The old (V1 and V2) Reverbs I had were utter toss- they always needed servicing/rebleeding etc and spent more time broken than working.
Are the new ones any better? (Also, do they still have that terrible push button, or is it a lever now?)

I’ve just ordered a new bike that has a Reverb stealth on it, I’m wondering if I put the 6-month-old Brand-X one I’m currently using on it and sell the reverb or not.

They’ve risen to the dizzying heights of “good enough” these days but I’d still swap it off and sell it, just because of economics. Though that’d depend a little on length/height available I suppose.

They’ve risen to the dizzying heights of “good enough” these days but I’d still swap it off and sell it, just because of economics.

Funnily enough we were discussing this a couple of months ago on a ride.
My mates (AXS) just self destructed .. a brass key came loose or something – stanchion dead (scratched) and he’s having to do a warranty claim for it. He was advised it’s a “should be a recall but they didn’t yet” type of problem from a well known suspension tuning company.

Cheers, will probably ditch it then!

I got one of those £65 adjustable travel TransX, which are in fact the same as the Brand X except that Brand X don’t sell the adjustable travel post. 170 to 200mm. Doesn’t come with a lever but got a £23 Shimano MT500. For less than £90 I have a superb solution which I wouldn’t recommend. I certainly wouldn’t pay that much for a Reverb. In fact I would pay twice as much for a Brand X / Trans X.

Am I alone in that my reverbs have served me incredibly well with no servicing other than the occasional bleed? Oldest one is about 7 years old and working fine.

Am I alone in that my reverbs have served me incredibly well with no servicing other than the occasional bleed? Oldest one is about 7 years old and working fine.

same here, never had any issues, even running a post for getting on for 6 years without a service.

I’m be had Reverbs for years with no problems, had my AXS one for 3.5 years, replaced the lower bushings twice and the upper seal head once and it works like new, the Oneup v2 on my hardtail is nearly a year old and needs far more maintenance to keep it moving freely.

All the cheap droppers have basic plastic bushes, Reverbs use PTFE covered metal bands which are far better. (Unless unserviced to the point the PTFE wears off leaving metal to metal and scoring the shaft.)

I’ve had a reverb for something like 9 years now. Maybe even 10.  It’s been on 2 full sussers.  Never serviced, never even bled.

Still going fine.  I thought about getting serviced… but what if it turns into a crok o’ shiiite like everyone else says they are usually? So left it as-is.

I do have a crud guard mud guad on it so it’s not getting shiiite plastered constantly on the seal / stanchion.

Are people jet washing theirs each time after a shiittty ride and using no mudguard? If so then no wonder they are ****.  (I know someone who jetwashed egularly and didnt use a mudguard,  and he used to biatch like mad when the reverb was bolloxed after 4 months.

Not my last one, it bent in normal use. Got it replaced free of charge though. They’re a pain to fit and bleed to a cable operated one. So I’d not bother unless it’s a wireless one.

Also developed the dreaded sponginess before I bent it.

I’ve a Race Face Aefect one thats been fine other than needing a top up with a shock pump. As well as a Brand X ascend one which has been great.

Am I alone in that my reverbs have served me incredibly well with no servicing other than the occasional bleed? Oldest one is about 7 years old and working fine.

No, they must be on the same bikes as all these Shimano brakes with wandering bite points. 😉

Mine always seemed to go on and on with minimal intervention. Mainly got Brand-x now just from selling bikes with Reverbs on and then the good reviews and prices swaying me towards Brand x
Still got a 150 stealth on the hardtail.

My original external cable Reverb (which was the first dropper I ever bought) I had on my fatbike and it must have gone on for 8 years or so I reckon, used regularly.
It started getting graunchy in the end and I wanted to go stealth so replaced it with a Brand x.
It didn’t owe me anything.

6 yrs, 1 pro service to upgrade seals (not a fault) and 2 home bleeds. Faultless.
The volume of them sold including large numbers OPEM when they were one of the few offerings around meant that reports of faults seemed v high on here. I suspect though that the % wasn’t as bad as it seems as generally happy people stay quiet.

My Reverb is going on 7 years old now and does not fail me.
It needed a bleed about 3 months in but has worked faultlessly ever since.
I am careful never to pick the bike up by the saddle when dropped though as I am aware of their fragility.

I have been the owner of a One Up components dropper on another bike for about a year now and would not go anywhere else.

If the Reverb does start to dick me around it will be swapped out for a One Up without hesitation.

I think with the advent of well-priced, reliable cable actuated cartridge style droppers they became obsolete.

Can I have your old Reverbs please :o) I love these things, easy to work on & resurrect from an early death, provided they’ve not been attacked by well meaning by kak-handed enthusiasts ;o)

Long term Reverb user (8+ years, mostly as they’ve come specced on bikes).  I actually like the hydraulic actuation, its been reliable for me and the 1x lever (which replaced the plunger button) works great, is a consistent feel, and I suspect required less maintenance than a cable (which can get gunked up and seize or snap), the bleed is simple if required, no worse than the faff of fitting a new cable.  I had an early model which developed sag which I had replaced under warranty no problems and had one which needed a service after the circlip at the base corroded.

However, my new bike has a new C1 model which was great until it developed the sag issue (I try to be ultra careful with it was well – I don’t pull up on a dropped seat).  I’ve got the vent tool which is easy to use, but after venting it quickly developed the sag again, I’ve revented and yet to see if it remains OK, if not it’s going back under warranty.

I’ve got the AXS. Been used for a year and a bit on both bikes.
It remains as good as it was (best dropper I’ve ever used) when new.
I’ve probably used the vent tool twice. Once when it needed it, and once before a week long holiday when I was in a preventative maintenence mood.
Plus the seat clamp is lovely, recently having to struggle with a classic 2 bolt version on the girlfriends bike reaffirmed this.

I don’t know how much the electronic version differs from the standard new version.

Interesting, thanks for the feedback everyone. It sounds like RS have sorted their act out a bit and improved the reliability of the post!

I think I’ll still put it up for sale, I have no problems with my current post so it feels wasteful to get rid of that for £50 or so to use the reverb.

I bought a newer one.

It’s gone back for warranty within a year of lightish use. Maybe 500 miles?

I’m not impressed

I would say that 90% of the people I have ever spoken to about the RS Reverb will never have another one. But that can’t be right as enough people must be using them for them to sell them. Perhaps people like the OP end up with them as OE on bikes.

What is the benefit of hydraulic actuation? It doesn’t feel particularly different to a quality cable lever? It’s an on/off switch isn’t it?

I just don’t get it as surely the maintenance of a cable is within reach of far more people than hydraulic. In fairness I never had to maintain a cable actuated dropper nor change the cable. But I build new bikes all the time so they perhaps don’t have the time to fail before I sell them.

A few years back, I decided that all dropper posts would fail so serviceability was more important than reliability.

That pretty much took me to the Reverb and the Revive.

I then looked at cost and availability of tools and parts. That quickly took the Reverb to second place.

Since then, I switched to Revive on all bikes and they’ve never let me down.

I’d still have a Reverb if it came on a bike because I can fix them rather than bin and replace a cartridge (my little contribution to the planet) but I’d not seek one out.

I’ve got the AXS. Been used for a year and a bit on both bikes.
It remains as good as it was (best dropper I’ve ever used) when new.
I’ve probably used the vent tool twice. Once when it needed it, and once before a week long holiday when I was in a preventative maintenence mood.
Plus the seat clamp is lovely, recently having to struggle with a classic 2 bolt version on the girlfriends bike reaffirmed this.

I don’t know how much the electronic version differs from the standard new version.

Spoke too soon. Sticking and not returning yesterday.
Will give the shaft a good lube and get the service kit ordered.

Spoke too soon. Sticking and not returning yesterday.
Will give the shaft a good lube and get the service kit ordered.

If it’s anything like the other reverbs, it’ll be the bush(s). It’ll score the post if it gets too far.
Got a spare 150mm stealth (or two) with DeHy if you get stuck. Just needs a lever/cable.

Actually probably got the BrandX levers somewhere.

I’ve just recently gone to 200mm droppers on Hardtail and FS. I was firmly in the rebuild able camp but the low cost and long drop of the BrandX were a game changer.

Tried the lube and grease, got it unstuck – and I’ve put a score in it 😭

Put the old bird one back on the hardtail ready for racing tomorrow.

Reverbs are actually very reliable. The majority of Reverbs I see that have issues are either way overdue a service, dried out internals due to Muc-Off or similar, or water ingress from jet washing.
The bushes are more than adequate and tales of the coating peeling away are simply down to posts that are way overdue a service or victims of the issues mentioned above.
Another common misconception is regarding bleeding. The fluid in in the remote and hose has no relevance to the inner workings of the dropper.
The fluid in the hose simply pushes a button. It doesn’t go into the post or have any link to the fluid inside the dropper. When the post develops a bit of squish over time, bleeding the remote and hose will do absolutely nothing (which is a very common miss-understanding).
As someone mentioned earlier, for the 100’s of thousands of Reverbs in use around the world, you’re only going to see the negative comments online as very few people feel the need to post on forums to say “I have a Reverb and its working satisfactorily”

Hope this helps some people 🙂

For me ditching the hydraulic actuator makes them easier to live with.
One less fluid to worry about.
I can probably fix a sagging reverb in around an hour.

I did an 100mm A2? Earlier in the year with epic amounts of sag. It’s never been opened. I was surprised by how immaculate it was inside. He didn’t want to spend money so I stripped it, rebuilt it and it’s running fine again. Ideally I’d want to replace the aluminium ifp but heyho.

Newer ones better, I would say no. Had a C1 and had one on warranty as the first would go about 20mm soft, vent valve cured it, but would come back in a week or so.

Warranty one did the same, was going to get it serviced but JTech basically said don’t bother, hard to get parts and could be sure the problem would not come back.

conversely no problems at all with OneUp nor Bike Yoke

Mines still having issues after several goes with the vent valve so will be going back, shame as I like them otherwise.  Just ordered a OneUp taking advantage of the BF discounts as don’t want to be bike less, will be my first non Reverb dropper since my original HiLo!  Reverb will be sold.

I’ve never owned a reverb but plenty of my riding mates do/have and amongst that sample there have been enough issues to put me off. Hydraulic connections, bleeding and all that is ok in my books though maybe unnecessarily faffy, but my issue is all the ones that either upgrade to suspension seatposts or decide that the world is too scary and don’t come back up to play. Yeah ok maybe they could be overdue a service, but when there are plenty of posts on the market that don’t need that in depth level of servicing I fail to see the benefit.

furinstance, brandx/aefect etc. service is easily done at home with about 3 tools, a rag and some fresh grease, maybe once every 12-18 months when the cable needs changing? A tenner for a new seal kit if you like.
(oh and that does nothing to answer the OP question of whether the new ones are better than the old ones. I’ll stick with a rant!)

Am I alone in that my reverbs have served me incredibly well with no servicing other than the occasional bleed? Oldest one is about 7 years old and working fine.

Not at all, and like a lot of posters above I’ve got one that’s 10 years old, and still works. Never been bled or serviced, and only in the last six months developed a touch of sag (but I’ve never so much as looked at it)
Just bought another for a bike which is the new style, feels loverly and the new lever vs old style feels like an improvement. If I needed another dropper I’d by another reverb as for me they been bombproof.
I suppose as they were one of the first, or first mainstream droppers there were loads and some will inevitably fail. Just that people tend to tell other people of problems/complaints than “it just works” as something doing what it’s intended to do doesn’t warrant telling.

I’ve had a few, liked them for the most part but all developed sag eventually. Latest was a C1 which I hoped would sort the sag issue. It did once, for a week, then sagged again. Was told that if they sag over 10mm the vent valve doesn’t work so pretty much useless. It was repaired under warranty although the LBS had to argue for it as I’d got it from Bike Discount. Let it go on a bike I sold and now have a 200mm Brand X with a PNW lever which works fine and certainly less faff to install. If this remains reliable I wouldn’t bother with a Reverb again