RS Reverb seatpost setup and bleeding
CraigXXL
Posts: 1,852
Got my Reverb today and fitted it straight away. I'd read lots of negative posts about shortening the hose and bleeding it so thought I'd let you know how it went.
Contents of the box. Seatpost with hose and remote fitted. Bottle of 2.5w oil, bag with 2 syringes, bag with instructions in and the last bag containing zipties, hose to hose clips, donut hose guide, torx key, bolt with a red cap (no idea what these are for) and 2 tiny o-rings.
Cut the hose to the right length by removing about 6 inch (fits both large Evil Sovereign and medium GT Force). Carefully slice the hose at the remote so as not to cut into the barb. Some people had done this and found it leaked with oil going along the gouge in the barb to the end of the hose. I used a bradle to reshape the shortened hose and simply push the hose over the barb onto the remote. There is no olives to fit it's just a straight forward push fit.
The instructions in the box don't tell you how to bleed the seatpost or shorten the cable or anything of any actual use so I watched the SRAM video on YouTube and it seemed straight forward enough.
Basically you put the remote fully to it's slowest setting and ensure it's bleed port is at the highest point. Fill one syringe 3/4 with the oil, purge any air before connecting it to the bleed port on the remote using the torx key to remove the bleed screw. Ensure the 2nd syringe is empty and connect to the bleed port on the seatpost. Then push oil from the remote syringe whilst at the same time drawing it with the seatpost syringe until the remote syringe is nearly empty. Then do the reverse pushing from the seatpost whilst drawing at the remote ensuring you leave at least 5mm of oil in the pushing syringe. This is much easier with two people, one at each syringe.
Loads of air came out of the system but I kept getting air so something was wrong. I realised the 2 tiny o-rings go on the end of brass screw in connectors so make sure you fit them before starting unlike me and wasting 20 minutes pushing oil and air back and forth. With the o-rings fitted it was much easier. Keep pushing the oil back and forth until no more air comes out and finish with the oil at the remote side. Remove the seatpost syringe and re-fit the screw.
At the remote apply the trigger whilst push/pulling oil in/out and repeat about 8 times. Now twist the speed dial fully to fast and slow, repeat 4 times finishing at fully slow and draw oil at the syringe pulling air out of the remote. Tapping the remote with a soft tool speeds this up and knocks any trapped air free. To finish push oil into the remote ensuring the trigger is now fully extended, disconnect the syringe (watch out for spray) and refit the screw. Clean up with IPA, secure hose using supplied clips and the jobs done.
How good is it? Brilliant. Very smooth and precise in it's operation. Set it where you want from a few mm down to all the way down and anywhere you want it on the way back up and at any speed from very slow to a smack in the balls. The only other adjustable seatpost I've come across is the Joplin 4 and it feels so crude in operation compared to the Reverb.
Contents of the box. Seatpost with hose and remote fitted. Bottle of 2.5w oil, bag with 2 syringes, bag with instructions in and the last bag containing zipties, hose to hose clips, donut hose guide, torx key, bolt with a red cap (no idea what these are for) and 2 tiny o-rings.
Cut the hose to the right length by removing about 6 inch (fits both large Evil Sovereign and medium GT Force). Carefully slice the hose at the remote so as not to cut into the barb. Some people had done this and found it leaked with oil going along the gouge in the barb to the end of the hose. I used a bradle to reshape the shortened hose and simply push the hose over the barb onto the remote. There is no olives to fit it's just a straight forward push fit.
The instructions in the box don't tell you how to bleed the seatpost or shorten the cable or anything of any actual use so I watched the SRAM video on YouTube and it seemed straight forward enough.
Basically you put the remote fully to it's slowest setting and ensure it's bleed port is at the highest point. Fill one syringe 3/4 with the oil, purge any air before connecting it to the bleed port on the remote using the torx key to remove the bleed screw. Ensure the 2nd syringe is empty and connect to the bleed port on the seatpost. Then push oil from the remote syringe whilst at the same time drawing it with the seatpost syringe until the remote syringe is nearly empty. Then do the reverse pushing from the seatpost whilst drawing at the remote ensuring you leave at least 5mm of oil in the pushing syringe. This is much easier with two people, one at each syringe.
Loads of air came out of the system but I kept getting air so something was wrong. I realised the 2 tiny o-rings go on the end of brass screw in connectors so make sure you fit them before starting unlike me and wasting 20 minutes pushing oil and air back and forth. With the o-rings fitted it was much easier. Keep pushing the oil back and forth until no more air comes out and finish with the oil at the remote side. Remove the seatpost syringe and re-fit the screw.
At the remote apply the trigger whilst push/pulling oil in/out and repeat about 8 times. Now twist the speed dial fully to fast and slow, repeat 4 times finishing at fully slow and draw oil at the syringe pulling air out of the remote. Tapping the remote with a soft tool speeds this up and knocks any trapped air free. To finish push oil into the remote ensuring the trigger is now fully extended, disconnect the syringe (watch out for spray) and refit the screw. Clean up with IPA, secure hose using supplied clips and the jobs done.
How good is it? Brilliant. Very smooth and precise in it's operation. Set it where you want from a few mm down to all the way down and anywhere you want it on the way back up and at any speed from very slow to a smack in the balls. The only other adjustable seatpost I've come across is the Joplin 4 and it feels so crude in operation compared to the Reverb.
0
Comments
-
A great post very detailed, thanks.
My Reverb post seemed to work pretty well straight out of the box and I didn't need to shorten the hose either. However it does seem to require a bit of a push to make the post drop. I'm approx 14st but I've still got to give it a bit of a shove to get it moving. Is this normal operation?? I would imagine anyone lighter than me, a youngster or a woman might struggle to make the post drop. I intend to bleed the post to see if this helps.
Anyone had the same issue?0 -
When pressing the lever the seatpost goes down with light pressure. Mine wouldn't go down at all before it was bled so you may need to bleed it to ensure it's working fully.
You will know if it's working right as raising the seat on fast it comes very fast with a bit of a thud. As soon as you push the trigger it will act, the further you press it the faster it works. If you've bled it correctly it will operate like this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2uLVXBCx9A
If not slightly faster.
.0 -
Well I finally got round to bleeding the reverb tonight. A few air bubbles appeared but not a lot. The seat defintely drops a little easier but not sure about "light pressure". Maybe the seals are a little sticky and it will improve with use.
Anyway first impressions of the post are very good, lets see how it holds up.0
