Reverb won't drop – Fault finding

My Reverb post has stuck in the up position. It’s about a year old but has only been on the bike for about 3 rides.

Where should I start?

Bleed is an obvious one but it’s only three rides. Seems to have correct air in. Seat clamp doesn’t seem too tight.

Bleed required.

Why would a bleed be required out of interest? Surely that affects the hose for raising the dropper and a squishy lever would indicate a bleed, but not dropping has nothing to do with the lever / hose?

Not saying that is the case, I’m just wondering.

I’d think it would more likely be something sticky. More likely needs a service. I’m thinking of something similar with my forks that got sticky on compressing and needed a good shove down. Service and clean up sorted it. In fact I almost did that with my Reverb as it wouldn’t drop unless I slammed by arse down hard on it, though it got better over time and is okay now.

[Quote]It’s about a year old…

Where should I start?[/quote]

Retailers, they come with a 2year warranty.

If there’s air in the system, the hydraulics can’t “unlock” the post, allowing it to drop. It’s also worth making sure that the seat clamp isn’t too tight.

Wot Murray said ^^^

OK, it’s a year old and you have used it 3 times.
Simple things

Seems to have correct air in. Seat clamp doesn’t seem too tight.

Have you removed the clamp and tried it? Take it out pop it on the bench/floor and have a go.
I though the air was more to do with return but you can check with another shock pump.
Next would be a bleed – why? It might be the cause, it’s also the least intrusive of the options. It also eliminates “Does it need a bleed” from your list of options.
After that it might need a service but if it’s not been used it’s could well be a factory fault. So use the 2 year warranty and get it done for free by a professional with all the tools/spares etc. to hand.

Just out of interest did you fit it as it came in the box? No hose shortening etc?

Mine had the same problem. It’s currently being given the once-over by Rockshox before me getting my money back

Say you grab a reverb thats less than 2 yrs old of ebay and after a while it doesn’t work, can you get it replaced or fixed, would you need the original receipt?

At the discretion of fishers, you would need somebody to send it off possibly for you (bike shop etc.) they have no obligation to do anything for you.

Bleeding a Reverb’s really simple so I’d start there on general principles, it takes longer to find the syringes than it does to do. But failing that, they seem to be basically highly strung and Fishers treat them as disposable so send it back.

Air in the pushloc leaver. Bleed it to remove the air.

Deadkenny – as Murray says, if there is air in the system, then there isn’t enough hydraulic oil to actuate the mechanism, so if the post is down, it won’t come back up, and vice versa. If it’s returning very slowly, this can indicate that a bleed is required too.

For anyone who’s not sure, a bleed should be your go to if there is an issue, as northy says, it’s very quick and easy. Also check there is 250psi in the air chamber.

Thanks for the replies.

I would send it off but want to be sure there is a fault with it I can’t fix. I have bleed kit and if I can fix it then I rather do that.

Didn’t shorten hose, it was fitted as is from the box. I bought the bled kit in anticipation of shortening the hose and needing to bled it.

So will:

Check air is 250 psi
Bleed- full and just lever

Then send it back if that doesn’t fix it.

If I let all of the air out is it then possible to cycle it up and down by hand just make sure it’s not stuck?

Aside from sticking which seemed to resolve itself only other issue I had was slow rise and it had a bit of sag when sitting. I was going to bleed it, but then someone said just check it’s 250psi. Sure enough it was around 150. Pumped up and it was back to normal again.

If it’s a stealth it could be that there is a small kink in the cable inside the bike. Had this problem myself recently, 2 second fix.

I think it’s broken.

Bled hose then remote. No movement down.

Checked air. No movement down.

Let all air out, acutated remote and post dropped very slightly when pressure applied. Re-filled air to 250 psi, actuated remote, post won’t rise again now either.

Just a thought and sorry if this is stating the obvious, but have you checked the speed return dial on the remote because if this is turned all the way to slow it probably wont actuate and drop?

I had this with mine before I knew what I was doing with it, turning the dial to full in the direction of the arrow and +symbol was all I needed to do.

Again sorry if that sounds dumb but sometimes its just the simple things that get overlooked 🙂

It’s been retuned to SRAM and they’ve sent a replacement back. No idea what was broken on it but obviously something was.