Review: Giant Contact SL Switch

A dropper post is one of the best mountain bike upgrades you can make, but unfortunately it does require a bit of investment. If you’re just getting into the market and want to try out a budget dropper post then the Giant Contact SL Switch fits that bracket nicely.

The Giant Contact SL Switch offers both internal and externally routed cabeling, comes in three diferent travel options (100mm, 125mm and 150mm) but is only available for 30.9mm diameter – however, if you have a 31.6 diameter seat tube you can always use a shim.

It’s not that heavy either sitting at around 600g, it’s pretty similar to other dropper posts on the market.

Review of the Giant Contact SL Switch

Initally intalling this dropper post was very easy, the mechanical cable makes it a doddle for either internal or externally routing it. The lever is particularly well built and feels good on the thumb – it’s a lot more robust feeling than the Rockshox Reverb, however it is very open to the elements and dirt can quite easily get to the cable. The same is to be said with the positioning of the cable when it is externally routed – sitting under the saddle with exposed cable isn’t exactly ideal for British riding.

My first couple of rides with Giant’s dropper post were brilliant – it performed flawlessly and was very responsive. It comes up at a very good rate, not so quick that it’s going to do you damage but not so slow you feel like you’re waiting for it.

My first muddy ride saw the dropper post fail – it got stuck in the up position and wouldn’t go down. After getting home I realised that grit had got into the cable, seizing it. A quick replacement cable and some additional reinforcement around the cable areas and it was good to go again.

Should you buy the Giant Contact SL Switch?

If you’re looking for your first dropper post and Decathlon still aren’t doing their £30 one – which has been flawless by the way – then the Giant Contact SL Switch isn’t a bad post to start out on. Prepare for dealing with replacing the gear cables a few times and give it a good clean when things get dirty and you should be absolutely fine. Giant’s warranty is pretty good, so that’ll cover you for anything that goes really wrong and the internals are pretty easy to do yourself if you’ve got good tools and the know how.

However, if you’ve got a bit more cash to splash and you already know you do want a dropper then there are some better, more hassle-free options available. Consider this to be a starter post rather than a serious contender for hard and constant use.