[bob29r]

I just got my first Reba SL '06 from Ebay this week. It was never used other than being mounted on a new bike. It arrived very clean, unscratched, etc. I had it mounted at my LBS and took my first ride on a mostly rooty hilly trail this morning.. a good maiden test run trail.

All was well until I started hearing this air escape from the right fork leg upon each compression after the first mile. It seemed to hold compression fine, I checked it out but wasn't able to really see anything wrong. So I rode for 2-3 miles and it stopped making the air escaping noise. I had not clue what made it stop.. so I continued and about 5 miles later the noise returned.

Once I got home after the ride (about a 12 mi. ride) I went over the manual and rechecked all the settings: floodgate, neg/pos air, rebound. All set to my weight specs.. but the escaping air noise still occurs upon compressing the fork.. even while standing still in the garage.

I scoured the web (SRAM/Rockshox site useless) about this and found some posts that reported the same findings but no root cause or solution was described. Some owners claimed "Yeah, mine does that too".

Obvious questions I have.. Is this normal ? Should I be concerned ? Where may the air be coming from ? The neg/pos chambers had 100+ lbs each when I checked them after the ride.. so I don't believe I am losing air.. perplexed to say the least !! :madman:

Any troubleshooting tips etc would be appreciated... as you know.. I am not the orig. owner, so Warranty is void without original invoice.. so I'm on my own !!

 

[MtotheF]

"squish" or "hiss"?

is the noise a squishing sound or an actual flat tire-esque hissing?

you mentioned it is the right leg. all of the reba's i've ridden make some sort of squishing or squelching from their dampers. the dampers are located in the right leg, the air chambers are in the left leg. if the fork is holding pressure, and is behaving otherwise alright, i'd say just ride it and get used to the sound...

 

[bob29r]

I would say it is more of a squishing sound, but definetly air escaping from what I hear.

When I turn the compression dial to the total unlock position, the fork compresses silently. It seems as I turn the compression adjustment to the halfway mark (between lock/unlock) the squishing noise starts again but lets up as I adjust closer to the lock position. Seems to be a sweet spot halfway within the compression adjustment when the air noise occurs.

Other than that, the fork seems to be performing fine. I will take your advice and just ride it. Thanks for confirming that they are noisy. After all, this new Reba replaced a '02 Marchozzi Bomber which is a close cousin to a rigid !

Cheers

 

[steevo]

My first ride on the Reba all I could think of was the sound my cat makes when she's about to hack up a fur ball. I asked everyone around me if that was normal and they said yes. I think it depends on your pressure settings too, I was running positive and negative lower than normal and it didn't do it. I know nothing about forks, just sharing that I hear the same thing.

 

[DeeZee]

All good

I would say it is more of a squishing sound, but definetly air escaping from what I hear.

When I turn the compression dial to the total unlock position, the fork compresses silently. It seems as I turn the compression adjustment to the halfway mark (between lock/unlock) the squishing noise starts again but lets up as I adjust closer to the lock position. Seems to be a sweet spot halfway within the compression adjustment when the air noise occurs.

Other than that, the fork seems to be performing fine. I will take your advice and just ride it. Thanks for confirming that they are noisy. After all, this new Reba replaced a '02 Marchozzi Bomber which is a close cousin to a rigid !

Cheers

I would say it is more of a squishing sound

Reminds me of an old girlfriend

Just go with it:thumbsup:

 

[NoMud]

It's normal

It's designed to offer some early resistance in lock-out - then give some. As you said - no air is actually coming out. If you don't like it run fully locked out, or use less neg pressure to set up a firmer feel to the fork in fully open.

 

[bob29r]

Thanks.. From all indications of the repiles that I received I will assume that it is normal. I think the pos. is 120, with neg at 110. I weight 180, so I will play with this some more. I don't mind the sound if it's normal.

After all.. it was one hell of a upgrade form my old Mars !

 

[Nat]

When I turn the compression dial to the total unlock position, the fork compresses silently. It seems as I turn the compression adjustment to the halfway mark (between lock/unlock) the squishing noise starts again but lets up as I adjust closer to the lock position. Seems to be a sweet spot halfway within the compression adjustment when the air noise occurs.

You mean the sound happens during the compression stroke and not while the bike is sitting there still without you on it, correct? It's kind of a "pshhhhhht" sound? Mine does that too. I always figured it was due to oil being forced through partially-open orifices. I actually like the sound. It gives me a little extra feedback as to where I set the damping dial.

 

[bob29r]

Nat.. exactly what you described... it could be oil passing through a tight area.. hard to tell because I am trying to figure out where the noise is coming from while compressing fork from above.

The forks works great.. no seeping oil, the neg and pos both have air and retain it, so I just think that it is a characteristic of this fork inherent with the design. I have only owned the old Mars 29er forks, so this is a big advancement for my fork life !

Thanks for confirming.. keep the rubber down at all times..

 

[jm03]

Mine does exactly the same thing. If you take the fork apart, the internal tubing is a tube with a bunch of holes around it, it rotates when you turn the lockout knob. It sits in a bath of oil and that sound definately is the oil passing through. I like the sound too.

 

[bob29r]

This sounds like a reasonable cause.. the manual doesn't really address "how" the fork works. I can live with that as long as I know it's normal operation.

Good news for me and what I thought might have been a defective fork due to my concern. Thanks for posting !!

 

[bbarend]

Slow the rebound all the way down. Then you can really hear it. It will come up real slow and hiss the whole way.