Walk me through the modern fork minefield

[Raging_Bulls]

I'm unlikely to be going crazy with travel, but Reba are set right? If I bought the 100mm version, could I go to 120, or would I need to buy 120 and drop to 100?

I have done a basic service and fettled with the internals on rebas before, seem a little easier to work on than Fox, plus service intervals seem to be longer. Not sure if it is me, but you don't see so many second hand rebas and sids on eBay, but loads of fox??

Reba travel is determined by plastic spacers in the upper left leg (the air chambers). If you buy a 120mm fork, there's no spacers in there. If you buy the 100mm version, there's a 20mm spacer in there, etc. You can get the spacers through most retailers (here's the first one I came across)

So basically buy whatever version you think will suit you most, then adjust if necessary.
Mind you, adjusting takes an hour (including removal from the bike etc) and you'll need to drain and refill the oil. Basically it's best to buy wisely and only adjust ride height during an overhaul.

My 2011 dual-air Reba is set to 100mm (came on the bike like that). I have the travel kit and full revision kit ready for installation. Just waiting for the bottle of SRAM RedRum to arrive and then I'll drop it as far as it'll go (aiming for 50mm for retro purposes).

 

[Logic.Al]

Get the Reba's and the Maxle

 

[ishaw]

Black or white?

 

[Logic.Al]

Hmmmm Black I think.

 

[ishaw]

That's the way I'm leaning, but I do Like the white. Nothing else will be white on the bike though.

 

[ewanm77]

white will bring out the lettering and its a light coloured frame could stick a white seat on it

 

[suburbanreuben]

Reba travel is determined by plastic spacers in the upper left leg (the air chambers). If you buy a 120mm fork, there's no spacers in there. If you buy the 100mm version, there's a 20mm spacer in there, etc. You can get the spacers through most retailers (here's the first one I came across)

So basically buy whatever version you think will suit you most, then adjust if necessary.
Mind you, adjusting takes an hour (including removal from the bike etc) and you'll need to drain and refill the oil. Basically it's best to buy wisely and only adjust ride height during an overhaul.
.

Not quite true. The only oil that needs draining is that in the lower legs, so only about 5mm per side. The damper oil and whole damper assembly is untouched. Rock shox also make it easy for you by using C shaped spacers that clip onto the shaft,making it unnecessary to completely dissemble the air spring assembly. 15 mins tops, including removal of forks from bike.

EDIT. IT's Fox that use C shaped spacers, not RS, but it's still a piece of cake. Checkthe SRAM website for a video.

 

[ishaw]

Reba travel is determined by plastic spacers in the upper left leg (the air chambers). If you buy a 120mm fork, there's no spacers in there. If you buy the 100mm version, there's a 20mm spacer in there, etc. You can get the spacers through most retailers (here's the first one I came across)

So basically buy whatever version you think will suit you most, then adjust if necessary.
Mind you, adjusting takes an hour (including removal from the bike etc) and you'll need to drain and refill the oil. Basically it's best to buy wisely and only adjust ride height during an overhaul.
.

Not quite true. The only oil that needs draining is that in the lower legs, so only about 5mm per side. The damper oil and whole damper assembly is untouched. Rock shox also make it easy for you by using C shaped spacers that clip onto the shaft,making it unnecessary to completely dissemble the air spring assembly. 15 mins tops, including removal of forks from bike.

Good news as options are limited so going for a 120mm maxle style version, I can always drop the travel at the first service.

One thing that will bother me no end is non-matching quick releases. How can I overcome this either mentally or physically?

Thanks

 

[ishaw]

Order placed 1 x Rock Shox Reba RLT in lack, 120mm with 15mm axle.

Quite pleased now, just need the frame to arrive so I can assess what other bits I need, and what other jobs need to be done. I know bearings on the wheels could do with changing at some point in the near future, and that I need to bleed the brakes. Watch out for more threads from me asking for help on these tasks.

Thanks for your help on this topic though, much appreciated.

 

[JamesM]

Plus, remote lockout vs crown lockout. Not sure on the merits of this, but would seem a safer option to go for remote, as I can always remove it if I don't get on with it, right?

ive got remote lock out and its just a cable so it can be removed and lock it out with the fork knob by hand.
the reba are under £300 this weekend

Non remote forks have a blue knob to turn for compression dampin/lockout. Remote forks have a cable attachment and its sprung loaded so without the remote it will always spring back to its fully open position.

Solo air is supposedly a better ride. I've tried dual and solo on some Revelations back to back. I've got Revs RCT3's with a solo air spring and love them. But the dual air give a little better tunability (is that a word?)

Dual air uses two air chambers each of with its own valve so they can be the pressures can be set individually. Rockshox recommend they both be set at the same pressure but people have found setting them at different pressures can give better performance. Solo air used to use an air chamber as the main spring and a coil for the return spring, these days however solo air is two air chambers but with both being filled through one valve, meaning you have to run them at the same pressure.


The SID used to have 28mm stanchions and were light but a bit flexy, the Reba used 32mm stanchions and was alot stiffer. Around 2009 a new SID was released with 32mm stanchions and was alot stiffer (but also heavier) than the old model. I believe that the latest model of Reba uses the same basic chassis as the modern SID but the SID has lighter internals. That would explain why the Reba range was reduced to only two models as they and the SID are basically the same fork with the SID being the more expensive higher end model.