The Reba SL is OEM only isn't it? Its just that merlin buy the sort of quantities that bike manufacturers do
If you actually go on the rockshox website all the differences between forks are listed. I think the only difference between the Reba SL and the next one up is that the floodgate adjustment requires an allen key instead of a hand dial

Loads of other retailers sell Reba SLs too

"so you could argue that buying from Merlin was, in the end, a false economy"
You could have sent them to merlin for free and see what the result was? They may well send them to the same people anyway

"the website add didn't inform me that the forks were actually Grey-Imports, purchased by Merlin, from the factory RS had their forks made at"
How have you come to the conclusion that this is the case?

"I believe that there is a difference between grey-imports and the items specifically intended by the OEM for after market sale"
Based on your widely monitored case study of all but 2 forks ridden by 2 riders whose riding style (And setup? and use of the lockout?) are completely different?

"Some OEM products are significantly inferior to the proper item, flogging such items while advertising them as the proper products seems like it would be borderline illegal"
Have Merlin ever done this?
Reba SL vs. Team/Race
Revelation/Pike 409 vs. 426/454
etc ..
Look them up on the Manufacturers website, Rockshox in particular lists all the differences

"alloy jump frame with 130mm bombers"
I'm guessing here but is the frame on the small side and the fork a little on the tall side for it? Are you also running a short stem?

That combination could be chucking all your weight a lot more onto the rear (unsuspended) wheel more than a more balanced bike?

You could try trying to make the bike a little more balanced in terms of bringing your weight forward but I guess that would defeat the point of the bike

How bigger tyres are you running? Something like a 2.5" High Roller/Minion or 2.25" Advantage make you have to stretch a standard inner tube to fit the tyre loads, making the tube thickness a lot thinner. Not full on DH tubes, but something a little thicker, like the mid weight Maxxis Freeride tubes (some on CRC), helped out me with running 2.25" Advantages as they seem to inflate to the tyre size
Avoid continental 2.5" or bontrager 2.35" ones though, far worse than something like a 2.2" specialized tube. Those 2.1" Raliegh ones off of merlin are way thicker than any of them though (though not as thick as a maxxis freeride one)

Else as above(Apart from all the 'light' riders saying 40psiisneverneededbyanyoneever..), tubeless, dual ply, DH tubes

If they don't, chances are you should be able to grind/file off the offending bit of chainring/crank arm to make them fit

Cotic Soul is 130mm max

Ragley mmmBop? 3.7lbs I think. Aluminium though. Could get hold of a carbon post and run fatter tyres?

I know I don't

Sandwiches, Malt Loaf, Banana(s), Haribo/Jelly Snakes, Lucozade Sport, Lots of water

Just keep eating/drinking. Thats what bike rides are for (for me anyway)

"not sure if revs/719's is a good combo, I'd go 717/comp"
"717. Never ever bent one. "

No but big(/decent) sized tryes don't sit well on them. 2.35" High Rollers or 2.1" Kenda Nevegals are okay, but get upto a 2.25" Advantage or 2.5" High Roller/Minion and unless upto silly high pressures they roll about a bit.
Even if you can live with a little less stability, they'll make big tyres more circular giving less contact patch and harder to dig the edge/corning tread into the ground well

"Only 100mm but great geometry"
They're pretty steep up front, and short in the top tube. Perhaps not that great for the peak?

Kinesis Decade are almost as light as a cotic soul I think

Pipedream Sirrus (90-130mm) is not a lot heavier either (light side of 5lbs) but cheaper than both. Also not 853. Might be 631 (or something) instead of 520

Trek fuel is carbon frame only I think?

ETSX's aren't exactly heavy frames are they?
How about a hardtail (130-140mm ish fork) frame for more of a change?

The bashguard looks overly big for the chainring and the colour doesn't really go with any of the rest of the bike
The tyres look like they belong on a dirt jump bike or a touring bike of some sort and don't look like they'll handle any slop or loose surfaces (especially climbing/braking/holding in turns)
The brake levers want moving away from the grips (around 1" (or more)) so that you can use one finger only and the lever not catch your (other) knuckles
The grips don't look like they have mych give when it comes to bumps or much grip/mud clearing ability when they get wet or muddy
Otherwise its (whats there) all good

The Whyte PRST-4 can't be the ugliest

The PRST-1 is worse:

Only 3 at the moment:

Stumpjumper FSR 120 (130mm forks), currently 2×9, usually 3×9
Giant XTC Hardtail (120mm forks), currently 3×9, usually 1×9
rek 4100 (rigid forks), 3x7spd, currently with slicks

Would also like:

140(-150mm) FS with 140ish forks, with some extra 160mm forks to put on now and then
Possibly a 170-180mm full suss that (almost) goes uphill (ie probably 2×9)
A Road bike
A Kona Ute or similar
A 'Hardcore' Hardtail as a 'play' bike
A 29"er (or a few)

“depends on me working out how to use a GPS!)”

or a map?

“it’s 20mm per degree”

Surely it depends on the bikes wheelbase mostly?
Also, head angle, fork length and so on

You could try (along with deeper headset cups or crown race) running a bigger tyre up front than at the rear

“fair to say that the Fox fork isn’t the longest SC fork”
But also not the shortest? A magura Wotan is 5mm lower than a Fox 36 or RS Lyrik or Domain(160mm)

Mavic XM719 discs are fine and lighter than everything suggested above (460g)

Bigger tyres are pushing it though

Else DT E540s are about £30 when I was looking, 40g hewavier than DT EX 5.1Ds but half the price

“after a good ride”

Not a demanding enough ride?
Rebound sounds VERY slow and would explain the harshness but not really the lack of travel usage
Too much oil?

“seems that the “throw” on the SLX is different”

I had this issue. Examine the fitting instructions diagram carefully looking at the way the cable attaches to the mech. I pulled mine through straight and had the same ‘throw’ problems. The cable has to be guided round the side before going under the clamp.

Its possible its a double/bash only one, but I’d hope merlin would know the difference. I’d imagine its that you’ve routed the cable wrongly like I did to start with

Will that be mid week only proper XC racing?

Scandal, Maxlight seem to be obvious ones. Something like an XTC could* have a better warranty being from a bigger manufacturer?

*purely guessing that giant have a better warranty than on-one or kinesis for some largely baseless reasoning

Its about £43 for a hub, £20 for a freehub and I don’t need a new skewer

Anyone?

What rims do you have?
My XM719s aren’t wide enough really as they sit very round on the rims, especially bad at higher pressures as they never seem to be able to using the side tread

Running tubed is a bit more diffcult with normal tubes as most tubes, even continental ones that say they go upto 2.5″ are nowhere near the volume size when first inflating. They have to do a lot of stretching to fill the tyre. So you need loads of pressure to ward of pinch flats on stretched ‘normal’ tubes

What has this got to do with bikes?

Have a look on urbandictionary. They’re probably on there

“probably going to get a specialized HT stumpjumper alloy frame”
“thinking around 100-140mm of travel. (I’ve seen some forks with allow you to change the amount of travel between 100-140 – liked the sound of that”
SJer hardtail is designed around a (low height) 90mm fork. Sounds like a silly plan for plenty of reasons. I’d try to decide if you want the SJer HT or a 100-140mm fork

” do not want to have to have my fork serviced every 30 minutes of riding or something stupid. Every 6-12 months is reasonable”
” fox (talas?”
The 2 are worlds away from one another

“It was 08, so coil”
They’ve made air ones for ages

“Dont really know enough about 5″ travel bikes to compare it too others”

An 06-07 Stumpjumper 120 will easily take 2.5″ High Rollers/2.25″ Advantages

Although 4-bar/FSR is supposed to be active all the time (I bought one on this line of thinking), you (I’m on this current line of thinking*) might be better with something that is active under braking, but stiffens up under pedalling, something with VPP or maestro. Like with the banshee mentioned above?

*the usual ‘what if I bought this’ type bike thinking that I assume most people also manage to occupy their minds from time to time

8 speed casette is the same width as a 9spd one, hence why both fit on the same width casette, so should be fine

Big front, smaller rear will slacken the angles of the bike a touch (though not a massive difference in tyre volumes) and vice versa

Thanks, I was getting confused with the bleed instructions in the brake (juicy 3) manual and a differing method in the bleed kit instructions. I’ve tried it again, and did the pressurising the fluid back in before disconecting and its working (for) now

“I did have a a pair of crossmarks which I actually thought were trying to kill me”
I like mine, even in the harder 70a compound
“find them bloody lethal on man made wet ST”
Though I haven’t ridden them anywhere like that yet

“maxpro high rollers”
Also like these in 2.35″ or 2.5″(in the alps), admitedly on a 120mm bike, not a 160mm one

I didn’t get on with 2.4″ Conti Mountain Kings in mud. They seem to turn very well. The ‘random’ triangular tread with no ‘directionality’ to them probably has something to do with it

“lasted 6 weeks on my bike”

What is actually wrong with it?

If its seized, try opening the seals up and covering the seals in grease. It may start running again. Mine did

Whats actually wrong with having worn stantions?

Singletracks are better in almost* every way than humvees IMO
They don’t come with a liner, but the humvee one is next to useless anyway

*the thinner humvees are better in hotter weather though

Apparantly it should be the Specialized ‘G’ hanger

“Is that zip-tied brake cable keeping it together?”
” i cant believe it would still support weight in this state”
It looks like the downtube guided gear cable is stopping it from going completely. Good job the cable was in good condition!

“Metal fatigue caused by close proximity to an overtight zip tie”
The downtube looks to have failed first, then pivoted about the top of the top tube and the only thing stopping the top tube going all the way through is the mech cable
If it were tie wrap related, surely it would go at the tie wrap? Not 2″s away, the other side of a cable guide?

EDIT (@ nukeproof): Sorry, I can never manage to not come across as having a go on here, no matter how I seem to phrase what I want to write ..

one of these?

Specialized Instinct or Tactic, both about £45-50, both extend round the back of the head a bit more and both come with a 40& crash replacement policy?

Has the wall got mould on it?

“The suspension doesnt really give me any grief”
I’d choose that route

When you get the fox fork/shock serviced you could get them pushed then? (as to be pushed they need a service anyway)

The High stop screw on the front mech may be wound in too far, so pushing into specifically the big ring, stopping the front mech from moving properly.
Could also be something else stopping the front mech from moving through its full range

Check theres not somethign blocking the shifter internally.
The inner cable head may not fully be in its slot (release to the inner ring, and open the philips screwdriver cap) and as you try to drag it round it could be catching on the casing of the shifter

It could also be that the cables are bunged up with something

I reckon its likely to the high stop screw on the front mech isn’t wound out enough though, so check that first

“Shimano M520 SPDs
I don’t believe you”

The bodies wear out and they clip out too easily once worn

bonesetter, with the shock in the position that it is, will a bottlecage actually fit onto those downtube bottlemounts?