Tuning 2012 Rock Shox Reba RL

Finally relented and swapped out my Pace RC31 forks for set of 2012 Rock Shox 100mm Reba RLs. I've not had a set of suspension forks since my '97 Judy SLs, so much to learn.

Thankfully Rock Shox have provided an in-depth manual taking you step by step through the tuning process...

I'd be really grateful for some real-life pointers on the basics. I'm 12.5 stone and ride x-country. Is it always best to have equal pressures in the positive and negative chambers? 20% sag about right?

Cheers,

Nik

There is a formula online, which gives a better start point than the figures printed on the fork leg sticker (i have a 2011 reba 120mm travel)

The pos/neg should be within around 5-10 psi of each other apparently.

If you have them too far apart, one will overpower they other as you would imagine, the idea is to balance them to give you good sag while tweaking them to tune the fork to your taste.

IIRC i currently have mine set to 145psi pos and 140 neg, but i am a heavy chap and i like my hardtail bike to be a bit stiffer than my FS bike.

Pos bounces it upwards, neg pulls it back down,for example i find the closer i get my neg pressure to the positive, the more the fork wants to suck down on a bump, but i also tend to increase brake dive.

I could set it so it never brake dives at all, but then its going to be crap on the smaller bumps, endless possibility!

Thanks S-M

Hopefully I'll have a chance to get out during the week and play around with the settings. A whole new world of fettling awaits!

Nik

Rebas are nice forks, I was pretty blown away with how smooth and stiff they were when I got my hands on a set. TBH I'd start with equal pressures in upper and lower and go from there with around 20/25% sag

Thanks Neil. The 2012s are much lighter than I thought. Not quite my RC31s though :shock: Need to get used to having a heavier front end. I eventually found some guides hidden in the depths of the SRAM website which give a run through of the basics. After that I think it's just tweak, tweak, tweak until I get something that works for me. I shall report back.

Nik

I'd start with 85psi in both chambers and take it out fit a ride.off it feels too soft try a but more air and vice versa.

Always do the positive chamber.first. I like to drain.the negative chamber before setting the positive chamber.

nik_h":2ntu8ubs said:

Thanks Neil. The 2012s are much lighter than I thought. Not quite my RC31s though :shock: Need to get used to having a heavier front end. I eventually found some guides hidden in the depths of the SRAM website which give a run through of the basics. After that I think it's just tweak, tweak, tweak until I get something that works for me. I shall report back.

Nik

Click to expand...

You should be fine

I was surprised how stiff the Reba is for a non bolt through fork...tracks really well.

nik_h":3jtgye3r said:

Thanks Neil. The 2012s are much lighter than I thought. Not quite my RC31s though :shock: Need to get used to having a heavier front end. I eventually found some guides hidden in the depths of the SRAM website which give a run through of the basics. After that I think it's just tweak, tweak, tweak until I get something that works for me. I shall report back.

Nik

Click to expand...

I've just got hold of some 2011 (i think!!) Reba Race 100mm for my Voodoo..any chance of sending me that link...might come in useful!!!

Cheers

Tuning guide:

http://cdn.sram.com/cdn/farfuture/p..._air_tuning_guide_gen.0000000004160_rev_a.pdf

Nik