Reba questions

[traumadiver]

Whats the max PSI?
Whats to PSI to weight ratio? for the possitive and negative side?

Any clydes riding a Reba?

I work part time for a sporting goods store so im getting 10% over cost for the fork, but I'm just trying to figure it out before I buy it.

[Uncle Rico]

Run 65% of your weight in the pos. chamber and a little less in the neg. chamber. I weigh 200 lbs and run 130 in the positive and 120 in the negative.

Look at Rainmans blog on MTBR, more info than you will ever need on the Reba.

[DeeZee]

Originally Posted by Uncle Rico

Run 65% of your weight in the pos. chamber and a little less in the neg. chamber. I weigh 200 lbs and run 130 in the positive and 120 in the negative.

Look at Rainmans blog on MTBR, more info than you will ever need on the Reba.

Exactly

[traumadiver]

thanks that blog was awesome!

[PacMan]

I'm a Clyde and run a Reba on my SS and my 29er. Great fork. There's also an air pressure table on the left fork leg. That's a decent starting point. You can tinker to your liking from there.

[Chewyeti]

i'm a clyde at 230 also.....

just got a reba....
anyone have a link to 'rainmans' blog?

[Jman]

Originally Posted by Chewyeti

i'm a clyde at 230 also.....

just got a reba....
anyone have a link to 'rainmans' blog?

Does that mean you got an XC bike to go with the hucking bike?

[Chewyeti]

Originally Posted by Jman

Does that mean you got an XC bike to go with the hucking bike?

I have a 6" bike, a 5" bike and now a 3-4" hardtail 29er...

i did most of my xc on the 5" bike

[92se-r]

http://forums.mtbr.com/blog.php?do=showjournal&j=254

google is your friend

Setting up your Reba Fork.
I took this down for a while, but have received so many requests to put it back up that I gave in..so here it is...


... Setting up your Reba Fork...according to Rainman.

After fitting your new fork to your bike, you need to set it up correctly for your ready to ride weight, your riding style, and your local trails.

Firstly, set the rebound on the bottom of the right hand side fork leg. Set this at full fast, turn it fully towards the hare.

Now lets go to the air chambers, which are located on the left hand side of the fork leg.

Remove both covers from the Schrader valves, unscrew them and carefully let all the air out of both the positive and negative air chambers.
You will be well advised to turn the bike upside down when removing the air from the negative air chamber on the bottom of the fork leg, otherwise it may spit fork oil all over you.
Use a rag when removing the air ... wrap it around the fork leg and valve to prevent oil getting on the front disc and pads.

When you have released the air from both chambers, go get your fork pump and pump 60% of your ready to ride weight into the Positive chamber. Then pump 10 psi less into the Negative chamber.

Place a loose zip tie on one of the stanchions to be able to see the travel you are getting.

Take your pump along with you, and go ride.

! FORGET SAG. You don't need no stinkin' sag!

Your aim is to get full travel on the fork on the BIG hits. If you are getting full travel on relatively small bumps, increase the air pressure by ten psi in each chamber, ALWAYS pumping the positive air chamber first.

Ride again, checking the travel and 'feel' of the fork. As I have already said, you need to see full travel on the BIG hits.
Keep on 'tuning' your fork until you see this. Always obey The Ten psi Rule. That is, always have ten psi more pressure in the positive chamber than the negative.

Why?

The positive chamber is like the main coil spring in your fork, it maintains the travel and prevents too much sag .... which might feel "nice and soft" but will allow the fork to bottom out on big hits.

Keeping the negative chamber air pressure BELOW the positive one stops it overpowering your main 'spring' and robbing you of travel and control.

** If the Reba is on a full suspension bike then remember that it has to be balanced with the rear shock to maintain stability at speed over rough ground. **

>> Tune the rear shock to give the same amount of travel on the slider as the front fork.
So ... if you are seeing full travel on the Reba fork after a ride, you should be seeing the same on the rear shock. Tuning them for a nice balanced feel will make the bike much more controllable over the ground.
If the rear shock is too "strong" ... ie, too much psi pressure, it will force the front end of the bike down on fast rough terrain, placing the rider in extreme danger. It is always better to have the rear shock slightly lower in pressure than the front fork if you need to get the balance correct, and NOT the other way around.

On some of the more current FS bikes like the RIP 9, you will have to disregard the 10psi Rule, and increase the pressure in the Reba fork up to 20 psi over what you would normally use. So if you are usually running 100 psi positive and 90 psi negative, you may find that for high speed downhill riding over steps jumps and rocks an extra 10-20 psi in the Reba will help things greatly.

This setup is simply because the Reba just can't handle the extra heavy impacts at high speeds and needs to be helped out a bit by increasing the positive pressure to maintain its composure. The Reba is a fine fork, but some of these newer bikes like the RIP 9 really benefit from a longer travel fork. To compensate for the Reba's lack of travel, more air pressure is needed in the positive chamber.

This will take away some of the nice low speed compliance, but will give a huge increase in control when things get blurry-fast on rough steep downhills.

[**This only applies if you are riding hard on rough trails at high speeds, the normal 10 psi Rule should be adhered to otherwise.**]

Once you have the Reba tuned in to your satisfaction, you can play around a little with the rebound settings. I prefer a fast reacting fork, so always leave mine on the 'hare' or full fast...ymmv..

If you have a poploc on your Reba, set it up as follows...

After attaching the lever to the handlebar and connecting the cable correctly to the poploc on the top of the R/H side fork leg... make sure the poploc lever is in the unlocked position. Now, lock the lever, and turn the adjuster knob on the top of the fork leg to the right in the direction of the arrow, or clockwise until it stops. Now unlock the poploc lever on the handle bars.

Ok, this is what you have done...

You have set the poploc to blow off pressure when it is locked out if you hit a big bump. The wastegate will open and pressure will be released to prevent damage to the fork internals.

The poploc will NOT lock the Reba fork out completely, you will get around 20mm of travel even when locked out, the fork is designed like that.

What the lockout is designed to do is to allow you to stand up like a man and pedal hard or "mash" up steep hills without the front end "bobbing" around and wasting your power.

If you need to do a quick sprint standing up, you hit the lever closed, stand up, sprint hard, then sit and unlock the poploc again. E Z..

Frequent maintenance is required on the Reba. If you ride a lot, then you need to do two services per year to keep the Reba working at 100%. It also helps to use a good quality stanchion lube once per week to keep it sliding well.

IF .... after following these simple instructions, your Reba feels like garbage, or you aren't getting full travel ... or the fork is generally 'sick' feeling, then you need to look at the oil levels inside the fork itself.

Some forks come from the factory with either too much or too little oil in them. A service by a good Reba wrench who knows his stuff will fix this easily. If you are a decent hand with the tools, you can even attempt it yourself, it's not too hard.

The Reba is a fine tune-able fork. It deserves it's reputation as the most popular fork on the market. You can make it as plush or as firm as you want it just with a little time and tuning.

Remember the 10 psi Rule.

Good riding ...


Rainman.