Submitted by
Cogged
a Cross Country Rider
from Honolulu, HI Date Reviewed: September 12, 2008
Favorite Trail:
Tantalus
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$210.00
Purchased At:
eBay
Strengths:
Light weight. Rigid construction. Can be set to be plush and take big hits.
Weaknesses:
RockShox does not lubricate their shocks internally, expecting the shock oil to do all the lubrication.
This results in serious stiction after 1-2 months of use.
Similar Products Used:
Manitou, RST, Fox
Bike Setup:
'03 Ellsworth Joker XC, XTR crank, derailleurs, and wheelset; Avid BB disc brakes, Rockshox MC 3.3 rear shock
Bottom Line:
Great value for the money.
After hearing too many negative things about Fox shocks leaking, sloppy tolerances, and their overpriced reputation, I settled on the Reba Team, and returned a Fox RL.
I initially set it at 90 psi positive/90 psi negative initially, and it rode like butter.
It was extremely responsive to small bumps and also took the bigger hits like landing on a pillow.
However, after three months, the fork began to become increasing harsh and unresponsive, resulting in teeth chattering hits and a really fatiguing ride like a rigid fork.
I completely stripped it down, and discovered that Rockshox uses minimal to no lube at all for the o-rings, sliders, and moving parts!
They count solely on the shock oil to lubricate everything, which is bad news.
Rubber parts and o-rings tend to become sticky against metal surfaces when lubricated with shock oil only over time.
This results in a lot of stiction, and an extremely harsh ride.
I lubricated all the o-rings, rubber parts, and stanchions with Buzzy's Slick Honey, and reassembled everything with the recommended weight shock oil.
In all fairness to Rockshox, they do have a really detailed assembly/disassembly tutorial on their website for their front and rear shocks.
After reassembling everything and pumping the shock back up to the 90+/90- psi settings that I used, something was still not right.
The shock travel would visually suck down by 20-25mm when putting more than 70psi in the negative air chamber, reducing the travel and preloading the fork too much.
Come to think of it, it was also doing this right about the time the shock started to get really harsh and unresponsive before I serviced it.
After experimenting a bit, I settled on a 100psi+/70psi- setting, and the Reba rides like butter again and takes the big hits like a Lincoln Navigator!
For some reason, maybe it's only my Reba, but when I exceed the 30psi difference between the positive and negative air chambers, the negative air chamber overpowers the positive air chamber and sucks down the travel, preloading the fork, reducing the travel, and resulting in a harsh ride.
As long as I keep the negative air chamber 30 psi lower than the positive air chamber setting, it seems to work fine.
In spite of these issues, the Reba is now performing flawlessly, but I'll reserve judgment for a long term revisit review.
I'm giving it a 3 for overall rating because it needed to be completely disassembled and relubed when new, which is unacceptable, especially if you're not the mechanically inclined type, and would have to pay a shop to do it for you.
Since servicing it, if it continues to perform flawlessly, I would give it a 4-5.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Mike
a Cross Country Rider
from Flower Mound, TX Date Reviewed: March 29, 2008
Favorite Trail:
Lajitas Trail System loop 3
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$350.00
Purchased At:
ebay
Strengths:
this fork has all the attributes of a great suspension fork. Stiff, plush, light, soaks up the big hits and the stutter bumps. Reliable and less expensive than less capable forks.
Weaknesses:
The negative chamber leaks a little air over time.
Similar Products Used:
Marzocchi, SID, Manitou, Fox
Bike Setup:
98 Rocky Mountain Element, Fox RP23 shock, rim brakes, Reba set for 115mm travel. Bike weight 23lbs.
Bottom Line:
After using this fork for about a year I have finally figured out how to tune it and it has really come alive. Running 74lbs in pos and neg chambers it is plush as can be and soaks up the small hits great. I weigh about 185. I ran it too stiff for a long time and thought it was just a limitation of the fork that it didn't respond to small bumps well. I was considering getting it "Pushed" but now I don't see how Push could make it work any better!
I had one problem with it when it started having only about 3 inches of travel and making a loud clunk when bottoming out. I tore it down, cleaned it up and it was fine. I think air leaked and made the pos/neg chambers out of balance causing the problem. Now I check the pressure every other ride. No more problems.
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Submitted by
Billy
a Cross Country Rider
from Atlanta, GA, USA Date Reviewed: October 21, 2007
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$250.00
Purchased At:
ebay
Strengths:
works like it's supposed to
Weaknesses:
none so far
Bike Setup:
custom xc hardtail
Bottom Line:
I don't like fancy and complicated. I like simple. I rode a Girvin fork for years because it was STIFF and needed no maintenance. I had to get a new fork for my new bike and I was assured that the Reba would be what I wanted, and it is. I works invisibly, I don't even know it's there.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Rodrigo Quirós
a Weekend Warrior
from San Jose, Costa Rica Date Reviewed: August 7, 2007
Favorite Trail:
Universidad de la paz
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$450.00
Purchased At:
Bicimontaña
Strengths:
The ability to mess around with lots of tuning options that let you customize the way the fork works. I have the u-turn version and even if you’re not going to use it a lot it’s good to know it only takes a few seconds to change the travel, and sometimes that is going to make riding more pleasant.
Weaknesses:
I don’t think the pop-lock is a weakness but it isn’t that useful unless you’re into racing so I guess this is the only thing I could call a weakness. Even not being that useful, the design is very neat and well done. People can argue that having lots of tuning options could be a weakness but my take on that is that not being able to take full advantage of those is a weakness of the rider not the fork…
Similar Products Used:
Rock Shox Psylo (pos) and a Fox Vanilla
Bike Setup:
Cannondale F5 mostly stock with a Reba Team U-turn instead of the Dart it came with. (Both the frame and fork are matte black... really cool)
Bottom Line:
When I was riding the Vanilla I used to think: coil forks are better (reliability) and Rock Shox suck... Well after reading lots of reviews in the internet and in magazines I was really intrigued of the positive feedback this fork had. Eventually the reputation of the Reba and Pike became undeniable, and knowing that Avid had made some changes for the better, I was willing to try this fork and I’m more than happy with it for the time being.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Sergey Kukushkin
a Cross Country Rider
from Irkutsk, Russia Date Reviewed: August 5, 2007
Favorite Trail:
near the Baikal
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$540.00
Purchased At:
ChainReactionCicles.com
Strengths:
Have a lot of adjustments. Allows to tune almost for all XC conditions. Possible to have 2 different combination of adjustments and to switch between them easely. Fork has outstanding rigidity with light weight. Works outstanding when tuned well.
Weaknesses:
Not found.
Similar Products Used:
RockShox Tora 318 80 mm, Marzocchi MX Pro 80 mm, Manitou Skareb Elite 80 mm
Bike Setup:
Scott Scale 60 Frame, RS Reba Team 100 mm with popLock, Deore XT drivetrain, Deore LX disk Breaks, Shimano WH-M565 wheelset.
Bottom Line:
The best I've ever tested for XC, XC racing and XC trails. Works insensibly and it keeps wheel on the track making outstanding grip.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Han Ju Park
a
from SouthKorea Date Reviewed: April 21, 2007
Go for it, its a good value for ,money - pay for the Team version cause its dual air.
Settings i found useful as follows - use 80% of recomended for "+" and 80% of the "+" for the negetive.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Martin Nash
a Cross Country Rider
from Gloucestershire, England Date Reviewed: March 27, 2007
Favorite Trail:
Forest of Dean
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Purchased At:
600
Strengths:
Supple and forgiving, infinite range of adjustments especially the rebound, poplock and blow valves. Blends in very well with a silver frame and costs considerably less than a Fox equivalent. Stands up well to my 266lbs riding weight and push on style.
Weaknesses:
Mud clearance could be a bit better for winter gloop riding. Takes time to settle in and requires time to learn all the different adjustments. I am an ex MotoX rider so adjustments and fettling come second nature to me.
Similar Products Used:
RockShox Duke, RockShox Revelation, Fox Talas
Bike Setup:
2005 trance 3 in silver, upgraded with 2007 reba team forks, Avid juicy 5 180f, 160r disc brakes, XT shifters, XT front mech, XTR rear mech
Bottom Line:
Replaced std Rockshox Duke with RockShox Revelation (white looked bad against silver so they went back to LBS), Fox talas considered (but could not justify $250, extended family of four Giant MTB bikes to look after as well). Final decider was the annual service costs for Fox that made the Reba the family man's choice for me. Try them you will not be disappointed. Would have happily considered giving 5 chilis but then RockShox would have nothing to aim for for the 2008 and 2009 models!
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Gerardo P
a Weekend Warrior
from Mexico City, Mexico Date Reviewed: February 27, 2007
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$615.00
Purchased At:
Chain Reaction Cycles
Strengths:
none so far
Weaknesses:
negative air chamber explodes and blows up to the crown the sealer at the tube leaving it exposed to dirt, with the positive chamber at full you better get rid of it and get a non suspension fork!
Similar Products Used:
RS Duke 100mm, Magura Ronin
Bike Setup:
giant NRS RS, reba team / sid dual air rear, sram x0 shifters and rear, xtr FD, raceface deus crank, fsa xc115 stem, thomson seatpost, fizik arione, profile design solar bar and carbon bar ends, grimeca 12 brakes, dtswiss 240s hubs and dtswiss rev spokes in xc717 mavic rims.
Bottom Line:
Just try ANYTHING else, I believe there's a defective part in neg chamber or experimental design that just does not work at all.
$
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