Reba (or all RS) 29er fork Offset leg problems. Anybody else have this?

I have 3 sets of Reba 29er forks (a c.2009/10 QR SL, a 2009/10 Reba team maxle 120mm & a brand new 2011 Ream team maxle 120mm tapered).

I’d heard over the years that some of the lowers seemed to be offset meaning the tyre is far closer to the disc side than the drive side and indeed this is true on my older maxle fork (2.4 ardent would not fit without rubbing). I just accepted this and fitted a narrower 2.25″ Ardent which does not rub as it was a hassle to look at warranties etc as i had to source the fork in the UK.

However, i bought the new one on the assumption that it was a historical problem that would have been fixed by now but the new one is worse than ever and i can’t even fit a 2.25″ Nevegal in it without it rubbing the disc side lower. It seem that this has been a persistant problem on RS 29ers for a few years now and i’m going to look at his being warrantied this time. I’ve done a bit of research and found these threads which seem to confirm it is a known problem?

http://forums.mtbr.com/29er-bikes/tire-rubbing-ardent-2-4-reba-rlt-762911.html

http://forums.mtbr.com/29er-bikes/2011-reba-20mm-axle-wheel-off-center-still-issues-2011s-663127-6.html

Anybody else here with these issues and anybody gone down the warranty route? I bought them at 29Squadron in Belgium and will be emailing them and Sram (Via Fishers i think in the UK?) to voice my concerns. My LBS said they may be able to send them back on my behalf in the UK as Fishers don’t ask for proof of purchase?

Finally (sorry for the long post) i tried 3 different wheels in the forks last night to ensure it’s not the wheels being badly dished and the LBS confirmed today that the wheel was spot on dish-wise.

Even the QR fork is off but it’s less noticeable as i run narrower tyres on that bike. Any insight, first hand experience or knowledge on the subject would be gratefully received, cheers.

my reba 120 (’09 maybe..??) started to rub on the disc side when i put a 2.4 ardent on it.
i could’ve gone the warranty route, i guess, but it’s my only mtb.
i redished my wheel ( only took a coupla mm) ‘cuz i read about a guy on mtbr who did that.
ain’t been an issue since.

Re-dishing is an option but having spent the bestpart of £1000 on their forks i don’t think i should have to put up with a known problem and then pay to have wheels redished to rectify it?

I’ll be emailing them in a bit and will await a response.

Hmm…I’m currently thinking of getting a new FS 29er and a couple of the bikes I’m interested in have Reba forks – I’d be interested to hear what response you get to your email.

Please let us know how you get on.

My 2009 & 2010 Rebas had this problem and a friend had the same on 26″ Sid so its not isolated to bigger wheels. Now have Sid 29s, which have no problems and much more tyre clearance than the Reba to boot.

I got one set replaced on warranty and redished the wheel for the later model as there were so many dodgy castings about there was the same chance of getting a wonky replacement.

i don’t think i should have to put up with a known problem and then pay to have wheels redished to rectify it?

fair enough.
learning to dish (or tension/re-tension or build a wheel) has saved me some coin in the long run.
to each their own.

Bigdugsbaw – I have a feeling that if i do get a replacement it will be no different 🙁

I’ve emailed Fishers and also the shop i bought it from (29Squadron which unfortunately is in Belgium as i couldn’t find any 120mm Maxle 29er in the UK after On-One sold out). I await their replys.

I’m amazed more people have not complained about this as it seems incredibly common??? I could live with it on a budget fork but not when i have 2 that cost around £400 each. Terrible QC and i can’t believe it’s still going on over 2 years later?

Whats the point of building a ‘hardcore’ HT 29er if i’m limited to skinny 2″ tyres….. Not happy

Redishing wheels does not rectify this, the problem is that the wheels sit in the forks on an angle hence being closer to one side than the other.
Sit the bike upside down with the wheel in then look from the front about 3 metres away, the result is shocking and i cannot believe rockshox have done this again!
I had a pair of 26″ sids from 2009 which were shockingly bad and searching on the internet revealed it was common and that a bad batch were sent out and when you got them replaced on warranty they would send out a pair that were just as bad.

Curlie,

I took some pictures that show how bad it is (don’t know how to post pics on here) and it’s clearly visible. Used 3 different 20mm wheels with different tyres and it’s the same for all of them.

It’ll be interesting to see what responses i get (if any!). From what i’ve read, most warranty claims are done staight away in the US but they’ve ‘never heard of the problem’ at RS?

Seems like the party line is deny all knowledge but swap the lowers without any questions – seems fishy to me? Fishers UK used the same line to my LBS this morning. It would appear that finally the 2012 forks don’t seem to have the problem and the SID’s and Rev’s have better tyre clearance now as well.

so is it a case of the drop outs being at different distances from the crown level, lower on Disc side meaning wheel is canted to the disc side?

Cant say Ive really noticed on my Rebas, 2009 I think. Maybe Ill pop out to the shed for a looksee.

Thats what i did, tried numerous wheels as i thought i was going mad but i believe that is what happens, deny all knowledge but replace them anyway! no logic to that but i hope you get it sorted quickly!

Stoner,
It’s more noticeable if you put a bigger tyre in. Never really checked my QR Reba RL’s as i only run 2″ tryes in them but when i look closely that is a bit offset as well.

if they warranty my new forks i may try for the older ones as well seeing as i’ve owned them all from new.

Ive had a look at mine. Theyre 20mm 29ers and I have stouts on at the moment. They are not small tyres.

As it is, the wheel appears centralised.
On flipping the wheel it appears that it has canted over to the Disc Side lower by a few mm, but not dramatic.

Ive taken a few pics, but its not very light out at the moment, so I might have a closer look and do some measurements with the verniers tomorrow to get a better idea.

BTW I think mine were OEM on fisher bikes. So 08/09. Had them a while and were rare as rocking horse poo for a long time.

Well it looks like i was right and i’ve had a proper result and great service from Fishers and my LBS.

They were sent off on Tuesday and i was expecting a wait of weeks but the LBS has just called me to say that they’ve got the forks back today with brand new lowers. Fishers didn’t put up any fuss and replaced them straight away as they agreed the lowers were wrong.

I’ll grab them in the morning and hopefully check that the replacements do not have the same problem!

I’m now considering sending them my 2009 versions as well if i can find my proof of purchase…..

Happy days.

Hope the new lowers fix the problem – please can you give us an update when you’ve refitted the forks?

(I’m looking at getting a 29er with Rebas, so this is something I’m gonna check before it leaves the shop!)

Bowglie,

New forks fitted yesterday and the new ones appear to haver the same problem. Not happy.

Can’t believe that the quality control is so poor and that this is a persistent problem.

To be fair the new ones are marginally better than the old ones but a 2.2″ nevegal still catches the brake leg when i ride out of the saddle.

Doesn’t help that the stupid zip tie approach RS use for the cable attachment positions the zip tie at exactly the narrowest part of the arch to decrease the available space by another 1-2mm. I’ll use a different cable tie approach and see if the rubbing stops.

I may ring Fishers to complain on Monday but have a feeling i’ll just end up putting up with it as i’d just like to ride the bike. The forks work absolutely fine, it’d just be nice to be able to put in a decent sized tyre like they’re supposed to take?

This is why I use Manitou forks. No-one likes ’em, but they sure work real good, mister…

Got to Agree with bullheart. Never liked manitous 20 years ago, but found the new tower pro 29er to be very good. The adjustment is so easy… Really nice.

I’ve got 2 sets of the maxle 120mm ones from On-one – both are fine, but perhaps I was lucky.

I got 2 qr rebas and both are out, been looking at the marzocchi forks for next purchase

2 x Reba owner, including the On One 29ers, and both are fine. By way of contrast, an old pair of Manitous I have exhibit the same problem!

Trouble is that all 3 of my RS Reba 29ers are great forks so i’ve got no problem with the performance, it’s just i’d like to be able to run decent sized tyres in them. How hard is it to get the measurements correct for the lowers – every other manufacturer seems to manage it?

The QR set i have are spot on, it’s just the 20mm Maxle ones that are out (bought new over 2 years apart). Fox are way too overpriced and i never liked the one set i had a few years ago (26″), DT Swiss and Manitou i’m sure are fine but i just really don’t like the reverse arch design (and DT are also really expensive). The Marzocchi’s would be fine but just seem far too heavy.

I looked at the On-One Reba RL’s for ages (from when they were first up at £250!!) but didn’t have a suitable frame at the time. When i finally decided to get the new frame they’d sold out a few days previous and the only other 120mm versions i could find were the Team version at 29squadron for £375.

Why does this seem such an ongoing problem which never seems to have resulted in more bad publicity – fox were mauled for their ‘made of cheese’ stanchions?

RS most be very aware as Fishers replaced my lowers immediately without so much as a query and certainly didn’t seem surprised…

Maybe i’ll try the Manitous at some stage in the future because i’m not sure i’d buy more RS forks now unless i could actually see them before i buy which in internet land is nigh on impossible. 🙁

I wonder if the casting is out on the Maxle versions or if they actually line bore the lowers to take the Maxle after casting them. I can imagine some under paid Taiwanese bloke line boring for 10 hours a day and he gets a bit distracted and doesn’t put every set of lowers in the jig as straight as he should. If the Maxle ends up with a .5mm run out between the sides of the lower legs it would add up to lot more by the time it got to the rim. This would be worse on a 29er than a 26 inch wheel. Just a theory.
That said I recently needed to use SRAM Tech UK http://www.sramtechcenter.co.uk/ for a warranty issue and they were excellent. They received the forks at 10 am on Tuesday and had them delivered back to my LBS at 9:20 am on Thursday.
My LBS, Bigfoot Bikes in Hayes, were also really good as I did not buy the forks from them. You do not have to return stuff to SRAM Tech UK via the original seller. Any shop with a Fishers account can log in and get you a Warranty Returns number if you ask them nicely or bribe them with Jaffa Cakes. Once you have the number, write it on the outside of the box and put a covering letter in along with your proof of purchase. Then courier them to SRAM Tech yourself to save the non supplying dealer any hassle. SRAM Tech have to send them back to a dealer so that any chargeable parts can be invoiced within the trade. I’m sure your LBS may then add their mark up if they feel it is appropriate.
Mine were done F.O.C. and I bought some bits from Big Foot as I felt like I had taken advantage of their excellent customer service.

That does suck.
I say re-dish the wheel and ride the snot outta that fork…punish it for its non-compliance. 😉

I built a new wheel in a set of maxle Rebas last summer, no wonder I had a problem dishing it correctly. Never heard of this before. I only ever ran them with Smallblock8’s though. I can just get a rub if I really power up a hill with my Singular Swift rigids…but powering up anything is a very rare occurence for me.

Ta for the update Mr Tall. It’s a bit poor how the replacement forks have virtually the same problem – in fact, I think it’s pretty c**p for a big manufacturer like SRAM. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t a relatively easy problem to fix in the manufacturing process – I guess the problem is that the info has got to get back through the chain of command to the factory floor. FWIR, Lapierre had a QC problem a couple of years ago which led to some frames cracking (hence the ‘crackierre’ jokes), and the source of the problem turned out to be a machine tool bit that had worn past its minimum tolerance.

and DT are also really expensive

….and IME, their damping is very average compared to RS or Fox, esp. RS’s blackbox damping.

For the QR fork:

Got rid of the zip tie for the hose today and used a routing down the front of the fork. The extra 1-2mm seemed to allow the tyre the extra clearance it needs and a little 5 mile testing ride today was all good with no wheel rubbing that i could detect.

It is slightly better than the last lowers but certainly not perfect. I’ll end up living with it because i just want to use the bike rather than keep waiting for warranties to be messed with.

If i run it with a narrower Specialized Purgatory 2.2″ tyre up front i’m sure it’ll be fine.

+1 for the Manitou Tower pro fork – and they can be had for £300.
Running mine with Bontrager FR3 tyres, and they fit just fine.

I’ve noticed this same thing on my maxle 29er Rebas today. I’ve recently changed to some 2.35 Hans Dampfs from 2.2 Nobby Nics and before them some 2.2 Maxxis Ikons and I’ve suddenly started getting rubbing. On checking the forks, I’ve found that the wheel is a good bit off over to the disc side.

Hmmm

Not good is it.

As long as you have proof of purchase it seems Fisher will warranty them straight away with no questions – suggesting that they are very aware of the problem – they’ve just swept it under the carpet.

Looks like i’ll be keeping my second pair though as i can’t be arsed to keep sending them back. Removing the zip tie helps with clearance for at least a 2.25″ tyre, but it would be nice to be able to bang a 2.4″ for the dry summer months.

It’ll be interesting to see if for 2012 that they’ve finally sorted them.

The 29er Revs I’ve just fitted have the wheel bang on in the middle.

Loads more clearance too.

I had two sets of Rebas with the same problem. Re-dishing the wheel is not a solution (other than preventing rubbing) as it will make the bottom of the wheel even further from the centreline.

I’ve had a look at our shop demo Tallboy this morning which has 15mm maxle Rebas on and the wheel is dead centre on them with loads of clearance. They’re also only 100mm max travel ones where mine are the 120mm version.

Hmmm

Matthew,

Both of mine that are out are 120mm as well. Although the problem seems to be across the range (in small numbers) it seems to be particularly relevant to the 20mm Maxle 29er versions.

I will probably ring Fishers next week and have a moan at them. Although they were very quick with my forks via my LBS, they never bothered to reply to my email.

Hopefully the Revs will become more available and someone like On-One will grab a batch and sell them at a decent price.

Think I’ll give Fishers a bell next week and see what I can get out of them. It’s not right.

My last pair of Reba maxles had this. My new ones are fine.

This off center issue on my 2 week old Reba led me to this forum, and others, seeking answers. Mine was off center to the disc side about 5 mm and still spun true. Needless to say, I was a little upset. I have been riding Rock Shox forks for almost 4 years with never an issue except now.

Just as I was getting ready to call my LBS, I took the wheel out and carefully reinstalled it. It is now perfectly centered. I’m not new to this game, just new to the Reba. Is everyone sure they are getting the wheel lined up properly? I know that seems like a silly question for experienced riders, but it solved my off-center issue.