Rockshox Reba alternative CSU?

ambo999fire

Hi all,

I have an old set of RockShox Reba race from around 2009 that I took off an old bike. I want to fit them to my current bike and get rid of the crappy Darts that are fitted but the steerer is way too short for the head tube! The correct CSU as listed by RockShox is over £250 and I don't think the forks are worth spending out that kind of cash on. I have looked into buying a set of second hand Rebas with a longer steerer and selling mine but haven't found any with a steerer long enough - I need at least 250mm (preferably longer).

I have found on Amazon and Ebay several brand new CSUs from other RockShox models for under £100 and some for even less than £50. My question is can I make any of them work for me? I have read that I can't use a 29er csu for my 26er lowers because the geometry will be wrong, but other than that can I use any other CSU from another model? If so does it need to be from a dual air model or will solo air (or coil spring) csu suffice, and will a Uturn csu work with a non Uturn lowers?

Thanks for looking.

rockmonkeysc

You need the right CSU for the fork.
250mm is very long, have you got a big load of spacers under your stem? If you have you could remove spacers and fit a higher rise bar.

ambo999fire

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19760755#p19760755]RockmonkeySC[/url] wrote:

You need the right CSU for the fork.
250mm is very long, have you got a big load of spacers under your stem? If you have you could remove spacers and fit a higher rise bar.

No I haven't got many spacers. The problem is my head tube is 190mm and I am 6 feet tall. With my current setup my steerer is uncut at 265mm, I have a few spacers (about 15mm worth) and a shallow riser bar. My only other option is to fit a different headset, remove all the spacers and use a much steeper riser bar.

What problems would I encounter if I did use another CSU? I ride with a fabrication engineer who can make alterations such as shortening down tubes, cutting new threads etc.

rockmonkeysc

The cheaper ones are designed to work with steel stanchions which are much stiffer and have a different level of interference fit.
I used to be a fabricator, now a senior design engineer. You could make it fit but you will want stick to riding in places where emergency rescue will be easy because it will fail and you will probably get badly hurt.
Just sell your for and buy another.

The Rookie

Rockshox documentation is pretty good at telling you what will work, but basically Reba, SID or Revelation (which will not all fit due to the different lengths).