100mm suspension forks (esp. reba v SID)

Ferrals

Still kicking around the viability of switching frame and fork for something more xc orientated and trying to establish the budget requried. Forks will need to be around £500 or less. tapered steerer, 27.5 inch wheel.

Given that the fox evolution have a bad name and more importantly a ridiculously short service interval and so I am excluding them, I seem to have a choice between:

Marzocchi 320 LCR (1580g)- sound very good, theoretically £500 but not in stock anywhere
Rockshox reba RL 2014 (1622g) - £265 - nice and cheap - potentially stiffer than a SID? probably my best comprimise costwise
Rockshox reba RL 2015 (1664g) - £350 - still cheap - what differences between 2014-2015
Rockshox SID RCT3 2015 (wieght 26in 1370g) - £475 - one reivew said lacked composure on rocky welsh descents - and i live in Wales!
RS REV 2013 XX - £500 (1800g) - heavier than the rest
DT Swiss OL OPM 2015 (1585) - £530 - I like what I've read about these, ony 41mm offset so will increase traill by 3mm - is this noticable, would poss be a good thing for stability on downs if it is noticable - i doubt it is though.

Any thoughts? any other options? CHeers! seems like the biggest toss-up is reba v SID so thouhts on that apprecaited

EDIT: oh at the moment I have a RS Sektor gold solo air 130mm fork. I have no real issues with it, so comparison with any of the above forks with that would also be useful.

oodboo

Having never used any of those (except for an older reba) I'd go for the reba unless weight is an issue then the SID.

rockmonkeysc

The latest SID is as stiff as the Reba. I have had the Reba RL, it's very good.
Revelation is 130mm+

Ferrals

Cheers both, still trying to work out if I can afford the switch, or even if I should ( sneaking feeling it's the too dark to go outside after work boredom itch!). Weight is an issue as the bike (my only bike) will be used for xc racing - but as I'm rubbish anyway saving two hundred quid is more of an issue!

mikeyj28

I would go with the Reba having owned both a Reba and SID - unless money is no object of course!!

The Rookie

As I understand it, apart from weight (slightly different materials, esp in the steerer) the SID and REBA are effectively the same and will perform the same with the same damper, you could have a decent damper for regular rides and just a top cap for racing of course as that will save some extra weight.

poah

also consider these

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mani ... prod117117

njee20

The Rookie wrote:

you could have a decent damper for regular rides and just a top cap for racing of course as that will save some extra weight.

Wouldn't bother with that, lot of hassle. My current SID feels pretty crap, admittedly I've taken the compression damper out, but I've done that with some SID World Cups, Reba World Cups and SID RLTs previously and all have felt better, so not sure if they're just a bit shit. I'm tempted to change to some Fox Factory 32s, as I must say the old 32s I had on my Top Fuel felt a lot better than these SIDs.

Ferrals

No I wouldn't mess around with swapping out dampers for different occasions. If I do pursue this I think i'd get the rebas to save money - though the manitous look nice too. And I do like the arch on the rear, not only is it theoretically stiffer, it protects the seals from mud.

rockmonkeysc

njee20 wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

you could have a decent damper for regular rides and just a top cap for racing of course as that will save some extra weight.

Wouldn't bother with that, lot of hassle. My current SID feels pretty crap, admittedly I've taken the compression damper out, but I've done that with some SID World Cups, Reba World Cups and SID RLTs previously and all have felt better, so not sure if they're just a bit shoot. I'm tempted to change to some Fox Factory 32s, as I must say the old 32s I had on my Top Fuel felt a lot better than these SIDs.

How can a fork feel better with no damper? Doesn't it just dive and bob?

njee20

I meant better than the current SID. Never noticed a difference on any individual fork with or without damper. Sure it makes a difference on longer travel forks, but heathen as I am I can't tell. You still retain rebound damping. I never use lockouts, so just not that fussed myself.

Don't feel like they dive or bob particularly.

The Rookie

The rebound damper does provide some compression damping, it may not be much (or 'enough') but it does provide some, you can increase that (where its clearly not enough) somewhat by using a thicker oil and backing off the rebound adjuster to still give the same rebound damping (or actually slightly less as you shouldn't need quite as much as you aren't trying to compensate for the insufficient compression).

I've not investigated this as much with bikes as I have cars (because I've not had a large enough sample to assess) but with cars there are two difference schools of thoughts, some cars run stiffer springs, not much compression damping and a lot more rebound (ratio of circa 3-4:1), that is generally found on cars which have more bias towards handling, others run softer springs, more compression damping and softer (by comparison) rebound damping (ratio's approaching 1:1 or even with more compression than rebound that that is rare) and is generally found on cars with more bias towards comfort (Citroens and Vauxhalls), how that equates to MTB's I don't know as comfort can also equate to more traction and we don't have to consider roll resistance.

njee20

That's all far too technical for my simple brain! Some years ago I realised I was riding around without the lockout lever attached and thought "I wonder if I can just take the whole thing out", I found I could with no discernible (to me) change in performance, so I did it on several successive RS forks. This current one (a 2014 SID RL 29" FWIW) feels pretty crap though. I suspect this is because it's a bit of a crap fork, whether my own one, or all of them I'm not sure.

The Rookie

It could be that the compression damping effect has been reduced by an improved rebound damper design - which would be an enhancement if the compression damper was still fitted giving it better control of the required damping, you could try swapping in an older rebound or using thicker oil, or a lower spec (tending to mean lighter weight) compression damper.

njee20

I could just put the old MoCo damper back in and try it, but the lockout lever was crap and plasticy, which didn't fill me with confidence anyway! It's good enough, just a noticeable step backwards from previous forks, which could just be because it's a cheaper fork anyway.

rockmonkeysc

I think that with the tiny volume of oil in bicycle dampers you might get some issues with heavier oil causing the damping to be more sensitive to low temperatures.

The Rookie

Well it may make it less sensitive (more resistance, more heat), have no effect (will be thicker cold regardless of starting point) . It also depends on usage (downhill more likely to heat it up, XC much less so with less input and more wind chill, also will you be starting warm (bike inside house/car) or cold (stored outside or transported outside) really.