Bike Yoke Revive 3 Review

Mountain biking is already a sport of luxury, but the Bike Yoke Revive 3.0 rises above the rest as a standout luxury component that delivers performance significantly better than the competition. Bike Yoke has been perfecting their Revive dropper post since it was first released in 2017, and the newly released Bike Yoke Revive 3.0 sets today’s standard all other dropper posts should be judged by. Bike Yoke has engineered a long list of features that makes their Revive post incredibly user friendly, and something I plan on transferring between every bike I have in the future.

Released earlier this year, the Bike Yoke Revive 3.0 doesn’t reinvent the design used in the Revive 2.0, but instead makes improvements nearly everywhere around the outside of the post. That includes reducing the overall length of the post, allowing travel reduction, a rotatable footnut, and more. Inside the post is a twin tube design, which reduces the number of parts compared to the more typical IFP used in other dropper posts. Not only that, fewer seals are needed, giving the Revive incredibly smooth action. In their design, it is possible for air and oil to mix, allowing the post to sag when extended, but they’ve solved that problem as well.

The Bike Yoke Revive 3.0 comes in 30.9 and 31.6 diameters, and the Revive 3.0 MAX is strictly 34.9mm. While the mechanics of the post remain the same, the Revive MAX features a larger stanchion (28mm vs 25mm) that capitalizes on the increased real estate of the 34.9 diameter. 34.9mm seatposts were designed to increase stiffness, and Bike Yoke was among the first to use a dedicated thicker stanchion diameter for the oversized seatpost, something that Fox implemented in their latest Fox Transfer post. All three diameters are offered in 125, 150, 185, and 213mm of travel, and are shimmable in 5mm increments up to 20mm.

When shopping for dropper posts, the allure of the Bike Yoke always calls out to me. German engineering, commitment to backwards compatibility, and lack of advertising has always piqued my interest. Bike Yoke has a reputation similar to Chris King, and are typically heralded as class leading without many competitors challenging that top step. My goal with the Bike Yoke is figuring out if that’s really the case, and whether the increased price over other options from Fox and OneUp is warranted.

We’re also using Bike Yoke’s Triggy Alpha dropper lever, which comes in a short and a long option. Both lever lengths run on a bearing and you can rotate the lever to suit your liking, something we haven’t seen from other manufacturers. While this dropper lever is designed specifically for the Revive dropper, it was remarkably difficult to press, requiring about 50% more effort than other levers I’ve used. I initially used the supplied thin cable and housing, and I blamed the increased friction on the guitar string operation. After switching to standard Shimano shifter cable and housing and getting an even firmer lever feel, I learned that the thinner cable and housing is actually a performance upgrade, and that I would have preferred the long lever over the short lever.

Those dimples gave me tons of traction, necessary for the stiff lever pull

There are many dropper posts that will successfully go up and down every time you press your dropper lever, as does the Revive 3.0. Not only that, but they’ll do exactly that at a much lower price point, which is why those dropper posts are far more popular than the Bike Yoke Revive. Dropper post performance wasn’t something I had considered much before this test, but the Revive truly does perform better than any other post I’ve tried. There’s an effortlessness with depressing the post, and an incredibly satisfying thwack at the top out that screams German engineering. It’s akin to the difference between closing a Kia Sorento door and a Mercedes G Wagon door. Both are closed at the end of it, but they are certainly not equal experiences.

Straight out of the box, the return speed is perfectly adequate, and it’s easy to adjust the air pressure with a shock pump plus the supplied adapter. I wish an adapter wasn’t necessary, as it’s one more piece rattling around in my toolbox until the end of time, but the revive mechanism is in the way of all shock pump heads I’ve tried. You could probably unbolt it to avoid using the adapter, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms just to adjust your air pressure. I’ve preferred maximum air pressure in every dropper post I’ve used, and the Revive is no different. At my 180 lbs weight, I have no issue getting the post to compress with 290 psi in the air chamber, and a speedy return is exactly what I’m after.

There is absolutely zero play anywhere in the post, something we can’t say about other posts we’ve tried. Much like that, the Revive’s actuation is smooth as can be, marginally outperforming anything else I’ve gotten to sit my butt on. I imagine this is thanks to the twin tube design that departs from the more standard IFP design, and it only feels like I’m pushing against the air in the cartridge rather than the friction of the seals when depressing the post. It’s more than just the easy breakaway, and I don’t know how I would measure this, but the post just feels more solid than anything else I’ve tried. More than likely it’s a product of the larger diameter a 34.9 post allows for, but it makes for my favorite dropper post I’ve tried.

OneUp and Fox both also released new droppers this year, and like many of you, about 90% of the dropper posts I’ve owned have been made by one of those two manufacturers. Yes, both the Transfer and the OneUp Dropper go up and down every time you hit the lever, and yes they are over $100 cheaper with a very similar list of features, but the Bike Yoke Revive is simply a better engineered dropper post than both of those two. A smoother action, more satisfying topout, complete catalog of replacement parts, and the peace of mind german engineering offers is priceless. While the Bike Yoke’s price point is enough to shy many riders away, the quality is class leading, and I’ve never ridden a better dropper post.

Bike Yoke have done their best to make the Revive the last dropper post you ever buy, and they haven’t wavered much from the tried and true design of their previous generations. My only negatives I can find with the Revive are finding a place in the toolbox for the supplied air pressure adapter and a stiff lever action from the Triggy Alpha Short. While we haven’t put enough miles on this post to give it a long term review, the swaths of people with overwhelmingly positive reviews of the previous generation posts prove that this truly is a product you can buy with confidence. I’m happy to join those folks and plan on transferring the BikeYoke from platform to platform in the future.

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