First Ride: RockShox's Updated 2020 Reverb - Bike Connection Summer 2019
RockShox has ground to make up with the Reverb, in both performance and consumer confidence. Over the years the post has gotten some rightful criticism here for reliability issues, slower rebound speeds in cold weather, and the more daunting service regimen of a hydraulic line. And on top of that, they're not cheap. The emergence of excellent cartridge-based posts at much lower prices have made the Reverb a harder sell in recent years.
To be fair, some of the reliability issues the Reverb is known for can be attributed to its own success. RockShox sells a ton of them—there are probably more Reverbs in existence than any other post. If a small company sells 100 dropper posts and 3% fail, that's 3 pissed off people on the internet. If another company sells 100,000 dropper posts and only 1% fail, that's still 1,000 angry people on the internet even though their post is more reliable. Is that the case here? I'm not sure. Pinkbike's tech team is a small sample size, and we've had our fair share of issues with Reverbs over the years, but not out of line with what we've experienced from other designs.
So with the announcement of a major Reverb update, it's a make-or-break moment for RockShox's dropper post. While I was at Bike Connection Summer in Andalo, Italy, I spent some time on the new Reverb. Not enough for a full verdict, but some quick first impressions.
It's got lighter action. As advertised, it drops with dramatically less force than any other post I've tried. This will be especially helpful for lighter riders and people whose bikes have slack seat-tube angles. It doesn't feel much quicker than the previous generation, but it does apparently have faster return speed. It's still not an ejector seat, and you can still dial back the return speed, if you like. It felt about right wide open.
There's more drop from a shorter post. Every year I think "I wouldn't want any more drop" until I try a dropper with more drop. It turns out more drop is really nice to have. Seat-tube and leg length determine how long a dropper you can run, but the new Reverb's shorter overall length means most riders can fit a longer travel post than before.
There's more drop from a shorter post. Every year I think "I wouldn't want any more drop" until I try a dropper with more drop. It turns out more drop is really nice to have. Seat-tube and leg length determine how long a dropper you can run, but the new Reverb's shorter overall length means most riders can fit a longer travel post than before.
Reverb Details
Diameter: 30.9mm, 31.6mm, 34.9mm
Travel: 100mm, 125mm, 150mm, 175mm, 200mm
Length: 301mm, 351mm, 414mm, 467mm, 519.5mm
Remote: 1X or Standard (L-Below, R-Above)
MSRP (standard remote): $349 USD / €390* / £345*
MSRP (1x remote): $399 USD / €445* / £395*
*Includes VAT
More info
Diameter: 30.9mm, 31.6mm, 34.9mm
Travel: 100mm, 125mm, 150mm, 175mm, 200mm
Length: 301mm, 351mm, 414mm, 467mm, 519.5mm
Remote: 1X or Standard (L-Below, R-Above)
MSRP (standard remote): $349 USD / €390* / £345*
MSRP (1x remote): $399 USD / €445* / £395*
*Includes VAT
More info
The new 175mm Reverb is 467mm long and will fit most of the current crop of shorter seat-tube bikes. It's still a few mm off the total length of the super-compact OneUp 180mm post, but it's shorter than most. [Edit: there's some discussion to how these are measured, but the OneUp is definitely a bit more drop for total length] As for the 200mm Reverb, it measures at 519.5mm, which is much shorter than the Vecnum 200mm MoveLOC post's 543mm total length, the 9point8's 560mm total length. There are several other 200mm+ posts coming down the line, so it'll be interesting to see how they measure up.
It was close, but at 5'7" I was still able to run a 175mm post on this size Large Megatower.
The updated internals are said to be more reliable. We'll have to wait and see if this bears out in long-term testing, but with new Maxima oil, a new IFP design, the addition of vent valve, etc., the service interval has been increased to 600 hours. That's a good sign.
RockShox says the vent valve shouldn't need to be used often, as the new IFP design is supposed to prevent most sagging.
But if you do need to use it, you push the vent valve with a fancy poke-stick (included).
I'm still not sold on hydraulic actuation. For all the praise here, and it really is a damn good post out of the box, I'm still not convinced that actuating a dropper via hydraulic hose is the way forward. Fully hydraulic systems are still harder to fix trailside and more daunting to service at home.
If I had to guess, I'd say in 5 years the best high-end posts will be wireless only, while the best value-conscious options will be cable actuated.
The hydraulically actuated 1x lever does feel great.
Final thoughts
 | So is this the beginning of a new era for the Reverb? Does it justify the premium price versus its simpler, cheaper competitors? Well, it's certainly more refined than the last generation, works very well out of the box, and will give riders more drop on more frames. The value judgment is one people need to make for themselves, but when this post arrives on many higher spec test bikes in 2020 we'll be happy to see it. As for reliability, we'll let you know once we've put a lot more miles on it. |
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since went to a bikeyoke revive and a raceface affect (two ends of the price spectrum) and had zero issues since.
@Highlander406: Some people are into that kind of thing.
I do know others who have had issues with Reverbs and the hydraulic line is a pain.
I do think the failure rate (# failures/total number sold) of Reverbs has been higher than some other posts. I am skeptical that the rate ratio or relative rate of failure (failure rate of reverb/failure rate of other posts) is dramatically higher than some of the the other posts on the market. As Brian park eludes the prevalence of reverbs (number of units on bikes) is dramatically higher than any other posts on the market.
I gotta laugh at all the penny pinchers here and comments about it being expensive. You want a top of the line product at a Wal-Mart price. Life doesn't work that way...there are plenty of cheaper options; some perform just fine, others do not.
I'd try the FOX but I've heard mix reviews on it that the 'feel' is not that great...it does look good though.
And I'm not a Reverb homer -- just relating my experience. My new bike has a KS Lev on it. So far, it's been great. And I think I like it better than my old Reverb just because it has a better actuation lever. (OneUp -- aftermarket) If it is anywhere near as reliable as my old Reverb, I will be happy.
I like the Reverb, and unpopular opinion...SRAM customer service is great.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Went 9.8 over Faux. Wasn’t avent grade enough to know about Bike Yoke
And even if you have 5 bikes for 5 years all with reverbs and no failures that means you are dividing wear and tear up over 5 posts.
I'd rather hear from a reviewer with a daily driver than about how your bike museum has had no part failures due to dust collection.
I had the same Reverb for almost 4 years and had two services on it. One was needed (sagging), the other one was just to be sure kinda deal.
I've been told that to prolong the reverb life you should not lift the bike by the seat with the post in a dropped position. It's not a problem in the raised position (it's sitting on the end stops), it's a problem in going but a milimeter lower.
As for the hydraulic actuation, I actually, and bought a Reverb (had the first option of a Revive for a nice price) for my new bike because I like the actuator. Hydraulics are preferable to cables if you ask me. Yeah, harder to repair trailside, but knock on wood, I haven't had issues.
Cold performance can be an issue, but i know why that is and I don't take it as a negative. The Reverb uses a closed system, unlike the brakes, where cooling down the oil will reduce the volume and prevent the actuator from being actuated. Bleed the post in a colder environment and you should be fine. But I never actually had any issues in cold weather (it was slower, but always worked) with the actuator bled in summer.
@t4ngent the old Hightower or the new? The old Large has a 450mm seat-tube, vs 430mm on the new Megatower and Hightower.
@WAKIdesigns the Andalo tracks weren't too steep but I definitely get some butt-snuggling from long travel 29ers in steep terrain. I wouldn't normally ride that bike in size Large, it was just what was easiest to try the post on.
Sorry:
ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb16210339/p5pb16210339.jpg
And they work as good as the hydraulic Reverb.
The reverb system is so so easy with the new bleed tool.
It's just that cable posts are damn good now, and simpler, easier to fix on a road trip, cheaper, etc... This post is amazing (out of the box anyway), I just don't see hydraulic actuation as the way forward on droppers.
Why even risk trying the new one when you can get a Revive for the same price and everyone who has one raves about it? I've had 2 of those as well, and they've been absolutely flawless with faster/smoother/consistent compress/return even after 2 years of no service than a brand new Reverb.
General rule of thumb: if people are always giving a warranty department praise the stuff doesn't last.
Also, why the hell should we need to bleed a post constantly?!
I replaced it with a 9point8 which has also had it's share of maintenance issues, but the worst that happens is that it leaks it's air a bit, and you need to top it up to get a decent return speed. Also, even if it airs down completely, you can still pull it into position and it holds it's lock.
My wife's oneup works like the day we bought it still, and I'll buy one of those next time around instead.
Yes our V1 170mm is 450mm without actuator (this is the standard measurement) but the 467mm you referenced for Reverb is also without their 30mm strain relief.
If we are including the actuator our V2 180mm post is 17mm shorter than the Reverb 175mm.
More drop, less cost, less length
There's no question your post is the most compact we're aware of.
I still keep a quick release on my seatpost after the days of my reverb failing and sticking down in the cold.
This coming from an owner of two OneUp droppers. Don't get me wrong - The OneUp's are really good seat posts, they're just bad at measuring real world specs.
Yes our V1 170mm is 450mm without actuator (this is the standard measurement) but the 467mm referenced for Reverb is also without their 30mm strain relief... so apples to apples
If we are including the actuator our V2 180mm post is 17mm shorter than the Reverb 175mm.
More drop, less cost, less length
I call bullshit on this...unless your "high-end" and "value-conscious" really relate only to price and not quality.
Will bike parts continue to be electrified? Yes, they will. Will everyone want them? I really don't think so.
Will bike makers try to force us all to use them by starting to make frames without cable holes? Possibly, but some company won't be stupid and will get my business.
Here's to another decade of a reliable dropper post that I love!
Given how unreliable the post is, reduce the stupidly expensive RRP of the service kits, (approx £80). It just adds insult to injury. The cost of the 400hr reverb seal kit is almost double that of a full service kit for a fork which includes far more items - They never make 400hrs before sagging!
While looking at the RRP of the kit, how about including just the parts needed. Case in point, you need the circa £80 service kit to get all the parts that typically cause the seat to sag i.e. the pressure retaining parts. They are only 5 small rubber components, nothing more than 3 tiny O-rings, an IFP seal and the internal seal head seal. Those 5 tiny rubber parts should not cost more than a couple of pounds - certainly not £80!
We don't need the expensive alloy parts like the seal head, and the top cap.
Make the bush in the top cap assembly a replaceable item rather than having to buy the whole alloy top cap assembly for an RRP of circa £40!
There is a global movement trying to get all companies to look at how they manufacture or provide their services with regard to wasteful practices and their environmental footprint. Case in point, you don't need to supply alloy parts in a service kit that do not wear out. Or any other part for that matter. For example, the top out bumper in the seal head or the top out o-ring or the O-ring in the seal head that expands the seal head bush - they don't deteriorate. So why include them in every already expensive kit? By all means make it an option to buy them IF you really need to.
The upshot is, trying to service these already unreliable and expensive posts is stupidly expensive. You charge a bloody fortune for a couple of Lok luer syringes and oil. The whole experience is an unreliable fragile rip off!
Sorry rant over!
I think you need to quantify that statement for many people to believe it
Your wallet isn't my wallet or anyone else's wallet. For 99% of people in the world all of this stuff is unjustifiably expensive. "$200 for your seat to go up and down when a $20 quick release works just fine? You crazy."
Oh, and my note about wireless being the future assumes the $800 technology will be available cheaper. If not from RockShox then from someone else.
Slow clap for ya sram.
That could be a good pinkbike poll - who prefers the sram push button remote vs the paddle remote.....