First Impression: Reeb Cycles TyReeb
Originally posted on October 10, 2012 at 11:40 am
By Shannon Mominee. Photos by Justin Steiner.
Oskar Blues Brewery has a long history of supporting mountain bike culture. It sponsors many events and delivers tasty canned microbrews to campsites and post-ride trailheads everywhere. It’s no wonder that its latest foray doesn’t involve malts, hops, and barley, but rather 29-inch-wheeled, steel and titanium mountain bike frames.
Reeb Cycles is Oskar Blues’ brand of hardtail frames welded in Denver, Colorado, by Chris “Soultrain” Sulfrain. Sulfrain is also the welder of his own brand of frames called Generic Cycles. No matter which metal is used for tubing, the basic geometry is the same: 13.5-inch high bottom brackets, a head tube angle of 68.75-degrees, a tall front-end built around a 120mm suspension fork, and chainstay lengths of 17.3-inches. Sizes available are small thru extra large.
I’m testing a size Large TyReeb, which as the name implies, is made of 3/2.5 titanium. My tester is a singlespeed but the frame can also be built as a geared bike as well thanks to the Paragon sliding dropouts. In singlespeed mode, Reeb Cycles prefers to use a Gate’s center track carbon belt drivetrain. The 46×28 effective gearing is adequate for the hilly terrain of southwestern Pennsylvania and the tall bottom bracket keeps pedal strike to a minimum along the rock garden-laden trails.
Handling is relaxed due to the slack (for a 29er) head tube angle and 720mm-wide Cromag Fubars handlebar. Because of the long, 43.6-inch wheelbase the TyReeb rides stable on fast downhills, but is slow steering through tight switchbacks. My high center of gravity also slows things down a bit, but it’s all fun nonetheless.
Two build kits are available for the Reeb and TyReeb, SFP (super f’ing pimp) and PFP (pretty f’ng pimp). Both are heavily centered for enduro riding and downhill rolling, with a wide handlebar, powerful brakes, 120mm fork, and American Classic All-Mountain wheels. An OX Platinum steel frame and Gates belt retails for $1,650 and a titanium frame and belt is $2,500.
Look for a complete review of the TyReeb in an upcoming issue and if you like what you see, don’t forget to subscribe to the magazine.