REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

Reba stiction?

1741 Views 27 Replies 10 Participants Last post by bellullabob, Dec 24, 2005

beanbag

Discussion Starter · Dec 14, 2005

Hello people,

I've been riding a new 05 Reba Team, non U turn. It feels fairly sticky, at least compared to my old Marzocchi coil fork. I've already ridden it twice and it doesn't really feel much better. How low is the stiction supposed to get? Will Enduro seals help? Right now, the seals are still seeping a small amount of what I assume to be assembly grease.

1 - 20 of 28 Posts

bikerx40

· #2 · Dec 14, 2005

What kind of pump are you using. You'll want to make sure that you are using a 'loss-less' pump that disconnects the head without losing air. Try setting the negative (bottom) air chamber equal to the postive (top) chamber pressure. Air pressures should be around 60% of your body weight to get about 20-25mm of sag when you sit on the bike in riding postion.

I hope that helps. Negative air pressure helps overcome initial stiction.

pornstar

· #3 · Dec 14, 2005

I believe i have a similar problem with my team reba....
I weight 155 pounds and i used at first the psi recomended by RS it was 2 stiff
Then i used 80 psi and it was too soft causing me to bottom out frequently and i was just told that 90 psi is too much for my weight.
I would set my fork to the recomended sag but.... hummm my fork doesnt sag more than a cm even set at 50 psi.
???
what`s wrong?
I have used the fork for over 100 miles.

beanbag

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 14, 2005

Hey guys,

I think you are getting stiction confused with preload

bikerx40

· #5 · Dec 14, 2005

pornstar said:
I believe i have a similar problem with my team reba....
I weight 155 pounds and i used at first the psi recomended by RS it was 2 stiff
Then i used 80 psi and it was too soft causing me to bottom out frequently and i was just told that 90 psi is too much for my weight.
I would set my fork to the recomended sag but.... hummm my fork doesnt sag more than a cm even set at 50 psi.
???
what`s wrong?
I have used the fork for over 100 miles.

Choose your positive pressure based on how often you are bottoming out, and then try matching the negative pressure. The negative pressure will help pull the fork into compression and give you more sag too.

kneecap

· #6 · Dec 14, 2005

me @ 150 lbs.
Seems this fork is sensative to VERY small psi adjustments. Some days & trails it feels really good, othes times like crap. My best overall settings are maybe 55/60 psi pos., & maybe 40/50 neg.
Too much neg, & not enough pos, psi & it slams through the travel way too fast, w/ a hard end stroke. the opposite prevails w/ too much pos. air, only get 3/4 of available travel & sore wrists at end of ride for both situations. The fork is stiff enough, it's just really hard to dial in for a multitude of trail conditions.
Am I way off on my settings?

pornstar

· #7 · Dec 14, 2005

kneecap said:
me @ 150 lbs.
Seems this fork is sensative to VERY small psi adjustments. Some days & trails it feels really good, othes times like crap. My best overall settings are maybe 55/60 psi pos., & maybe 40/50 neg.
Too much neg, & not enough pos, psi & it slams through the travel way too fast, w/ a hard end stroke. the opposite prevails w/ too much pos. air, only get 3/4 of available travel & sore wrists at end of ride for both situations. The fork is stiff enough, it's just really hard to dial in for a multitude of trail conditions.
Am I way off on my settings?

WOW you are using way too low of a preassure fro my taste.
I weight 155 pounds and i used today 85 + and 85- and it was horrible the ride was all messed up cause thefork dived a lot and the bike tended to wonder around.
The best ride i have had is with 90 + and 60 - with compresion full open.

I believe taht if you put so much negative with the positive being so low it tends to dive a lot and i couldnt blast my way through rock gardens as i did before with more +psi

bikerx40

· #8 · Dec 14, 2005

kneecap said:
me @ 150 lbs.
Seems this fork is sensative to VERY small psi adjustments. Some days & trails it feels really good, othes times like crap. My best overall settings are maybe 55/60 psi pos., & maybe 40/50 neg.
Too much neg, & not enough pos, psi & it slams through the travel way too fast, w/ a hard end stroke. the opposite prevails w/ too much pos. air, only get 3/4 of available travel & sore wrists at end of ride for both situations. The fork is stiff enough, it's just really hard to dial in for a multitude of trail conditions.
Am I way off on my settings?

Agreed. You're way too low. Shoot for 60% of your weight in the positive chamber = 90psi, and then 55-90psi of negative based on your preference of bob/dive/sensitivity.

kneecap

· #9 · Dec 14, 2005

Yea, maybe too low, I'm used to my older zoke marathon which operated well @ those psi's.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give em a try next ride & report back

pornstar

· #10 · Dec 15, 2005

kneecap said:
Yea, maybe too low, I'm used to my older zoke marathon which operated well @ those psi's.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give em a try next ride & report back

Please report back to see how you did... i´ll do it too so we can compare results and help us each other finding our sweet spot.

LyNx

· #11 · Dec 15, 2005

How do u have the fork set up? What sort of PSIs r u using in relation to ur body weight? The 60% of body weight for POSITIVE PSI is a very good starting point, then try about 70% of that PSI for the NEGATIVE air. FYI I don't get more than about 12mm of SAG when I have my fork set up right/how I like it.

kneecap

· #12 · Dec 16, 2005

Today's ride report

pornstar said:
Please report back to see how you did... i´ll do it too so we can compare results and help us each other finding our sweet spot.

- Reba Uturn setup - Me, little under 150lbs(tall/skinny), fork on ironhorse team hollowpoint,
85psi pos., 75psi neg. gives me a little under 3/4" sag.
This setting helped some, in that the fork didn't plunge through the travel too fast, & sag too much on the steep downhills as it did with the real low pressures.
However, I still get a good hit to my arms & hands in the small rock garden @ speed, & a good jolt if I don't time the water bars just right. Kinda pounds me.
I got about 3 & 7/8" travel, checked @ end of trail, set in 115mm travel on the way down. this left right around 3/4" travel not used. Seems like a lot to me. I'd like to get the thing plusher, & still ramp up nicely, without that hard hit at the end.
Does the u-turn perform any different, with an air spring in only one leg, than the non u-turn with air springs in both legs? Suggestions?

beanbag

Discussion Starter · #13 · Dec 16, 2005

Hey, does anybody want to answer my original question about how much stiction a Reba has? And no, it has nothing to do with the negative air pressure.

LyNx

· #14 · Dec 16, 2005

beanbag said:
Hey, does anybody want to answer my original question about how much stiction a Reba has? And no, it has nothing to do with the negative air pressure.

Sure.....NONE, or at least mine doesn't - smoothe as butter. How do u have the rebound setup, maybe that needs adjusting some?

Kneecap, try lowering your NEG PSI a bit with same PSO PSI and then try more NEG and see if any of these work. Sorry I don't have a U-Turn so can't give personal recomendations from experience, only what I know from my SL.

westin

· #15 · Dec 18, 2005

beanbag said:
Hello people,

I've been riding a new 05 Reba Team, non U turn. It feels fairly sticky, at least compared to my old Marzocchi coil fork. I've already ridden it twice and it doesn't really feel much better. How low is the stiction supposed to get? Will Enduro seals help? Right now, the seals are still seeping a small amount of what I assume to be assembly grease.

Give it about 4 or 5 good rides. The Reba Team non uturn has almost no stiction.... though it is an air fork. Set the air pressure using the 60% rule.

bellullabob

· #16 · Dec 19, 2005

Air Fork

westin said:
Give it about 4 or 5 good rides. The Reba Team non uturn has almost no stiction.... though it is an air fork. Set the air pressure using the 60% rule.

Had my first ride on my new Reba Team today. Though it could certainly be to the fact is a new fork (or that the weather was sub freezing), I really noticed the difference in the initial travel quality of this fork vs. my old coil fork. I though the Reba did great at eating bigger hits but it felt hesitant and undecisive on the smaller stuff. It almost felt like the rebound was NOT working great in the first inch of travel (I turned the rebound on fairly fast) and am just wondering if this is where air forks struggle compared to coil forks? Again, first ride so...

beanbag

Discussion Starter · #17 · Dec 19, 2005

bellullabob said:
Had my first ride on my new Reba Team today. Though it could certainly be to the fact is a new fork (or that the weather was sub freezing), I really noticed the difference in the initial travel quality of this fork vs. my old coil fork. I though the Reba did great at eating bigger hits but it felt hesitant and undecisive on the smaller stuff. It almost felt like the rebound was NOT working great in the first inch of travel (I turned the rebound on fairly fast) and am just wondering if this is where air forks struggle compared to coil forks? Again, first ride so...

I have the same experience comparing a Reba Team (ridden for 3+ hours) to my Marzocchi coil fork. I think the stiction of the Reba was only a small part of this effect. Maybe the first inch of an air fork, even with sag, is not as soft as a coil fork.

bikerx40

· #18 · Dec 19, 2005

bellullabob said:
Had my first ride on my new Reba Team today. Though it could certainly be to the fact is a new fork (or that the weather was sub freezing), I really noticed the difference in the initial travel quality of this fork vs. my old coil fork. I though the Reba did great at eating bigger hits but it felt hesitant and undecisive on the smaller stuff. It almost felt like the rebound was NOT working great in the first inch of travel (I turned the rebound on fairly fast) and am just wondering if this is where air forks struggle compared to coil forks? Again, first ride so...

You're trying out your fork under the absolute worst scenario. Cold weather and a fork that's not broken-in. Set-up makes a huge difference in the feel of this fork too. Don't rush to judgement until you've had the opportunity to break-in the fork and ride during warmer weather with proper air pressures.

bellullabob

· #19 · Dec 20, 2005

tuning tip???

bikerx40 said:
You're trying out your fork under the absolute worst scenario. Cold weather and a fork that's not broken-in. Set-up makes a huge difference in the feel of this fork too. Don't rush to judgement until you've had the opportunity to break-in the fork and ride during warmer weather with proper air pressures.

don't get me wrong, I did not dislike the reba at all. It just seemed on that ride that the first inch or so of travel was a little vague compared to a coil fork.

In order to tune the fork, would the recommendation be to start out with 60% body weight in + chamber and 80% of that in -, then add a little psi in + until no longer bottoming out, once that is figured out, then a little more in the - to increase slow speed dampning sensitivity... until happy?

Also as it seems that the adjustment of the compression dampning is partially turning on the lock out (or vice versa), does adjusting the gate make any significant difference in the compression dampning? Thanks

bikerx40

· #20 · Dec 20, 2005

bellullabob said:
In order to tune the fork, would the recommendation be to start out with 60% body weight in + chamber and 80% of that in -, then add a little psi in + until no longer bottoming out, once that is figured out, then a little more in the - to increase slow speed dampning sensitivity... until happy?

Also as it seems that the adjustment of the compression dampning is partially turning on the lock out (or vice versa), does adjusting the gate make any significant difference in the compression dampning? Thanks

Some people recommend the '60% rule', which means setting the pos. to 60% of your ready-to-ride weight and the neg. to 60% of the positive pressure (170lb rider = 100pos/60neg). However, I like more negative pressure than that, so I run equal pos & neg pressure. I weigh 172 with gear and I run 110 pos and 110 neg in my U-Turn (a bit higher pressure required than non-uturn dual air models). Rebound is set to full fast.

The compression/floodgate settings make a big difference. I set the floodgate by first turning the compression knob to full clockwise (firm), and then start with the floodgate knob about 2 clicks clockwise from full (-) and add/remove floodgate clicks until the fork feels like it's a platform shock. The shock should 'blow-off' as it hits bumps, but you should be able to stand and climb without excessive shock movement. This is a personal preference. Then, I like to back off the compression knob to the middle of its range. This setting should help to minimize brake dive, but be really sensitive to small bumps. Make sure that you're running your rebound quick enough to follow the terrain under multiple hits.

Tuning is personal preference, so everyone will have there own recommendations, but this has worked for me. Hope that helps.

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