Highline Drop Bar Remote Gen 2

Highline Drop Bar Remote Gen 2

SKU: 16824

Dropper remote optimized for drop bar gravel bikes.

  • Updated lever shape for stealthy placement on drop bar cockpits
  • Single mounting bolt for left-hand actuation
  • Two-way dropper actuation for use in multiple hand positions
  • Includes in-line barrel adjuster and ferrules
  • Jagwire Lex-SL 4.0mm cable housing recommended for best performance

gravel

$59.99 USD
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Compatibility Highline and other cable-actuated dropper seatposts - check with your seatpost manufacturer for compatibility.

Product Support

Support Document

Overall rating: 4.8333335 / 5 from 6 reviews.

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Review topics: ["issues","lever"].

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Reviews

Bike: Salsa Cutthroat 54cm a

"Bike: Salsa Cutthroat 54cm a gravel bike classified as a "drop bar mountain bike" Dropper: PNW Pine 27. 2mm with 90mm drop In short: Out of the box, the crankbrothers Highline Drop Bar Remote Gen 2 is really good - 4 stars. With a few modifications, it is great - 5 stars! Installation: Installation was pretty straight forward although I found that the cable housing stop hole is too big for bare cable housing and yet too small to add a cable housing end. It just felt sloppy although it seemed to work fine in my testing before putting back on the bar tape. However, once I put on the bar tape, I think the cable insert angle got changed and I could feel some resistance in the lever. Indeed, I often had to help the lever to achieve the final 1/8" of return. Remote Use: Out of the box, the Remote worked awesome on the roads and gravel from both the drops and the hoods. For me this meant when I wasn't using the Remote - which was most of the time - it wasn't in the way – at all! On the other hand, when I needed to use the remote, it was easy to get to and did its job with the exception of the aforementioned lag for the final 1/8" of return. It was on the singletrack, where things got a little more technical, where I had a some issues. Especially in the drops. Basically, for balance, sometimes I throw the bike, or myself around a lot more and often a lot more unexpectedly. This resulted in the Remote poking my hand on occasion, especially when in the drops. This became more pronounced the more I dropped the seat. This is because to keep my hand angle comfortable I went further up into the drops which put my hand right on the Remote. Then, when I had to shift my weight or change my position, I would get poked by the Remote. Sometimes pretty hard! A similar issue occurred when in the hoods. I would be fine until I had to stand up quickly for extra power but if I was too far back on the hoods I could hit my thumb on the remote. Not hard enough to call it a poke but enough that I had to think about it. Bottom line, I learned pretty quickly that when riding singletrack just not to go so deep into the drops and stay more forward on the hoods. Not a big shift mind you, but something to be wary of for sure. So at this point I would give the Remote 4 stars. Pretty high for occasionally getting poked, but to be fair I don't do much singletrack and again the Remote was perfect on the roads and gravel. Modifications: (Disclaimer - I suspect everything from here on out will void your warranty so proceed at your own risk!) I paid attention to where I was placing my thumb to push down on the lever as well as where I was pulling up. It became pretty obvious that the lever was way too long for my needs, especially on the drop bar side. This got me to thinking that perhaps some tweaks were in order. 1) Using a Dremel tool with a grinding stone, I ground off a good chunk of the thumb portion of the lever. On the front, I only went enough so that I wouldn't mess up the "crankbrothers" logo. I then used a sharpie to cover up the areas that I had modified. (Note: Doing this left no room to leave enough cable sticking out to put on a cable cap. Therefore, I just cut the cable right after the pinch bolt with no issues. Well, actually, it looks like a cleaner installation and for those weight weenies out there (I am not one) there goes another micro bit of a gram. ) 2) Using first a 13/64 and then a 7/32 drill bit, I drilled out the cable housing insert hole and added a cable housing end. (Note: It's plastic so I used the 2 bits and went super slow so I wouldn't drill right through the housing insert. ) Modification results: Awesome! The cable housing end got rid of the cable slop and made a huge difference. Now the lever rotates more freely and always returns 100% of the way on its own. And now, just like on the roads and the gravel, I don't even know the Remote is there when I’m moving my weight or my bike around while riding on singletrack. Bottom line, I no longer have to think about being careful with my hand placement in any position. As such, I am super happy and giving the Remote all 5 stars. Some might argue that since I had to make some modifications, but they were pretty easy/fast tweaks that made something that was really good into something that is just great! Final Note: The QR code in the box for the instruction manual leads to the gen 1 version of the Remote. As the torque specs are different this is kind of important. I emailed crankbrothers to let them know, but I never got a reply back. This is a little disconcerting on the customer service side, but since I was not actually asking for service I won't dock them on the rating. If, however, they read this it's a simple fix: just change the landing page of the QR code so we can select gen 1 or gen 2. That way no matter what version we have, the old QR code will work and down the road you can update your QR code for a new page for gen 3."

— Matt C. (5/5)

This dropper lever works well

"This dropper lever works well on my drop bar gravel bike and allows the use of my dropper post from multiple hand positions. I also like the discrete cable routing for a clean look."

— Phillip P. (5/5)

I have both the gen1

"I have both the gen1 and this gen2 version. Gen 2 is sleeker looking and is smoother acting. Tucks the cable housing against the bar nicely. Still not a fan of the cable clamping solution but it works. Overall I would buy it again."

— Kevin D. (4/5)

I had my doubts when

"I had my doubts when I was installing this lever because it seemed awkward while off the bike. But once I was riding, it became a game changer. Operation is very natural from both the hoods and drops. Because of this, I find myself using the dropper on my gravel bike so much more than I ever imagined"

— Michael M. (5/5)

Lever fits nicely on drop

"Lever fits nicely on drop bars, has a natural feel to it use, no fumbling to find it or which way to pull/push. My only complaint, not against the product, but if you use thicker bar tap, it does catch at moments on the tape. Hoping the tape compresses with use. Otherwise very happy with this product."

— John P. (5/5)

Works great , so much

"Works great , so much better than having the lever on the handlebars - just what I was looking for"

— Ryan K. (5/5)

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