Review: PinkBike - Fox Transfer NEO Dropper Post

PinkBike has put the Fox Transfer Neo Seatpost. Here is what they had to say:

With wireless dropper posts becoming increasingly common, and some 200mm variants finally proliferating the market, it was only a matter of time before one of the big players came out with their own long-travel option. Fox has been refining their cable-actuated Transfer post over a few generations now, and has integrated some of those learnings into their first wireless offering: the Transfer Neo.

With a wide range of stroke lengths, and fitment options for any modern frame, the Neo is likely to be a compelling option for the right person.

Transfer Neo Details

• Travel amounts: 100, 125, 150, 175, 200mm
• 30.9, 31.6, 34.9mm diameters
• Weight: 528-805g, remote: 57g
• 30-40 hour battery life
• MSRP: $859 USD | $1149 CAD | €1100 EUR (Includes post, lever, battery, all accessories)
• More info: ridefox.com

The 30.9 and 31.6mm Transfer Neo can be configured in 100mm, 125mm, 150mm, 175mm and 200mm drop options, with the 34.9mm diameter post available in everything but the 100mm stroke option. Fox's remote uses a CR2032 coin battery, and should provide about one year of use before needing replacement. Fox designed a small square battery to power the post itself, with 2.22Wh of storage to get about 30-40 hours of runtime. The included USB-C charger is impressively tiny, and can juice up a dead battery in a bit less than an hour and a half. Adding air is still an analog process, and can easily be done via a Schrader valve at the top of the post.

I've been riding a Transfer Neo post since April of this year, and can report on four months of use so far. I've charged the battery one or two times, actuated the post 1,146 times (the app keeps track), and haven't really given it much thought otherwise. It goes up, it goes down, and I can't hear the zoop-zoop of the actuator when I'm actually riding my bike. In the shop however, that noise is pretty pronounced. No sag or play has developed over time, and the post still feels smooth.

Fox recommends that you service the Transfer Neo every 8,000 actuations, using that metric as a replacement for the typically foggy and inaccurate hour count method. You can service the dust seal at home, but more thorough jobs will need to be carried out at a Fox service center. Per my click counter, I'm still a long ways away from that point.

One of the more remarkable things about the Transfer Neo is the speed of the actuation and post return - the lightest touch of the lever brings it back to full height in a hurry. This speed is thanks in part to the wireless protocol that Fox is using to relay information between the post and the remote - one they've dubbed Neo, hence the product name. They claim Neo is approximately 100x faster than Bluetooth, and 20x faster than the "industry leading wireless protocol," which I have to assume is SRAM's AXS system. My mind hasn't reached the point where it can intuit differences in fractional milliseconds, and I'm not quite that good with a stopwatch, but suffice to say it is very fast.

The lever throw is much shorter than a cable lever, but manages to mimic those ergonomics quite nicely. You can use this short throw to feather the post up and down for traversing descents or technical climbs, and keep the whole assembly tucked away under the bars so it's not in the way.

The Fox Transfer Neo is the fastest and most reliable electronic dropper I've used to date, with impressively light lever action and easy user interface. The added cost and weight over a cabled system still keep me from fully embracing the concept, but for those looking to eliminate any and all cables on their bike, this could be the ticket.