Rockshox Reba 2018 onwards…my attempts to make them work and reccomendations

Hi just thought I’d share my experience with a set of Reba RL 120mm travel forks that I just could not get set up from new.

I have a set of the 29″ ones on my Boardman hardtail, but I could not for the life of me get them set up to work well- the correct sag set mean that as stock they were too soft. I needed to purchase tokens and placed 3 of a possible 5 air tokens in them (80kg rider).

This improved things, but I found that the motion control damper was a bit spikey when going over roots and other things, so I bought the RCT3 compression damper to go into it, effectively making it a top of the line fork:

https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/sram/rockshox/rockshox-suspension-part/rockshox-suspension-kit-for-sid-rct3-mc-dna/

With both of the above I am now happy with the performance of the fork!

Hope this is helpful to others not happy with their reba performance.

Do you find the new damper increases grip in cornering or spikes less on big hits?

You can also get a charger 2 damper for the older solo air Reba at £150 or so. Thought about this for my 2016 ones. Not sure if that is an option for 2018>

Rockshox really need a better damper for mid range forks as the moco is ok but has its limits

I really like the moco in my reba’s. It always surprises me how good it feels after spending weeks on effectively a top-end pike (debonair+charger2.1 in revs). But this was world-cup winning technology 10 years ago!

I’m running 1 click of compression, sag at 25% with 2 tokens I think (88kgs). I think the steeper HA on that bike helps with getting weight on it too, as it won’t move off the top as slick as the newer fork (maybe a solo-air thing).

Thanks kula72 that’s helpful. My old dual air rlt rebas were great but found solo air dives too much. Have two tokens in there but will play around with settings and see if it improves. Cheaper than a new fork or damper!

Yeah I found it dives too much when ran open and no amount of tokens helped. Just that one click of compression seems to make all the difference. It’s worth playing a bit more with pressure and compression before you bin it, as it can be a decent trail fork when you find the sweet spot (assuming it’s all working correctly).

I’ll definitely try one click of compression as normally run full open. How much rebound do you use?

rebound is about 7/8 clicks off slow.
another thing – if you find that the adjustments aren’t doing much (should be obvious) check your oil levels.

Thanks kula, oil should be good as had a service not long ago. I’ll try all those settings and hopefully will be better. Cheers!

Hi
Nice work guys. I find the solo air is a bit of a retro step as I had a reba dual air and it was a lot plusher off the initial stroke. Therefore the air pressure seems to need to be lower to help with the initial stroke resistance.
The motion control damper is ok and works well but bear in mind it is simply just a port that you can vary the size of the hole with. The rct damper is a shim stack pressure regulated setup so the adjustment is a lot better and it will respond better to a range of bumps far better. The fork is well supported not and does not spike.

Thanks hopefiendboy and certainly agree about the old dual airs. The rct3 seems a good option between moco and charger upgrade with good performance at reasonable cost. Once the gravel bike is done and kula’s setup tested I may keep an eye out for an rct3.

Helpful post thanks!

No probs I had searched for help with my forks initially and it was a bit thin on the ground. Hope it helps you get it set up!

Ps it has the rapid recovery rebound already fitted so it is just the compression part of the damping that I felt needed to be upgraded.

While there seems to be a gathering of people who might know their RockShox stuff, can I ask a question?
I have just picked up a  set of ‘19 Rebas. I also have an old set of them (the ones with 20mm axle) which I bought second hand which have had an RCT3 upgrade. Would I be able to swap the dampers from these forks with each other to put the ‘better’ damper in the newer fork?

The part listed by Holland Bike i mentioned in my initial post I think is to fit forks from 2016 from memory. As a quick check I just quickly checked the physical dimensions of both the original MC cart and the RCT3 replacement before just plopping it in. Sounds like it should be straightforward enough for you to do the same! If you do it please feedback to the thread as I think this is a good place to put the collective experience!!

Thank goodness I stcuk with the mods and now like the way the fork performs- I honestly was thinking of ditching the thing until I made the changes!