Now that the “rigid” fork part of the experiment is over, I’m going to throw a couple of ’squishy” forks in the mix to round things out a bit. Here we have the Rock Shox Reba on the front of the test rig.

The Reba is a stock option on the Blackbuck as sold by OS Bikes. The Reba was used with a Chris King “plus five” crown race on my bike fo just a little extra axle to crown height. Let’s see how the numbers stack up.

Head Angle- 72.1 degrees
Axle To Crown- 490mm (unsagged)
Offset- 38mm
Wheelbase- 42.5″
Bottom Bracket Drop Range (EBB)-53mm-63mm
Approximate Trail*- 92mm (unsagged)

Changes Made This setup is very similar to the other 465mm axle to crown set ups on the rigid forks. I had to slide my saddle all the way forward, (I still didn’t quite get there), I lowered the handle bars by running some spacers on top of the stem to achieve the correct handlebar height. Note: I did leave the bars slightly too high to allow for sag and when sagged, the seat most likely was right where it should have been, but I had no way to measure this effectively. Suspension throws a lot of dynamics at you. At best, you can only “get in the ball park” compared to your rigid numbers which do not change.

Handling Characteristics: Obviously with suspension everything changes. I would say that when sagged the bike handled much like it did with the Bontrager Switchblade. (That makes sense since the Switchblade and Reba share the same offset figure.) The bike required the “body english” and handlebar activity that the longer trail figure set ups have exhibited so far. My initial sensation was that the front end was way up in the air, but afterwards I felt more at home than at first.

Of course, there is a reason folks run suspension forks. It gives you better control and less body fatigue at the end of the day. Boy! Was that ever the case with the Reba on board. I had a really good time riding the loop that I test on, even though the trail figure was the highest, (static) of any of the other set ups. The suspension masks a lot of the longer trail and slack head angle that you see on paper, because dynamically, the figures are shorter/steeper as you ride, and constantly changing. I wouldn’t judge this set up by the numbers, only use them as a “guide” perhaps, because in reality, this was nothing like what the numbers suggested.

A Note On The Forks Ride: This is an older Reba and getting to the point of needing servicing, but even though that was the case, it still has that “smoooth” feeling travel and yes, a bit of flexiness. Nothing terrible though. The offset isn’t in the “geometry du jour“, but that doesn’t make it “bad”, just different. It is a shame that a fork like this will not be around in 2009 on new bikes, really. That said, the new Reba will most likely make me forget I made this statement!

Final Thoughts: The Reba/Blackbuck combination is a hoot to ride, even with 5mm added to the length of the fork, which quite honestly didn’t make a hill of beans difference in the way it rode. This is a good base line to compare to what will be the opposite end of the spectrum when we throw on the Fox F-29 G2 fork for a whirl. That should lead us to the Blackbuck/Spinner fork combo and the end of this saga.

*The trail charts I used all gave slightly different answers and of course, your tire selection will also affect the trail figure slightly. Take my trail figures with a grain of salt. Your mileage may vary!
Look for more on the series in a week or so.