RockShox has wholly revamped the popular Reba for 2009.
RockShox expands range of 20mm thru-axle forks
By James Huang in Monterey, California
RockShox has focused on its bread-and-butter Reba and Revelation for 2009 with new chassis designs, updated internals and new axle options that are designed to increase their versatility and also improve performance.
The Reba is the more heavily reworked of the two with an all-new chassis that includes a hollow-forged AL-66TV crown and a distinctly SID-like magnesium lower legs with its beefy squared-off arch, PowerBulge lower bushing reinforcements and post-mount disc brake tabs.
As previously reported, Reba will be offered in both standard quick-release and Maxle Lite 20mm thru-axle varieties, the latter of which sheds a significant 50g from the standard Maxle while giving up little in terms of strength or stiffness. Currently, RockShox has no plans to adopt the recently introduced 15mm thru-axle standard that has been embraced by Fox Racing Shox, Marzocchi and Shimano.
Maximum travel has been increased to 120mm (limited to 100mm on quick-release 29" models, though), thus making Reba more of a trail bike fork for this latest iteration. New air spring internals will incorporate a 'floating' negative air chamber and a foam ring-lubricated main piston o-ring to yield a more linear and suppler feel.
