Hi, I'm wondering whether anyone has had a similar problem and whether they have been able to sort it at home? Will send them off if needs be but as it is so expensive to do so I would prefer to check if there is something I can do at home first.

I have some 6 month old 29er Reba Air U-turns that have developed a serious clunking and they are at the point of being unrideable now in my opinion. There has always been some play from new which I presumed to be the u-turn helix, as is described on the TF tuned website and I have read about on here. Now though if I compress the fork there is a clunk, and loose feeling in the first part of the travel. On the trail this translates into a horrible feeling fork. I don't think it is the bushings as the clunk only happens 'vertically' i.e. when the fork is going up and down. The forks don't rock backwards and forwards like I would expect if that was the case.

Any thoughts? I have taken them apart and nothing appears to be obviously broken. I did notice on the travel adjust helix that the threaded black top part looked to have some wear on the thread so could it be just from that? It is what I consider to be a big clunk though and I'm not sure it would come from that. I packed the helix with grease, so that it didn't move freely on the thread but the problem was still there to the same degree as before when I reassembled them.

If anyone has any ideas or experience of the same I would be grateful if you would share. Cheers.

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Less than 6 months old they should be covered under warranty – assuming they were purchased through official channels.

I have a set of Reba U-Turns that do this…just for the very first part of the travel when you push it down to get them moving as it were. Really only happens when the travel is set to a mid point between the highest and lowest travel. Like you always considered it to be the U-Turn helix and would be interested to hear if there is a solution to it as I've had several other U-Turn forks that haven't done it. Somebody must know a solution without the need to send off/warranty… 🙁

It's the way the air uturn is bonded together. If the Initial 35mm of travel feels dead then the uturn has separated inside. Happened to my revs in the first day of a week in the alps :/ just take them back to where you got em and they should be covered under warranty. Fishers will replace the valve, o ring, air tube and something else that I'm forgetting!
Good luck!

Bought them from the US as they are a maxle model, which annoyingly Fishers don't bring into the country so had no choice but to source them abroad. I don't know where that leaves me with regard to warranty.

Not sure if the problem is the same as the u-turn seperation as the forks feel fine going up and down, just the rattle that is the problem.

I'd send them back to where ever you got them from?
Seems you have no other option.

Won't be cheap to send them back to the US! Was trying to ascertain whether I could do a DIY fix first of all.

Thought you said they were loose aswell as rattly? Worthwhile taking them to a friendly lbs and seeing if they'll do a warranty, in my experience fishers tend to be pretty good regarding oe/dodgy forks 🙂

in my experience fishers tend to be pretty good regarding oe/dodgy forks

In my experience they'll tell you that they don't import the fork or spares to repair it.
That's what they did with a 29er Reba of mine. 😐

Cal, yes but they don't "feel dead for the first 35 mm" of travel. They still feel smooth apart from the initial knock to get them moving. The knock is particularly pronounced on the edge of a bump or when pulling the brake, it feels like a loose headset in a way.

I'm not all that happy about it to be honest. Considering just buying the parts to make it a standard dual-air fork as I rarely use the travel adjust anyway. Fishers must import that as they sell non u-turn Rebas

Cal – just reread my earlier post and can see that it might have sounded a little conflicting. It's definitely more than just a u-turn helix knock/rattle so I'll have to do something about it

This might do the job

http://www.fisheroutdoor.co.uk//product.asp?category=840&part%5Fno=R5313010&find%5Fcategory=&find%5Fdescription=&find%5Fpart%5Fdesc=reba+29er

yes but they don't "feel dead for the first 35 mm" of travel. They still feel smooth apart from the initial knock to get them moving. The knock is particularly pronounced on the edge of a bump or when pulling the brake, it feels like a loose headset in a way.

Yep, exactly the same to the extent I did consider swapping the headset. Does it only occur for you if it's somewhere in between the top and bottom of the travel adjust? If my forks are set to 90mm or 120mm it doesn't occur which definitely indicates in my mind its the U-Turn helix. Wonder if replacing the helix would help?

have you got the u turn wound all the way out/ in – if not it could be that. was on my pikes.

EDIT: ignore this – i'm talking coil.

In my experience they'll tell you that they don't import the fork or spares to repair it.
That's what they did with a 29er Reba of mine.

They used to do them, just not any more. I had three sets of Maxle 29ers from them. They've recently serviced one of those. I'd give em a call. They may well service them, though will likely charge you for it. Unfortunately this is the downside of importing things from the US.

My revs sometimes do this. It only happens when somewhere between max and min travel though. i was quite disappointed when i noticed it.

Yep, exactly the same to the extent I did consider swapping the headset. Does it only occur for you if it's somewhere in between the top and bottom of the travel adjust? If my forks are set to 90mm or 120mm it doesn't occur which definitely indicates in my mind its the U-Turn helix. Wonder if replacing the helix would help?

As you mention it then it used to happen only in the middle of the travel adjust range but it has now graduated to any position.

They used to do them, just not any more. I had three sets of Maxle 29ers from them. They've recently serviced one of those. I'd give em a call. They may well service them, though will likely charge you for it. Unfortunately this is the downside of importing things from the US

I'll speak to them and see what they think. What I don't want to be doing is sending them off and having to pay for a 'service' when they don't need one as such, and then replacement parts on top of that – I'm thinking this could start approaching £200 if I am not careful. I've had the forks apart quite a few times to clean the lowers, replace oil etc and they are in good condition other than the horrendous clunk!

I actually have another set of Maxle 29er Rebas on my other bike which are non u-turn. I think the first thing I will do is swap the dual cartridge in and see if that eradicates the clunk. If so then I will just buy the dual air assembly from Fishers, its £70 and cheaper than a service before any replacement parts are fitted. I'm mechanically competent and like to do jobs myself wherever possible so I'd rather avoid giving someone £100 for a job I could do myself 🙂

Oh and I'd edit your comment Sam to

Unfortunately this is the downside of Fisher not importing a decent range of 29er forks from the US

🙂

My revs sometimes do this. It only happens when somewhere between max and min travel though. i was quite disappointed when i noticed it.

All the u-turns have the travel adjust helix rattle, mine have done from new. The new clunk is a step on from this though and I'm not sure it is even the same problem anymore.

For anyone interested, or who finds this thread through a search, the problem in the end turned out to be worn bushings.

I didn't suspect that at first as the forks were only six months old. However they have now been replaced and feel as new again. There is still the light knocking from the U-Turn Helix but I think that is always going to be there for the reasons discussed above.

I should also state that the bushings have worn on BOTH pairs of 29er Rebas I have in roughly the same time period, 6 months, with riding shared between bikes. The response from Fisher Outdoor (the importers) was that Bushings don't wear and that if you need bushings then you need new lowers. What a joke.