Hello

Despite having been riding, building and maintaining MTBs for a while I would appreciate some words of advice regarding a pair of Rebas that I have just started using (my first pair of Rockshox since some Judys in the 90s – I usually ride Fox).

I bought them secondhand but almost new some years ago, they have poploc, dual air and are old enough to still have the option of V brake bosses.

I have been trying to set them up for XC riding and have read all of the online resources and checked Youtube. The first problem is that the red rebound control know will only turn through 180 degrees. I am sure that it was fine when I bought the forks, is there a way to free it? Does the red knob bit just pull out of the fork?

I have been trying to max the amount of travel that I can get out of the fork and can probably get 65mm. This didn’t seem like much so I thought I’d remove the air from both chambers and gently compress the fork – again 65mm is the max. Is this normal?

As ever, your words of wisdom appreciated!

OK, so I’ve fixed the rebound knob which works fine.

Still mystified by the lack of travel.

No,you should be getting 90-100mm,maybe there’s too much oil in there ?Don’t know if that would make a difference as I’ve never had too much in mine,but I’ve had 4 pairs of Reba’s & they all pretty much hit their travel.
Pretty sure you can adjust them between 80,100 & 120 too,by either adding or removing a spacer..

Too much oil would lock them out.
Are they not compressing fully,or not extending fully? If it’s the former it might be that.It’s very easy to get the oil volume wrong. Depending on the year, model,and where you read, the volume could be 110, 123 or 133ml,or something else entirely.
The oil could probably benefit from being changed, so why not do it ? It’s a piece of cake. There are how to videos on the SRAM website if you’re unsure.

Guys thanks for that. Yes I’m suspecting too much oil. When I bought the forks I gave them a check over and changed the oil so suspect that handiwork might have been over generous.

OK, so I’ve checked the oil bath in and it is fine. A nice fill of clean oil. Hmm, missing 40mm of travel……

With the with fork inflated to normal pressure, what is the measurement from the lip of the wiper seal to the top of the stanchion?

You probably have a travel spacer still lurking in there if there is only a limited amount of stanchion showing?? Look for the black plastic thing on the damper shaft. You can remove this. I have a set of OEM 100mm 2009 Rebas that were 100mm travel, now 120mm.

Assuming that your fork is not collapsed and already sitting midway through its travel then there will be two possibilities why your fork wont compress fully and achieve full travel:
1. There is too much open bath oil in the lowers. On a Reba of that era you should have 15ml of 15wt oil in the R&L lower leg.
2. There is too much oil in the damper/right upper stanchion. This will prevent the damper shaft (the rod that sticks out of the bottom of right stanchion) from being compressed fully and will cause a hydraulic lock.

A quick removal of the lower legs should be enough to check for both of these symptoms.

rs forks of that era (rev, reba, sektor) have a habit of leaking oil from uppers to lowers on damper side…drop the lowers, if there’s way more than there should be, there’s your problem. Easy to fix, bit of oil and a new o-ring

tinglesrack thanks for the advice. I have 100mm of stantion showing. Yes, looks like the lowers will need to come off and check the lower open baths.