Forbidden Introduces a Short-Travel Trail Bike

Forbidden Bike Company is no stranger to gravity. Aside from the titanium hardtails they just released (yeah, those are rad), all their bikes certainly favor descending. Hell, even the ti Heathen is built for the downs. With mixed-wheel capabilities, a 130mm fork, a high stack, and a slack head tube angle, it looks pretty capable pointed downhill.

Jumping to the full-suspension side, the “short-travel” Druid is easily the “downhiller’s trail bike” (sorry for the terrible cliche). The 130mm of rear travel goes much further than expected, with the high-pivot and rearward axle path doing much more than a bike in this travel category should.

Forbidden's new short-travel trail bike, the Reya

But what Forbidden currently lacks in its full-suspension offerings is an everyday trail machine. Not the “trails” of Squamish or North Vancouver, or other steep descending meccas of the PNW, but the pedal-friendly, pump and jump trails most of us ride.

I mean, if we’re honest, it is what most of us ride. And, now, Forbidden has the bike for it. Introducing the Reya.

What Forbidden did with the Reya

Okay, let’s look at the big picture here and see what Forbidden has drummed up. The Reya is a 120mm trail bike paired with a 130mm fork. Certainly short travel on both ends for Forbidden. And the brand known for high-pivots, idlers, and rearward axle paths included none of them on the new Reya.

Stepping away from a high-pivot, the Forbidden Reya features a good ‘ol-fashioned four-bar suspension platform. Anti-squat sits at about 110% at SAG in the climbing gears, providing a supportive pedaling platform while still delivering good climbing traction. But as the bike shifts into harder gears, Forbidden says the anti-squat value increases to maximize pedaling efficiency.

Forbidden utilizes a fairly progressive leverage curve on the Reya, providing consistent support throughout the travel. Using air shocks with large-volume air cans then allows them to incorporate suppleness, sensitivity, and traction.

While they might have gone away from idlers and high-pivots for the Reya, Forbidden maintains its OneRide geometry philosophy. The reach and rear center of the bike grow proportionally across all four sizes. This keeps the suspension balanced and provides better grip on both the front and rear wheels.

The Reya sees a 65° head tube angle and 77° seat tube angle across all sizes. Stack is a touch lower (for a Forbidden), starting at 598mm on an S1 and growing to 639 on an S4. Reach and chainstays (grow proportionally) throughout the size range, starting at 435mm and 420mm, respectively, and extend to 495mm and 464mm at their longest.

All of this amounts to a wheelbase that ranges from 1,163mm to 1,285mm across the size range. The Reya sits long enough for quality stability and maintains the brand’s DNA, while remaining short enough to remain agile, something expected in the short-travel trail category.

What They Didn’t Do

Forbidden uses a four-bar on the new Reya

There are a couple of features that the Reya lacks that other bikes in the category might have. For Forbidden, the choice to omit certain features was intentional.

First, you’ll notice that there is no in-frame storage. This was done intentionally. Forbidden says that little doors in our downtubes add weight (likely cost, too) that cannot be removed. So, they went without.

Plus, hip packs and hydration bags work pretty well.

Forbidden also didn’t bother with providing space for two water bottles in the front triangle, something more common on bikes in this category. Again, this was intentional, as they chose to go with a vertical shock position on the Reya. While the shock configuration leaves no room for a second water bottle, as a top tube-mounted shock would, it also provides much greater torsional stiffness. This means better suspension performance and less strain on the shock.

They also use properly sized bearings and keep the cables out of the headset. These are both decisions to prolong the Reya’s life and make owners happy (headset cable routing really is terrible).

Builds

Forbidden currently offers three builds, or “tiers,” of the Reya. While not available now, they also say they will have frame-only options soon. The frame-only price is $3,399.

Tier 1