Review: Reeb's SST Does it Differently

If that sounds like your kinda jam, you can choose from two complete bikes. $6,495 USD will get you a GX build kit, RockShox Pike Select fork, and a set of Industry Nine 1/1 Trail aluminum wheels, or spend $9,850 USD for X01 AXS bits, a Pike Ultimate, and some very nice Industry Nine carbon wheels. A frame on its own costs $3,150 USD if you're going to use all of your worn-out stuff, but note that "on its own" means you'll also have to buy a 180 x 50mm trunnion shock that Reeb will sell you if needed.

Our medium-sized test bike is the X01 AXS version painted in what Reeb is calling Pacific Blue and what I'm calling The Perfect Color, and it came in 31.3 lb on my scale.

Frame Details

Do you know why street tacos from a dirty food truck are always more delicious than those overpriced and over-stuffed designer tacos from a snooty restaurant? Because while the latter tries to squeeze in too many fancy ingredients, that guy in the truck knows that a bit of charred meat, good cheese, some fresh cilantro, and a little hot sauce is all a taco needs, no more and no less. That appears to be the same direction Reeb has taken with the SST; there's no hidden storage compartment, the cables don't disappear into the headset, and there isn't a geo-adjusting flip-chip or secondary shock mount to be seen. Instead, the SST sports clean, simple lines that'll look as good five or ten years from now as the bike does today. It's the antithesis of the Scott Genius, isn't it?




Reeb says that the chromoly tubes feature a custom profile, and the straight lines and pinned-on headtube badge help with that timeless look. Cable routing is external and held in place with aluminum bolt-on clamps, with the dropper post line entering through a small rubber port just above the threaded bottom bracket. Our test bike came with a wireless AXS drivetrain, but a traditional derailleur sees the cable routed on the underside of the not-well-protected chainstay; owners might want to add some sort of defense to keep noise and damage to a minimum.

Gussets on the top and underside of the toptube let Reeb provide a bit more standover clearance and give them a spot to mount the aluminum rocker, another component they manufacture in-house. Another neat detail worth mentioning are the replaceable steel inserts at the brake mount, which is also where you might notice that the dropouts look a bit different than expected. That's because they were SLM 3D-printed which, according to the Google, is when a power-dense laser is used to melt and fuse metallic powders, adding layers as it goes until a dropout "grows" into pretty much what you see on the back of the SST. The chainstay yoke and seatstay clevis are made via the same process, and Reeb says that those parts are lighter and stronger than they would be had they been machined instead of printed. An overseas company named IN3DTEC is currently manufacturing these parts, but Reeb is aiming to use a domestic vendor in 2023.



Lasers growing stuff is interesting, but we did have a notable hiccup before we even started testing. This very SST was originally supposed to be included in the downcountry Field Test from Quebec, but our bike accidentally shipped to us with pre-production prototype 3D-printed frame components that were never intended to leave Reeb's HQ or even be ridden, so we had to wait for a production-spec rear-end to arrive from Colorado.

Geometry & Sizing

The SST is available in five sizes, ranging from a small with a 422mm reach to an extra-large with a 510mm front end, and our test bike is a medium that comes in at 460mm. Reeb specs a 140mm-travel fork that gives the bike a 65.5-degree head angle, but you can go with a 150mm-travel fork if you want a bit more room for error, although I suspect that might feel a bit unbalanced given the bike's 120mm of rear wheel travel. To each their own, though. Also, the extra-small SST is actually a degree slacker due to its 130mm fork and 27.5" rear wheel that helps to keep the front low and improve standover clearance.


The effective seat angle sits at 76 degrees, all the sizes get the same short-ish 435mm chainstays, and there's a healthy 30mm of bottom bracket drop. Speaking of healthy, how does a 210mm dropper post on a medium-size frame sound? Short seat tubes allow for a 150mm dropper on the extra-small, 180mm on the small, and 240mm on the large and extra-large frames.

Suspension Design

Much like the bike itself, the SST's 120mm-travel rear-suspension design is simple and easy to understand but there's more to it than you might first notice. While it looks like a single-pivot layout, the chainstays sport a flattened section just ahead of the axle that's intended to mimic how a Horst Link functions but without the extra bearings and pivot hardware that you'd usually see here. That should make the system lighter and, I'd assume, improve the rear-end with more lateral rigidity since it's not held together with bolts. A massive aluminum pivot axle runs through from the non-drive-side, and steel hardware is used elsewhere. Reeb says that while the SST comes with an air shock from them, there's enough progressivity that'll it'll also play nice with a coil spring.

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Climbing

Some bikes in this travel bracket really lean into that firm, efficient suspension feel at the expense of traction, which is why a gooey enduro bike will often out-crawl your light and unforgiving cross-country rig up anything where grip is the deciding factor. Tires count for a lot as well, of course, but the SST does a really good job of sniffing out whatever tiny bits of traction are available when your only goal is to not dab, and it does that without feeling frantic or rushed. One of my favorite tangled messes of roots highlighted the difference; I often hear that telltale zzzzzzip of the rear tire spinning on the driest of days, followed by either me tipping over before I'm able to unclip or the least graceful save you've ever seen. But on the SST, I scooted up and over my nemesis multiple times without much fuss, a telling result considering that I pedal nearly every test bike up the same climb.

While there's plenty of traction, you'll need to be a bit careful about where you're putting your pedals; I managed to have relations with the Reeb's stem a few too many times when pedal strikes on tricky climbs stopped the bike instantly but not my body, which is always an embarrassing way to hit the ground. Pedal strikes are rider error, though - your feet are attached to them, after all - and I quickly got used to making sure I knew what my feet were doing. You'll need to be more aware of pedal positioning and your timing if your climbs are like mine, which can cost you some momentum in low-speed sections, but this isn't the bike for people who live and die by the stopwatch anyway.




With tons of grip and a calm, planted demeanor, the SST eats up tight corners and switchbacks where it seemed to fit into awkward bits of trail that stymied other bikes a bit more. Again, this thing isn't even close to feeling sporty or fast but, much like your chunky but always strong friend, the SST manages to be surprisingly darty and agile when it needs to zig-zag through some tight trees or mess of rocks. And when you're faced with one of those do-or-fall-over grunts where you need to put down all your power out of the corner, it'll dig deep for any and all traction that might be there.

Off the trail and onto gravel road climbs, it's obvious that the SST's weakness is those long, steady grades where it's not able to use traction and stability to its advantage. When you've got time to think about things and nothing to do but pedal, the active suspension sometimes feels like it has a bit more than 120mm of travel; you might want to firm it up with the pedal-assist switch on the RockShox shock for those sorts of efforts.

The SST is a niche product compared to the sea of carbon fiber trail bikes out there, but it proved to be a surprisingly good all-around climber for anyone not concerned with all-out speed. It's not that it feels slow, but if you're expecting a race-y ride just because it only has 120mm, this ain't it. That's not what Reeb was going for, either, with the SST designed to be more of a stout trail bike that won't get nervous about a few rowdy descents, and it climbs accordingly.

Descending

Short-travel bikes can often act a bit confused, almost like they want to party but they also can't hold their liquor, end up causing a big scene, and you end up needing days to recover. Sound familiar? You think it'll be fun, and it is for a while until those decisions start to catch up with you, and then you're upside down in the rhubarb. The SST can party harder than most, though, and you're less likely to end up with a hangover and no memory of what happened thanks to its easy-going suspension and handling.

Let's talk suspension first, with Reeb's flex-pivot Horst Link-ish system doing some very good things on the trail. It's quite active and supple over small impacts that you might not see but that definitely affect traction, and that goes a long way to make the SST feel more stuck to the ground than most bikes with this little suspension. That's a big help when it's really wet, really dry, or anytime traction is iffy, be it cruising down a section of tame singletrack at maximum pace or creeping into a vertical rock roll that demands zero speed and all the concentration. This isn't the bike for those do-or-die moves, of course, but I'm not here to tell you how to live your life or that the SST doesn't love to roll the dice every now and then.

When you do roll the dice on a short-travel bike, you might sometimes find that the geometry lets you get into situations that the suspension can't get you out of. Or vice versa. That's not the case with the SST, however, with the opposite end of the stroke being nearly as impressive. There's more than enough ramp-up with the RockShox air shock that my test bike arrived with, and there were times when it felt like I had an extra 10 or 15mm of help, especially on fast sections of trail with big compressions and holes when you're just trying to hang on for dear life. Reeb has done a hell of a lot with just 120mm of travel.




There's plenty of life to the SST as well, as you'd expect given that it's on the shorter side of the travel spectrum. Apply all the usual cliches here about it being playful and all that, but I think a big factor is actually how sure-footed the bike is; that stability gives you the trust to do those side hits and useless but fun moves, much like how a long, slack enduro bike can also be surprisingly playful for the same reasons. If you're confident on a bike, you'll relax and have more fun.

On the handling front, Reeb could have easily made the SST a too-slack, too-sloppy short-travel bike that's fun in a few places and a burden in most... But that's not what they did. Instead, the SST feels more middle-of-the-road; it has the stability and poise to not feel too on-edge when the trail gets really steep and sketchy but doesn't mind tame, meandering descents either. The first compliment comes from that classic in-the-bike positioning that most 120mm-travel rigs don't provide, as well as the 140mm-travel Pike that's an ideal match for the SST. Far from feeling unbalanced, the 140mm fork suits the SST's intentions and I don't think I'd want more or less travel up front.

If I had to look for some criticisms, which is exactly what we're supposed to be doing here, there are faster, more enjoyable bikes if your rides involve a ton of smooth, rolling terrain rather than sustained descents. Yes, the SST is a decent all-around machine everywhere, but it's far better suited to rougher trails and longer downhills where the bike's active suspension and forgiving nature work for your benefit.





How Does It Compare?

A few short-travel bikes I've spent a bunch of time on recently were the Fourstroke LT from BMC, Allied's very impressive BC40, and the new aluminum Norco Fluid. Those three span a pretty wide range of intended use, with the 130mm Fluid and 120mm Allied both being more in line with the SST than the racier and much less forgiving BMC. Obviously, with low weight and carbon fiber in the recipe, Allied is taking a very different approach than Reeb, but there are some interesting similarities on the trail regardless of frame material and intentions.

If you're looking to do some racing, it's going to be the BC40 for sure and that's not a surprise at all. Likewise, if you're more into covering ground quickly - the BC40 is a rocketship - but either bike could also be your short-travel trail bike that's ready for more. While the ingredients couldn't be more different, the two bikes handle similarly on the trail; both are remarkably planted through any and all corners, and both instill more confidence than you might expect. They also share some rear-suspension attributes, although the BC40 feels sportier and more rewarding on the gas.

As for Norco's Fluid, it has a bit more rear-wheel-travel and is aluminum rather than steel, but it has a similar personality in that both it and the SST are solid, ready-for-anything trail rigs. Obviously, there's a pretty wide price delta between these three bikes but, that aside, I'd recommend the Reeb for anyone who appreciates something different, the Norco if you want the most bike-for-your-buck, and the Allied if you're a closet cross-country dork who wants more bike but doesn't want to go up the climbers any slower.

Technical Report

RockShox Pike Ultimate Fork: The 140mm-travel Pike just plain works. It was super smooth right out of the box and required precisely zero attention once I had it set-up to my liking, which required about one minute of my time. If you ask me, many brands are putting too much fork on their trail bikes and that would be a surefire way to ruin this sweet handling package.

TRP Trail EVO Brakes: TRP has come on strong over the last few years and it's the same story with these stoppers. I'm not a huge guy, but they offer loads of power and, just as importantly, great modulation and control through the huge lever blades. There were also completely quiet, but I would like the reach adjustment to let them sit a bit closer to the grips for smaller hands.


SRAM X01 AXS Drivetrain: We've seen some of SRAM's clutches act a little softer than we'd like, but that's not the case with the derailleur on the SST. It worked well, shifted perfectly, and the wireless set-up really suits the SST's clean lines.

Nit-Picky: There are a couple of nit-picky things to note about the frame, including the lack of protection. I don't expect the barn-built SST to come with co-molded rubber padding as some high-end carbon frames do, but it should have something better than the thin black sticker that's currently peeling off the chainstay. Thankfully, this one is pretty easy to solve with an off-the-shelf solution or something homemade. Also, a large-sized bottle doesn't fit well inside the medium-sized frame without it constantly banging on the underside of the toptube because there's not much clearance. A standard bottle squeezes in but, for a bike that's likely to see all sorts of epic rides, it's worth mentioning that is the only bottle location.

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Pinkbike's Take

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Reviews and Tech Reviews Trail Bikes Reeb Reeb Sst