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Road to NAHBS 2015: REEB

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REEB NAHBS 2015 REEBdonkadonk Pinion box

Even at first glance, REEB’s REEBdonkadonk fat bike compels you to jump on and ride and play. Featuring REEB’s recently developed 31.6mm dropper-compatible, proprietary True Temper seat tube, a Pinion gear box with the Gates belt drive, beautifully minimal cable guides, and wrapped up with a raw, patriotic styling scheme, this machine will surely give you a funny feeling in your stomach.  Meet REEBdonkadonk and friends after the jump.

BIKERUMOR: What are your main building materials?

REEB: We use a proprietary steel tube set from True Temper that we are calling REEB ABT. It is OX Platinum and the design was a collaboration between REEB Cycles, True Temper Sports, and Henry James Bicycles. We designed the new tube set so that we could offer the first 100% US made frame with a 31.6mm seat tube that is compatible with all dropper posts. The new REEB ABT tube set also includes a larger down tube and new chain stays for incredible tire clearance and a ride that can handle the aggressive trails of ColoRADo’s front range where we weld our frames one at a time. The weld shop is near Oskar Blues Brewery (REEB is owned by Oskar Blues), and we invite all of our customers to come see the weld shop and have a beer.

We can also build all of our bike models in Titanium if that’s your thing!

REEB NAHBS 2015 REEBdonkadonk Pinion complete

BIKERUMOR: What’s new with your company since NAHBS last year?

REEB: The new REEB ABT tube set mentioned above. We also opened a retail bike shop and REEB showroom in Longmont Colorado. It is called CyclHops Bike Cantina and offers Tacos, Tequila, Beer, and of course, our full service REEB Bike Shop.

REEB NAHBS 2015 REEBdonkadonk Pinion rear

BIKERUMOR: Any killer custom bike builds in that time?

REEB: Tough one. We’ve built lots of cool rigs and each one is as special to us as it is the customer. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram for all the new build shots.

BIKERUMOR: What were some of your newer inspirations for recent bikes?

REEB: We’re inspired to build bikes that ride well. At REEB Cycles, we build bikes to ride. They look nice as well, but that’s not the point.

REEB NAHBS 2015 REEBdonkadonk Pinion belt

We are loving the new REEBdonkadonk ABT fat bike. It’s designed to rip snowy singletrack and rides like no other fat bike on the market. For folks who want a fat bike that truly rides like a trail bike, this is it.

REEB NAHBS 2015 REEBdikyelous

BIKERUMOR: What are you building this year that’ll draw a crowd?

REEB: Well, we’ll have our new REEBdikyelous ABT 29er which is another bike that really has to be ridden to appreciate. Too bad that’s not allowed at NAHBS!

Also, several fat bikes in steel and Ti, as well as our Destroyer DJ bike, The Sam’s Pants commuter, and our Dirt Diggler CX rig. We’ll have Rohloff geared bikes and a new Pinion gearbox / Gates Carbon Drive fat bike.

REEB NAHBS 2015 Dirt Diggler

BIKERUMOR: If you had to build a bike for a Kentucky Derby style race (think short, all out effort on deep, loose dirt), what would you build and why?

REEB: Hmm, lightweight fat bike might do the trick. Gates Carbon Drive belt for sure! Sounds like death to chains.

REEB NAHBS 2015 REEBdikyelous HT

BIKERUMOR: Bourbon or beer?

REEB: Beer in a can.

ReebCycles.com

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18 Comments
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JoeP
JoeP
9 years ago

You had me at gearbox…awesome.

hellbelly
hellbelly
9 years ago

Reeb’s stuff is so badass, it’s heartbreaking. 🙁

Drew Diller
Drew Diller
9 years ago

MOAR GEARBOXES, YES

Willis24
Willis24
9 years ago

Make that a Di2 shifting gearbox and then we’ll talk…

Kris
Kris
9 years ago

I have thrown a leg over the pinion reeb. It’s amazing. The weld quality is amazing in person. I do caution going to Cyclehops. Had a coworker go there for a beer and he walked out with a new Reeb after trying to drink every Oskar Blues brew on tap. Beer and bikes……dangerous combination. :p

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
9 years ago

I’d really love to see a friction test with these gearboxes vs. a Rohloff(proven low friction). I’ve never gone mountain biking with a Rohloff but I have ridden a touring bike up a steep climb. The gearing was fine but I was fighting the urge to roll onto my back. This would largely solve that problem.. If this has even close to the low friction of a Rohloff(I’d be happy to give up a little so long as it wasn’t as high as my Nuvinci), I’d be 100% in on buying one of these bikes

AbelF
AbelF
9 years ago

That is one nice Fat Bike. Any know what the ratios on those gearboxes are with a 38 tooth chainring? Looks like its sporting a 38 tooth.

Serious
Serious
9 years ago

Beautiful workmanship on the bike running the Pinion. Stunning welds.

Alex @ Hermes Sport
9 years ago

Most of the gearboxes are largely on par with a Rohloff, and some designs like the Effigear claim to be even better than the Rohloff. It’s definitely a really interesting idea – the main issue with the Pinion system in particular is weight, however.

TheKaiser
TheKaiser
9 years ago

@Veganpotter, I don’t quite get your meaning or the cause of “The gearing was fine but I was fighting the urge to roll onto my back.” Care to clarify?

madm3chanic
madm3chanic
9 years ago

that fatty…BBW aint my thing, but that one…we, it gave me a fatty!

dockboy
dockboy
9 years ago

As if they even had to ask the guys who work for a bike company whose name is “Beer” backwards what they’d drink.

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
9 years ago

TheKaiser…there’s a steep climb I took the bike on. The weight being on the back wheel gave me a lot of trouble with keeping the front wheel down(in any gear I could push really). I’d ridden the bike with normal gearing before and it wasn’t nearly as tough. Its a steep grade(over 20%) and can be a problem for plenty of road bikes but moreso with this bike. If I were touring in the mountains, I’d be sure to put even more weight than normal on the front panniers. Part of it is a fitting issue. I have long femurs so I need a lot of saddle setback(I’m a bike fitter, not at all a rare problem) which doesn’t help either. This could be a great solution to that problem. If Alex is right…then this is a winner for people like me if you don’t mind more heft. I also like that fact that you don’t have to back off so much when you shift with these gearboxes

Mike B.
Mike B.
9 years ago

@Veganpotter – all things being equal, I’d put my money on the Rohloff having less drag / resistance, though the biggest culprit I would think would be the belt drive. I’ve seen articles putting the drag / resistance of belt drives at 2 to 3 times that of a chain.

Drew Diller
Drew Diller
9 years ago

Mike B – I can tell you from first hand experience that the belt isn’t as bad on efficiency as you’re talking. A NuVinci in low gear run by a chain is far worse.

My objection to belts is riding on a certain variety of wet sand where the grain size is really hard for the belt to eject.

feldy
feldy
9 years ago

@Veganpotter — having a heavier hub won’t make you tip backwards. The hub’s mass is distributed evenly around the axle (the fulcrum in this case) for zero net torque on the rest of the bike. I suppose the fact that the front of the bike could’ve been lighter with no multiple chainrings, front derailluer, shifter, etc. could have an impact, but the super heavy hub could not affect things. As an analogy: try opening a door by pushing on the hinge. Not just near the hinge, but on the hinge. The door won’t move.

Psi Squared
Psi Squared
9 years ago

@feldy: technically if you’re riding up a steep hill and fighting to keep the front end on the ground, the pivot for rotation is the rear contact patch, not any axle. I think the argument that Veganpotter is making about the pinion hub is that its mass would add another moment tending to keep the bike from rotating over the rear contact patch.

Draw a freebody diagram. You’ll see.

Drew Diller
Drew Diller
9 years ago

Psi Squared yet again you are pretty good at explaining stuff.

As an extreme example, my commuter e-bike handled much better when I moved the battery to the front triangle. No more accidental wheelies. I would think that has to translate to climbing in some small way, yeah.

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