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Anyone got any idea of how to tell the difference between OEM and aftermarket RS Rebas? Looking at some 100mm travel versions on ebay, but cant tell if they are adjustable up to 120mm or not and the seller doesn't know either.
Probably not worth the risk of buying, but would be good if there was a tell-tale to look for
OEM ones tend not to be adjustable for travel.
Aftermarket ones are marked 'All Travel' and the travel can be adjusted by adding/removing spacers internally.
Clearly this does not apply to U-Turn models.
when you say 'marked', where is this? Somewhere pretty obvious on the fork?
Had a look at my Reba Teams, it doesn't say all travel on them, they are 120mm aftermarkets. s/n is on the back of the crown.
s/n was on the back of my non-adjustable ones too 😕
Not convinced that there's any external difference these days......
Sorry to hijack, but are the differences the equivalent for 302 Toras ?
Cheeky bump for the morning crowd..... anyone?
The OEM forks I've bought have all been travel adjustable....
Ditto PP above.
Would be surprised if they'd go to the trouble of tooling up to make alternative components to offer shorter travel for what would be in the scheme of things a low volume run when the alternative is to chuck 5p's worth of plastic spacer in there?
Happy enough to be corrected though 🙂
Why not give the boys at tftuned a call ?
Having a think about it, that's these forks, all travel adjustable OEM forks (Not all owned by me though!)
2008 Reba SL (from Merlin)
2011 Revelation RLT (from Merlin)
2009-ish Recon off a Giant FS bike
Another 2 sets of Rebas that I've serviced for mates, OEM on their bikes, and possible a set of Recons too, I forget now!
Another set of Rebas that Elfinsafety owns (from Merlin)
So that's 6-7 sets for a start! TBH OEM forks are no less likely to be adjustable for travel than any other.... They're made with the same stanchions and adjuted for travel for various bikes simply becasue it's cheaper to make a plastic spacer than make several different stanchion lengths! It's usually only the top end 'race' forks that aren't adjustable as it makes them a bit lighter I think
The differences you are more likely to get is up/down grades of features like alloy/steel steerers, external/internal adjust Poploc and remote/crown mounted lockout levers 🙂
EDIT
Oh, and they'll come in a plain brown box, and rarely have an air pump supplied!
I was going to say that I thought only the SL Rebas were non-adjustable - but PP's post would contradict that. I bought a second hand set of Rebas from the classifieds here and just made sure I bought the race version as I knew that was extendable.
Yeah, sorry mate, Reba SLs on Elfins and Mrs PPs bikes, both OEM from Merlin in different years, both adjustable. Sometimes they even list the increments available on the sides! 85-100-115mm 🙂
At the end of last year Merlin were selling non-adjustable SL's, I ended up with a set of non-adjustable Reba's after a scrote on this site told me the ones he was selling were adjustable to 120
It's quite common to lose simple features on OEM stuff. The ones I had didn't even have spring and damper rods that were long enough for 120mm. They may just have been 80-100 models, but the original owner (and Merlin) apparently hadn't been changing the travel
From why I can tell, no one on STW actually has the answer? Or is it simply that there is no easy way I'd knowing?
Also, any Rebas that can go to 115 are older models and of no interest
As PP says, it is a curious cost saving isn't it?
100mm coil tora and recon forks would have had shorter upper legs/stanchions though. (mrs j's old recon sl as fitted to a specialized myka certainly did). This was a model specific to specialized: custom colour to match the frame and allegedly softer spring for laydeez as standard (we still swapped it out for an even softer one though). It had a slightly different lower casting to the 'proper' rockshox forks: from a distance it looked identical but when I serviced it I noticed some of the angles/bevels were slightly different and indeed more 'angular' on the lowers.
I wonder whether if specialized have enough buying power to spec thousands of different colour and slightly different, err 'custom' recons and toras on their £800 ish bikes: whether some of those parts (specifically the shorter uppers) make it onto the rebas on their bikes too. (can't remember whether the groove for circlip fitting inside left hand stanchion on air forks is the same as on the coil ones, mind)
From why I can tell, no one on STW actually has the answer? Or is it simply that there is no easy way I'd knowing?
Pretty much yes. Like I said, some do have it printed on the outside though, but otherwise the only way to be sure is to open them up.
I've probably been lucky in some way to only see adjustable ones I guess!
Be aware that RS have changed the location of the travel reducing spacers too (On my Revs at least!) Where it used to be at the top under the +ve air piston, it's now further down the damper rod, which needs the -ve air pistons removing before you can remove the spacer. They dont't just clip on and off like they used to do!
Potentially confusing!
Yes, it was great fun stripping a fork down just to find that there was no spacer!
You can add a set of 2010 Reba teams (from merlin - plain brown box & no shock pump) to PP's list of travel-adjustable OEM forks. I upped mine to 120mm recently.