How-To Bleed a Rockshox Reverb Dropper Post | Butter Suspension 

Not gonna lie, once you get the rebuild down, it is a money maker! I started Butter because of the fear/mythology/BS around Reverbs...

Thanks!

Thank you!

Naw, just passing on info!

Makes sense but never gave it a thought myself !

Game changer! Although not as good as AXS 🤣

There was something very satisfying about hydraulic fluid next to beer in my garage fridge.

You're welcome!

I love Reverbs, once you get them figured out I think they're great. But I also have an AXS wireless Reverb and manis it the easiest thing to install. Plus, I have two bikes with the same size seat tube, so I can just swap it between bikes, no wires, no hoses!

@@ButterSuspension yeah I think I’ll either go for a fox transfer or one of those Magura wireless ones (maybe I’ll find a good deal somewhere), probably fox though since it’s a bit cheaper. The ones that canyon bikes come with aren’t the greatest but wireless must be nice as hell!

Fox are great but they need annual service just like every other post, don't believe the bs online!

@@ButterSuspension I figured so and I hope you’ll make a video on how to do it haha

Sometimes the actual levers need a rebuild as well, Rockshox makes a kit for those.

I learned the hard way many years ago to not loan out tools. But I can sell you the bleed kit (although I'm sure your local bike shop can order one as well...)

I don't use the kits, I buy the tackle box from Rockshox with all the common replacement bits and seals. Each box has enough parts to rebuild 10 posts. You can do a 50 hour and a full rebuild on these, but by the time they get sent to me I'm almost always fully rebuilding them; some parts don't wear, so I leave them alone, but anything that moves or wears I replace.

This is me being over the top, but DO NOT use the bleed kit from your brakes unless it's brand new and has never had brake fluid run through it. The fittings are the same, but DOT fluid will ruin your Reverb hose.

Every post takes different oils/lubes, there isn't just one oil type for droppers.

Usually, yes. Just depends on how many times a fitting has been threaded in and out. Sometimes they get too blown out so you have to shorten the hose a bit.

I think they did hydraulic because they're a pretty heavily "hydraulic based" company already; forks, shocks, brakes, hydro fork and shock lockout hoses. When bled correctly, hydraulic lines work very well for a long time and aren't subjected to issues with mud, water, or corrosion like cable and housing. Wolf Tooth makes a cable conversion kit for some but not all generations of Reverb. Visit their site for a guide.

@@ButterSuspension Thanks for the reply! REbuilt the reverb watching your video. Works as should.

@@TheBarrettrussell awesome!

The official answer is no. And unfortunately, it's a very complex question. Not all mineral oils are the same, even if the "weight" is close in number. I will say though, before the Reverbs had "Reverb oil" in them, the original spec was 2.5wt Rockshox oil...

I would say thats a no, you can use baby oil or shimano moneral oil, i wouldnt reccomend 3w. differrnt oil bases can damage seals and what not :) hood luck!!

Good question! Rockshox is a suspension company, tied to a brake company; they already have years of experience with hydraulic lines with their brakes and hydraulic lock outs on some forks. Cable can be set up to be very smooth, but they degrade over time, especially in nasty conditions. If hydraulic lines are bled properly, they stay smooth for years (how many customers of yours NEVER bleed their brakes and they still works for the most part!) Also, are your disc brakes cable or hydro?

@@ButterSuspension I'm a bike mech for only 2 years but in my opinion, every system that uses DOT oil is bound to fail. I guess I just developed hate towards sram and rockahox. Over complicated over priced and unnecessary. I use Shimano, and I advice my customers to use Shimano as well. But every thing in the MTB world is preference and past experience. And my 4 piston xt sure is an oil based system

@@ofiros396 the reverb is indeed complicated for what it needs to be and the hydro actuation is pretty nonsensical to be honest. However DOT brakes being bound to fail Im not quite understanding? DOT is the *most* standardised fluid for brakes. Nothing related to DOT indicates that its more prone to failure that I have seen. Maybe youve had bad experiences with DOT fluid brakes based on the quality of the actual hardware? There is a lot of myths around DOT in particular that it "will damage my bike/components" or that its bad for the environment. Fact is DOT will damage paint etc but only if you are sloppy and dont clean up. No one I have asked can actually point to a case they have seen in bike or even cars. As for the enviro issue yes DOT is bad for the enviro and so is mineral oil which is most of the time a petroleum derivative. Never mind that if the miniscule amount of DOT used for your bike is a concern the I would point to other possible more impactful things such as tires which get replaced probably yearly if not more often. As well as carbon frames and other parts.

@@tylerbruce5731 thank you for the long and detailed reply, also go considering cons of a dot oil. It's just that my country is pretty warm, and you allways see the weekend riders coming out of hibernation with their SRAM breaks locked due to the oil heating up. I'm not saying it's an invalid system, just consider the down sides of it.

@@ofiros396 the issue you are likely referring to is not a Sram issue but a specific issue with the Sram Guide brakes (affected R and RS but not RCS models) from a few years back. It seems that Sram used a plastic for the piston that would swell with the combination DOT and heat. But that issue is resolved as far as I know. And hey I live in Dubai I know all about the heat. Lol In fact I have a set of Guides that "locked up" but had new pistons installed and they are fine now.

Is it pressurized to 250psi? Has it been cleaned/lubed or rebuilt recently? Did you use fresh cold fluid?

@@ButterSuspension i did the complete rebuild with cold oil , is it possible lost psi when disconnecting the pump? I assume that bleed the remote will not fix anything. Or you think it might work?

@@mrpanshow pump shouldn't lose too much. It's hard to diagnose via RU-vid comments section, lol.

@@ButterSuspension no problem just looking for any tough. When I do another full rebuild with a new kit I will inspect closely , regards!

Kinda. There isn't really an air pressure range, since the valve the oil passes through is what controls how fast the post moves (up or down). So you set it at 250psi, then use the lever (and the speed controller on the lever body) to control how fast it moves.

Where is the fluid leaking exactly? Sometimes the hose gets cut just a little off from 90 degrees to the thread in barb and it won't seal properly... If it leaks enough, air gets in the line and it won't open the valve to allow the post to move.

Or go AXS! Best dropper I've owned...

I understand the sentiment, but with over 8 million Reverbs in the world and the ability to rebuild any of them with around 98% success rate, I love Reverbs. Also, every single post needs service at some point, so I guess you could just throw away everything once it stops working. 🤷