Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
Racing bikes do like to go fast. Enjoy it.
Reba is good. It's a nice chassis with average guts. All the parts have a part number, and it can be upgraded. This makes it a step up on the various "Gold" forks which have similar guts but can't be upgraded and only have rebuild kits available, not replacement parts. So, if you want a longer steerer you can buy the uppers and get one that hasn't been cut. At least in theory, you know how it's been this year. If you are coming from a Suntour fork with no damping at all, it's going to seem pretty great and you might be pleased enough to leave it alone. But if you want to upgrade further you can use the Charger damper from the SID.
Marzocchi is no longer an independent brand. They went under. Fox bought the name and is putting it on less-expensive versions of their existing forks. Comparable to what you have. Ohlins is very premium and you won't see it much in the wild. I don't really know which of the smaller companies is in third place in the upper half of the market - Suntour is clearly dominant in the low end but their nicer stuff seems rare. Manitou, probably, or DVO
I think youre pretty spot on with your observations. I find the dampening and overall response of the REBA to be quite excellent. Honestly I just haven't spent enough time with the bike. Everytime I ride the bike, I am just more and more impressed.
A rigid fork could be interesting choice just to experiment with in the future.
Overall, the bike feels bang on dialed in and I think I'm actually more or less athletic enough to get some good use out of it. The carbon frame really is no joke with pedal input response and handling balance. I am so comfortably within the limits of this bike, Its just way too dangerously fast once you start pushing past 7/10ths.