PNW Loam Lever. Great Idea, Poor Execution!!!!

Glad you lubed it but triflow won't last even a full ride at this time of year. you need something thicker. I used slickoleum.

Posted by: RAHrider

Glad you lubed it but triflow won't last even a full ride at this time of year. you need something thicker. I used slickoleum.

Good call. Thanks! 

We are under snow (Vernon) here so won’t be doing much riding until we get more melt.

Posted by: Poz

Posted by: heathen

Posted by: Poz

No lube included but I did think about adding some.

I’m not too concerned it looks to be easy to work on and it still goes up and down. And after riding a reverb for the last 6 years I’m looking forward to not spending on service nearly the cost of a new post.

I would take RAHrider advice and open it open and lube it. Better safe then sorry.

Ya I think it makes sense.

Edited: I took it apart (super easy) and added some triflow and it’s much smoother.

Was it dry inside?

Not bone dry but not really slick either. It’s much smoother and quieter now.

I reached out PNW and received a reply back from Nathan. Speaking with Nathan he mentioned that they have Loam levers that are going on 4 years of constant use with no signs of wear on the rubber pad. He also said they totally hear my concerns about the mount and will be incorporating those ideas into a future design. We talk about other stuff not pertaining to the lever but PNW as a company and I am really stoked on what they try to do as a company. All their packaging uses as little plastic as possible and is recyclable cardboard. We didn't talk about the life time warranty but I just read that they launched that. So as a whole they have a great vision. Nathan was awesome and a true professional. 

While I am not a huge fan of the Loam levers current mounting configurations, I am a fan of the Loam lever itself. It has a smooth feel and the pad is nice as I don't wear gloves. I have mounted the lever with the 22.2mm bar mount on the outside of my brake mount. The lever feels great and looks awesome. With all the rain I only have one ride on the lever. I will post again when I have more time with the lever. 

The Loam grips that I got with the lever have been awesome. I have a few more rides with them as I mounted them right away. I have ridden them in dry weather with no gloves, misty foggy weather with no gloves and they have been awesome. All the sipes in the gripmake them work awesome with no gloves. The grips have been awesome so far. I have yet to do any long rough lift days to see how good they dampen high frequency vibration.

For anyone curious, I had inquired about the potential pad replacement before and this was their response:

Those are really difficult to replace, so we don't sell just the pads.

The adhesive we use is actually something 3M developed to be used in many applications including a bit of aviation. It's a very strong adhesive that many bike brands typically use to keep their head tube badges on the frame for decades. Head tube badges are much heavier than the thumb pad, so you can imagine how stuck they are on there.

I have been using the Loam Lever (and I actually got the shifty lever for my rear shifter, matchy-matchy) and I like it a lot. Like was mentioned before, it's one of those components that doesn't leave me looking for another option. I have mine set up on Matchmaker, but also have the hinged clamp of I ever needed it to be moved independent of the brake lever.

Cheers -

Eric

Posted by: heathen

I reached out PNW and received a reply back from Nathan. Speaking with Nathan he mentioned that they have Loam levers that are going on 4 years of constant use with no signs of wear on the rubber pad. He also said they totally hear my concerns about the mount and will be incorporating those ideas into a future design. We talk about other stuff not pertaining to the lever but PNW as a company and I am really stoked on what they try to do as a company. All their packaging uses as little plastic as possible and is recyclable cardboard. We didn't talk about the life time warranty but I just read that they launched that. So as a whole they have a great vision. Nathan was awesome and a true professional. 

While I am not a huge fan of the Loam levers current mounting configurations, I am a fan of the Loam lever itself. It has a smooth feel and the pad is nice as I don't wear gloves. I have mounted the lever with the 22.2mm bar mount on the outside of my brake mount. The lever feels great and looks awesome. With all the rain I only have one ride on the lever. I will post again when I have more time with the lever. 

The Loam grips that I got with the lever have been awesome. I have a few more rides with them as I mounted them right away. I have ridden them in dry weather with no gloves, misty foggy weather with no gloves and they have been awesome. All the sipes in the gripmake them work awesome with no gloves. The grips have been awesome so far. I have yet to do any long rough lift days to see how good they dampen high frequency vibration.

did the Loam lever remove any of the stiffness of the O/U dropper lever? or has that remained the same?

Lube it? You have to lube it? I never lubed my Reverb. Did any of you?

Posted by: tungsten

Lube it? You have to lube it? I never lubed my Reverb. Did any of you?

Wasn’t worth wasting the lube.

Posted by: ehfour

Posted by: heathen

I reached out PNW and received a reply back from Nathan. Speaking with Nathan he mentioned that they have Loam levers that are going on 4 years of constant use with no signs of wear on the rubber pad. He also said they totally hear my concerns about the mount and will be incorporating those ideas into a future design. We talk about other stuff not pertaining to the lever but PNW as a company and I am really stoked on what they try to do as a company. All their packaging uses as little plastic as possible and is recyclable cardboard. We didn't talk about the life time warranty but I just read that they launched that. So as a whole they have a great vision. Nathan was awesome and a true professional. 

While I am not a huge fan of the Loam levers current mounting configurations, I am a fan of the Loam lever itself. It has a smooth feel and the pad is nice as I don't wear gloves. I have mounted the lever with the 22.2mm bar mount on the outside of my brake mount. The lever feels great and looks awesome. With all the rain I only have one ride on the lever. I will post again when I have more time with the lever. 

The Loam grips that I got with the lever have been awesome. I have a few more rides with them as I mounted them right away. I have ridden them in dry weather with no gloves, misty foggy weather with no gloves and they have been awesome. All the sipes in the gripmake them work awesome with no gloves. The grips have been awesome so far. I have yet to do any long rough lift days to see how good they dampen high frequency vibration.

did the Loam lever remove any of the stiffness of the O/U dropper lever? or has that remained the same?

It is a tiny bit smoother. But I am religious about maintenance. I keep my posts and cables lubed