I have a 2012 Rockshox Reba 29 RL 100. never been happy with this fork. especially with small bump compliance. maybe its cause I'm use to the manitou minute coil/air fork on my 26er that always felt better than the reba even when it was new. I'm thinking either push or sell for fox. really wish I could demo a fox fork. I weigh 135 lbs I wonder if the reba just isn't good for lighter weight riders. at this point, the fork is feeling pretty bad. I think its due for service or something.
reba - push'd or sell for fox?
Gabe3
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ISO air does and TS air do not have positive coil springs like the MARS air system. TS air is a straight air spring with a coil negative spring. ISO air is the same as TS air, but has a small rubber section between the air piston and air shaft that kinda works in the same way as the MARS coil spring, but only moves a few mm to help smooth out the top of the stroke.(MARS coil is active for the first 1/3 of the travel in comparison)
OK, I was just saying the ISO & TS Air springs have a coil spring in the bottom of the stanchions like the MARS Air spring do, I wasn't too sure how they work as there's not much said about them.
Would you say the MARS Air spring is more suited to longer travel forks then the ISO & TS Air springs?
Just asking that as with the current offerings, the MARS Air spring is in 'Trail' forks with 120/140mm travel and the ISO & TS Air springs are in 'XC' forks with 80/100/120mm travel.
They all do, you just need to open up the damper and restack the shims. It's a simple 15-20 minute procedure, and Manitou even has a nice tuning guide complete with dyno charts.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-s...file/d/0B-s3OzrP-sd0ZWI4MjdkZDEtNTcyYS00MDhmLThhMmUtMDM2ZGFlNGUwZGQw/edit?pli=1
I wouldn't say that either one is inherently more suited for use in longer or shorter travel forks, what makes them different is the tuning possibilities in terms of the overall spring curve. MARS Air allows you to make fairly large changes in the shape of the spring curve by changing the coil spring along with adding or removing oil on top of the air piston and fiddling with air pressure. Unfortunately it also results in exponentially more ways to get things wrong and end up with a poorly sprung fork. ISO and TS Air don't have as many tuning options which makes them easier to get right. It's just a matter of adding air and possibly adjusting the oil volume on top of the air piston.
IMO the MARS and ISO Air systems are close enough that it doesn't matter for most riders, how the dampers are tuned will have a larger effect than the spring system. I own the Minute Pro (MARS) and have ridden the Marvel (ISO), my Minute is a bit smoother but it does have a custom tuned shim stack in the compression damper whereas the Marvel was factory stock.
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have you compared a reba dual air like mine to the marvel with iso air? do you think the marvel would be more small bump compliant? and feel more like my old minute than my reba?
also, the trails I ride have mostly round root bumps, not square. I feel like my reba performs better when the bump is square and sharp. when the bump is round the fork doesn't seem to react to it. heres a picture of what i go over mostly.
I have ridden a Reba but don't remember if it was a single or dual air, I think it was a 2013 model for what it's worth. I'd say the Marvel is a lot closer to the Minute than the Reba, the Reba was OK for XC riding and individual obstacles, but once the speeds picked up or I ran into a succession of hits such as a rock garden or tangle of tree roots, it just couldn't keep up. Trying to ride through a section like this at high speed on a Reba either bottoms it out hard or feels like a jackhammer, either way the front wheel is getting bounced around hard and not really in control. The Minute & Marvel will soak those hits up and stay in control without bottoming, the wheel maintains traction and I can still steer across the roots if I want to.
I thought the Reba was OK (but not great, certainly worse than the Marvel) on small rounded bumps but sucked on small sharp bumps, but that could be way I had it set. I tend to run higher air pressure than most people of my weight along with a fairly fast rebound setting, then tweak the compression as needed depending on terrain. Either way, the Marvel beats it out on everything.
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MARS only being in longer travel forks is a newer trend, it used to be in forks as small as 80mm. That said, it does work best in longer travel forks. The good thing about MARS is that it allows you to tune different parts of the stroke separately. Coil for the first third of travel, air pressure for mid stroke and air volume for ramp up. Longer travel allows those options to be more noticeable and distinct compared to shorter travel versions.
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799 Posts
I found a 2014 marvel pro for $340. I dont know what was changed on the 2015 model. its new from china via ebay so I wouldnt have a warranty but seems like a good price. it has the milo lockout knob and remote lockout. I don't plan to use the remote lockout. can I still adjust the fork with the knob by hand or can it only lockout? can I swap the knob for the other kind?
heres the knob it comes with:
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the other kind:
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heres the knob it comes with:
the other kind:
Probably just the stickers.
Removal of the spring underneath the MILO adjuster knob should allow you to manually adjust the compression, with the spring in place the adjuster will always return to one position.
* The MILO remote adjuster without the spring isn't really a good setup as the the amount of compression could change as you're riding the bike, there would be nothing really keeping adjuster knob in a certain position, with the manual adjuster knob there is 2 spring loaded ball bearings that keep the adjuster knob in a certain position.
You can see the spring under the MILO adjuster knob here: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/manitou-milo-adjuster-knob-kit/rp-prod47713
You can easily swap the remote adjuster knob with a manual adjuster knob, in the photo you posted of the manual adjuster knobs you wouldn't need the blue rebound adjuster knob.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/manitou-knob-kit-marvel-pro/rp-prod127879
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