Hey everybody, welcome back!
Whether you're keeping up with the Joneses, you like a clean cockpit like this,
or you just like to try new things, there's something to be said about the new SRAM AXS devices.
I have looked at the AXS drivetrains in previous videos and today I'm gonna be looking at this:
the RockShox Reverb or their Reverb AXS dropper post. Let's check it out!
And the reality is that this stuff has been out for a couple of years now
so you can find it as a fresh takeoff or even second hand and that's exactly what I got here.
This is actually a long 170mm dropper post that was a fresh take off
so I got it just the dropper and the remote.
I didn't get the charger either, however the charger and the battery are identical
with what's used by the SRAM AXS drivetrains and I already have both.
And the very first thing you're gonna notice is definitely this humongous head
and the weight is a bit unbalanced towards the head as well.
Minimum insertion point and also the details of the dropper post
you can see mine is a 31.6mm, 170mm drop.
And by the way the maximum length of the dropper is also mentioned here, if you are worried about fit into the frame
that minimum insertion point is at 10 cm from the bottom of that vent valve.
And if you're wondering how sophisticated this stuff is
on this other side you're gonna have a ton of certifications for these devices,
you can see Bluetooth and ANT+ and all the other stuff that's needed to sell this around the world.
And this is made in Taiwan just like all the other SRAM AXS components.
The RockShox Reverb is well known for the dreaded sag when sitting on the dropper
and even though SRAM says that 5 mm of sag is normal, I don't think it's normal.
At the bottom of the dropper you have this vent valve that will help you burp the air that might have mixed with the oil.
This is something that BikeYoke Revive introduced a while ago and now a lot of droppers have it.
This is a welcome addition to Reverb for sure.
The bleed procedure is pretty simple, it needs 2 people
and it also needs this little tool, this is provided with the dropper if you were to buy it new.
In my case again I bought it as a fresh take off so it didn't include it,
you can find it separately or you can 3D print it like I did here.
The brains of this device is up here in the head,
this is where you're going to have a little servo motor, you have the AXS button and a multicolor LED.
Obviously you're gonna need a battery to install right here, AXS battery is a 7.4 volt battery, 300 milliAmps
You can order more spares using this part number here SRAM P/N 00.3018.102.000
and it will charge in about 1 hour using the provided charger.
The same battery is used by the Reverb and it uses the same retention mechanism,
the only difference from the AXS drivetrain is that this is installed upside down
so you push it up first, down, and the clip, there it goes!
Once you press on the AXS button you're going to have the LED coming on
and in this case the dropper extended, to-dooo!
Otherwise a simple press of the button is going to give you the status of the battery, GREEN is good,
and then they have RED and flashing RED.
Interestingly you can operate this Reverb just by using the AXS button.
If you just press on it once, it's going to release it,
then you push (the dropper) down to whatever position that you're interested in
and press the AXS button one more time.
It's gonna lock it into place and that way you can operate it without the controller
just in case you get run out of battery or something happens to it or whatever else.
Obviously you would never use it like that, you would use it with the controller.
This operates exactly the same way that a mechanical remote would operate,
so you have to press and hold in order to operate the dropper.
CR2032 coin cell batteries inside,
you have the LED here,
and you have the pairing button or the status button of the AXS controller.
The controller has to be paired with the dropper in a similar fashion with the rest of the AXS groupset.
When it comes to finish this looks a little bit better than the SRAM AXS GX
but remember this was launched together with AXS X01/ XX1 that kind of looked flashier.
You have two positions to install these controllers just like with any other SRAM shifters
and if you ever wonder, this is an actual filler so if you grab a 2.5 mm you can remove that and put it in the other slot.
Weight of a dropper post is always important, in this case the 170 mm Reverb AXS with the battery
comes up to 703 grams. That's about 150 grams more than a regular 170 dropper post.
If you add the remote, that makes it 758 g,
obviously you're going to need a bar clamp so here's your 770 grams,
That's probably about 120 grams more than a mechanically actuated dropper post.
I really feel for the SRAM sponsor athletes that have to carry this on a cross-country XCO course.
And most of that weight probably comes from this redesigned head which I mentioned to be quite innovative
and I'm not talking about the use of the T25 TORX because that's what you need on this bolt and this bolt up front.
Now pretty much everything you need to know is written down.
This bolt is used to adjust tilt and this one bolt is gonna hold the saddle in its rails.
The trick here is to have this somewhat loose when you're adjusting the tilt on the saddle
and with that bolt loosened up you can push in your saddle rails, start tightening this up but don't tighten it all the way.
Next, install the dropper in the frame and SRAM highly recommends using some carbon paste
as they don't recommend more than 6 Nm on the seatpost clamp.
And now you can adjust the saddle tilt using that bolt up front.
Remember this is not tightened yet.
And now you can use the same T25 TORX just to tighten that bolt to 12 Nm and you're good to go.
And the first thing that came to my mind was - well no saddlebag with this type of dropper!
There's just not enough room back there.
And while other manufacturers are aiming for minimal stack height
in this case you have about 3 cm from the rails to the top of the collar
the collar itself is about 3 cm again so you're talking about 6 cm stack height for this dropper post.
Keep that in mind when sizing it for your needs.
And next we're gonna have to install the remote on the handlebar.
This installs just like a regular shifter, obviously this is Matchmaker compatible if you have SRAM brakes
or if you have Shimano brakes like I do you might want to look for adapters like this for I-SPEC EV.
I ended up installing the controller using one of these old SRAM bar clamps, pretty much this one,
because it allows me to bring the button right here underneath the bar and it's a very convenient position for me.
That is different than the bar clamp that they come with which has this extra 5mm down spacer.
I don't need that for the dropper this has to be easy to push and very conveniently located at my thumb.
Been using the Reverb AXS for about a week now
and I gotta tell you right now I'm not thinking of it as being any different than any dropper that I've ever had.
and that's a good thing!
The remote is very conveniently located right here next to the grips,
and you're just one click away...
this is all it's needed to lower the saddle or raise it.
Also, there is just a perfect spring tension underneath this paddle just so it's not too flimsy.
Anyway, I like this a lot, it's the first thing that I loved about the Reverb AXS.
Otherwise it just works like I said, it's very fast to return
there is 250 psi installed in this cartridge but it's not adjustable
so it's not as if you can adjust that up and down motion.
It's super fast and you have a positive stop at the end of the travel.
Using it with the AXS app and you can do firmware updates
and the only other thing that you can do here in the system
you can configure the controls, you can change the paddle assignment here to make it work for shifting gears.
But again, kind of limited functionality with the app and it's not really needed for this dropper post.
But one thing that drove me bananas over the last week is this noise...
Hear that vibration?
Well you can hear it while riding, everywhere.
One thing that SRAM doesn't really say is, once you use this tilt adjuster knob here uh
or bolt here at the front, don't let it loose like this.
You gotta have it tightened up after you tighten up this clamo to 12 Nm.
So now, the same dropper see the noise is gone so keep that in mind when installing.
So what do I think about this Reverb AXS after using it for a little while?
Well, first of all, this is not the Reverb of the past.
I've had Reverbs before and I wasn't too impressed by them.
This one works flawlessly right now
it is an interesting gimmick, if it wasn't for the high price I would highly recommend it to anyone.
And that should be the end of my video folks.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.
As usual, if you found this useful don't forget to like, subscribe, comment,
and until next time hope to see you on the trails
why not using a Reverb AXS dropper post.
Cheers guys, cheers!