RockShox Reba RL Suspension Fork [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

The Rock Shox Reba fork takes the technology that the SID fork has that makes it so good, but in a new and better chassis. Our customer has been running the fork. See what they think of the Rock Shox Reba fork! 

Overview

These are extremely great forks for the price range. Noticed right away how well everything was packaged. It comes with one star nut, a nice beefy 15mm axle, and an information pamphlet.

The forks were purchased to upgrade the “spring” forks that came with my trek roscoe.

Setup and installation are straightforward but, I highly recommend having a professional at your local bike shop do the job. If you cut the steerer tube too short, you’re done, and you will not be having any fun whatsoever that day. I’m willing to pay a few extra bucks to have it installed correctly the first time. The reason being I do not work on bikes for a living and don’t need extra stress in my life.

If you are risky and want to do it yourself you’ll need a tubing cutter, star nut installation tool, an hour or two of time, and a couple of youtube videos! (Support the local bike shop ”wink”). Oh yeah, a shock pump… You’ll need a shock pump.

You can go to the RockShox website to find information on how much air to put in based on your weight and how many clicks to use on the rebound knob. I found everything worked great with those settings and have not found the need to change them. There is also a sticker on the forks that gives you an air pressure range to start with.

The forks are amazing. The lockout knob is really nice and smooth. 100% better than the spring forks that came with the roscoe. I ride the local southwest Michigan trails, where you can find a good balance of the cross country, some techy climbs, fast and flowy. There is not too much downhill or jumps around here. The closest trail with a lot of jumps is maple hill in Kalamazoo. Andrews University has a few interesting spots to launch if desired.

I noticed after the first ride that my hands and wrists didn’t suffer basically at all. Compared to the spring forks, the Reba’s are 100% smoother and I noticed I was actually getting the most out of the fork travel. The rebound is a game changer. You can feel right away when you blast through roots and rock gardens that you don’t have that bouncy springy, throw you off your bike feeling some spring-powered forks can give.

Final thoughts

Yes! Very happy with the purchase. I’d say the forks paid for themselves by alleviating hand, wrist, and arm discomforts. Who wants to go get exercise just to get carpal tunnel? I ride to have fun, and the calorie burn is just a bonus that allows me to eat more pizza and burritos.

While not being the fanciest forks on the planet, they are absolutely one hell of an upgrade for the price they are asking. For the type of riding I do, it’s absolutely perfect. Enough travel to soak up any “oops” moments, thick, strong stanchions for front wheel stability, and a really nice axle (those thin quick release axles on a front wheel terrify me). Highly recommend it and would totally buy it again.