitates Revive's smoothness. They did this by removing the internal floating piston and reduced the number of seals in their system from the usual four to two. Bike Yoke's designers think it is nearly impossible to create a perfectly sealed system. Instead of trying to do so, they opted to create a smoothly functioning system and added the Revive Valve to reset it if/when the post develops sag.

How does this work in the real world? Incredibly well! Not only is the compression and extension very smooth, if it ever develops sag, you can instantly fix the problem with a 4mm Allen key and a push of your hand. When sealed cartridge systems develop sag, they typically require shop service or a new cartridge. The Revive's reset valve will likely save you time and money.

We left the Revive's air spring at the factory pressure setting, they recommend 240 psi, for the majority of our testing. This provided a nice medium rate of extension with an audible thunk when it tops out. You can adjust the rate of return by increasing or reducing the amount of pressure in the air spring. In the end, though, we found that 220 psi is the sweet spot for our preferences.

To change the air spring pressure, you have to remove the saddle and the entire saddle clamp, turn the reset screw and remove the valve cap. Then you attach an included valve extender and use your shock pump to increase pressure. It isn't a quick or easy process, but fortunately, you don't need to do it often. The most important thing is to keep track of the small metal valve cap as it is a crucial part of the reset valve system.

We took the time to measure the Revive in the 185mm length we tested. The travel is exactly 185mm, as expected. At full extension, the distance from the bottom of the collar to the middle of the seat rails, or ride height, is 227mm as claimed. At full compression, we measured the length from the bottom of the collar to the middle of the seat rails, the stack height, at 42mm, which is impressively low. This means that if you have a long seat tube and can insert a Revive far enough into your frame, you can theoretically squeeze more travel into the same amount of space compared to models with greater stack height.

Saddle Clamp

There is nothing especially noteworthy about the Revive's saddle clamp. It is a straightforward and simple zero offset two-bolt design. It works well, and testers found no good reason to complain about it.

The bolts have a Torx 25 head, and testers found themselves preferring this due to the positive engagement and reduced likelihood of stripping the bolts. The saddle clamp bolts are long enough that you can loosen them to install or remove a saddle without backing them out completely.

Remote

The Revive we tested came with Bike Yoke's Triggy 1x remote lever. The Triggy lever is one of the best remote levers we've tested. This remote's ergonomics and super-light lever feel simply outperformed most of the cable-actuated competition.

This lightweight lever is machined from 6061-T6 aluminum and has a black anodized finish. It comes with a handlebar clamp but is compatible with SRAM matchmaker for a clean setup. The thumb paddle features several machined holes, which help reduce weight while also providing a little extra traction for the thumb. The Triggy also has two holes for mounting it to the included collar, or your matchmaker, to allow a small amount of lateral adjustment.

Bike Yoke also gives you remote lever options. When purchasing a Revive, you can choose between the Triggy, a vertically oriented 2x option, or the Triggy with hardware for I-Spec B or I-Spec II compatibility. The Triggy remote is also sold separately and can be used with many other dropper posts on the market.

Weight

Bike Yoke claims that the 185mm version of the Revive we tested weighs 590g. This number is reasonably accurate for the weight of the post alone, which we measured at 586g. But, since the weight of a dropper post is the sum of its parts, we also weighed it with cable, housing, and the remote lever. The total weight is 684g. If that sounds heavy, well, it is, but bear in mind that this is a 185mm dropper post, and that means it is longer and uses more materials in its construction.

For a more apples to apples weight assessment, we looked up the claimed weight of the 160mm version, which is 545g. It's safe to assume that this is the weight of the post only, so we can add 98g to that for the cable, housing, and remote, which gives us a total weight of 643g. This is still far from featherweight, but it is more comparable to the 150mm travel competition. Interestingly, in terms of grams per millimeter of travel, the Revive comes in among the lightest at 3.70g/mm. This is much lighter than a post like the e13 TRS+, which weighs in at 4.67g/mm.

Ease of Setup

When it comes to setup, the Revive is relatively easy, on par with the other posts that have a similar cable attachment style. Like any internally routed dropper post, the most difficult part of the process is routing the housing through the frame. Once we got the housing in place, the remainder of the setup took approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

A detailed manual is included with the Revive, and it's also available online on the Bike Yoke website. The manual is comprehensive and lays out every step in the setup process. Much like the other posts in our test selection with a similar cable attachment system, the Revive is pretty easy to install and only requires a few tools. You'll need a cable/housing cutter, a 2mm Allen key, and a Torx 25.

Installing the cable is as simple as cutting the housing to length, threading the cable through the remote, and into the housing and cutting the cable to the appropriate length. Once the cable is installed, you attach the locking barrel to the cut end of the cable, place the barrel in the cradle on the actuator, slide the cable through the slotted housing stop, and seat the housing in the bottom of the post. (Don't worry, the instructions break this down further.) Once those steps are completed, you can insert the post into the seat tube and attach the remote lever to the handlebar.

The Triggy remote lever is matchmaker compatible, but it also comes with its own collar that you can use with any brake system. The included collar is not hinged, so you have to remove your grip to slide it into position.

Value

When it comes to mountain bike parts, you typically get what you pay for. If you pay for the Revive, you get one of the best dropper seatposts on the market. At a retail price of $450, it doesn't come cheap, but it does offer the performance you'd expect at that price.

There are more affordable dropper seatposts out there, but none can match the smooth travel, ease of compression, and best in test remote lever of the Revive. The Revive Valve reset feature may also save you money by reducing your trips to the bike shop to have your dropper post serviced.

Conclusion

Does the Revive live up to the hype? In our opinion, it certainly does. It may be expensive, but the Revive is one of the highest-rated posts in our test for its consistent and ultra-smooth travel, innovative reset feature, and excellent remote lever. The Revive's ease of compression is second to none, and the smoothness of its travel both up and down is also top of the heap. The unique Revive Valve reset feature will also likely save you frustration, time, and money in the long run. We can't say enough good things about the Triggy remote lever, which has great ergonomics and one of the lightest lever feels of all the remotes we tested. Despite the high price of admission, we think the Revive is one of the best dropper posts available today.

Other Versions and Accessories

The Revive is available in three lengths, 125mm, 160mm, and 185mm (tested) and in three diameters, 30.9mm, 31.6mm, and 34.9mm.

You also have the option of standard stainless steel saddle clamp bolts or weight saving Titanium hardware at an additional cost. When you order a Revive, you have several remote lever options, Triggy (tested), 2x lever, 1x I-Spec B, and 1x I-Spec II.