Review: Reeb Steezl - US Made & Super Capable

The Steezl comes in two main suspension variants: air or coil, with a variety of brands and price points represented in that lineup. The other major differentiator in price is by drivetrain, with cable-actuated GX and wireless X0 Transmission kits available for both the coil and air builds. I've been testing an extra large frame with the X0 Transmission - RockShox Ultimate tier air suspension build.

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Frame Details

While the material selection and straight lines of the Steezl may look simplistic and traditional, the manufacturing methods are anything but. The front and rear triangles feature a host of cleverly machined and 3D-sintered metal components that make the fabrication of the frame more controlled and repeatable. There's a straight 44mm headtube, a straight and uninterrupted seattube, and fully-external cable routing with clamped guides.

There's room for a gigantic water bottle, and though the top tube lacks an accessory mount, I think that's the kind of thing you could easily request when ordering a frame from Reeb. In my eyes, that's one of the main upsides to metal bike construction, as details like that can be added ad hoc in the middle of a production run, without having to completely change a carbon layup schedule.


Thanks to the yoke-free rear end, tire clearance is very good, with more than enough room for a 2.6" rear on a 30mm rim. Reeb was able to achieve the stiffness they wanted in the rear end without the use of any external bracing by implementing a cleverly designed tri-lobe spindle connecting the two rocker links. They call this design CRT, or Cool Ranch Technology. Much like the tasty chip, this little triangle packs a punch bigger than its footprint.

All of these details, from the frame welding to the DMLS lasered parts, are made and assembled in the United States, which is a huge point of pride for the team at Reeb. No small feat, and a strong value add for people who want to reduce the shipping and labor footprint of their fancy toys.

If you decide to run the bike in a mixed-wheel configuration, you can do so by flipping the little two-position chip in the lower shock mount, with geometry and kinematics kept essentially the same.

Geometry & Sizing

The Steezl features a very well-sorted geo chart, with most of the numbers hitting what I think of as the right marks for a bike in this category. The 64° head angle and 77° seat are pretty typical of most all-mountain bikes now, and the tightly-spaced reach figures mean there should be one or two measures that suit anyone. The stack height on the XL is 641mm, which in tandem with the 25mm bottom bracket drop makes for a very roomy feeling bike, without all that space coming from an overly-long front end. In fact, the 500mm reach on the XL felt a bit shorter than I'd expected, likely due to that nice high stack.

As opposed to going with a different chainstay length for each of the 5 size options, Reeb opted to instead offer two different lengths that customers can choose from: 434mm or 444mm. In the stock configuration, the S, M, & L bikes come with the shorter option, with the XL and XXL sporting the longer rear end. That said, you can run any size bike with either stay length, so take your pick.

If there's no spot in that geometry chart that suits your fancy, then you can have the Steezl geometry modified to your exact liking with Reeb's semi-custom option. You can have a head angle anywhere between 62.5° and 65°, a fork between 150mm and 180mm of travel, reach between 430 and 530mm, and chainstays at either 434 or 444mm in length. Pricing for the custom geo add-on starts at $500, and all you have to do is fill out a form.


Suspension Design
The Steezl's 155mm of travel is delivered by a pleasantly simple Horst link layout driving a 205x62.5mm trunnion shock. You can run the bike with coil or air shocks, depending on terrain and preference. As a bit of a secret menu item, you can increase the rear wheel travel to 162mm by running a 65mm stroke shock. This will work a 29" wheel and the long chainstays, or a 27.5" wheel and either chainstay length.

The engineers at Reeb gave the Steezl a fairly neutral leverage curve, with a fairly linear feel to it. While I didn't try it with a coil shock, many Reeb employees and customers seem to be happy with that combo. I personally would stick with the air, as I like the adjustability and felt no lack of grip or small bump when sag was set correctly.

Many Whistler laps were spent on the bike with that beefier fork up front, as well as a few with a smaller 27.5" wheel in the back. From a variety of possible stock setups, to something I would probably run if it were my bike, I tried the gamut. The one option I didn't experiment with was the shorter chainstay length, mostly because the 444mm rear end is what comes stock on the XL, and it suited my preference.

Climbing

Thanks to a nice stack-to-reach balance and a fairly steep seat tube angle, things were immediately pretty comfortable for me on the Steezl. The longer rear center and upright geometry make you feel quite planted in the middle of the bike, with room to move and navigate over obstacles on climbs. For long grinds on gravel climbs, the seated position is ideal for my preferred fit, which is pretty upright and straight through the hips. Nothing ever felt too cramped or stretched, and I didn't have to compensate with any unusual components to get the fit right.

Suspension-wise, the green Reeb had a nice balance of grip and pep, with a slight bias towards conforming to the terrain rather than stiffening up while pedaling. This is a great boon to technical climbing capabilities, with solid grip delivered through the rear wheel, even while standing. The seated climbing feels pretty even-keel, without too much energy loss so long as you're pedaling evenly. Stomping on the pedals does yield some chassis movement, but nothing atypical.

The bike felt surprisingly light in the stock setup, which is partly due to the impressively weight-conscious frame, but probably had more to do with the light casing tires that came stock. They were quick to spin up and made trail riding feel zippier, though I ended up running heavier rubber to better suit the capabilities of the bike. I think you could really bias towards a lightweight build here, if that's your bag - I just happened to err in the other direction.

Having spent multiple very long days on the Steezl, I can confidently say it would be a great companion on long pedal-heavy missions, especially when there's good descending to warrant the climbs.

Descending

There's no one distinct element of the Steezl that defines the descending to me, it's just a nicely rounded package. An easy bike to feel comfortable on, and a good bike to push if you so desire. Fun, quiet, and super capable. This is the bike I brought with me to Crankworx Whistler this year, so it saw about two weeks of park laps and nasty pedal trails in addition to all the more typical riding around home. Skinny tubes and all, the Reeb held its own at the bike park, with one important caveat: I swapped the Lyrik for the Zeb pretty early into that stint, as it really felt better suited to the bike's intentions. Overall, my only criticism of the Steezl is that it does feel like a bike better suited to the biggest forks on the market, despite the original build kit it came with.

With a 170mm fork installed, the head angle is slightly slacker, the stack is a bit higher (though it never felt too low), and the suspension felt more balanced front to rear. If anything, this is a weirdly circuitous compliment to the rear end of the bike, which worked very well in a very wide variety of terrain, from slow picky tech to fast-as-you-can bike park bumps. Some part of the comfort in that latter terrain is possibly due to the steel chassis, but I think that ends up being more to do with the quiet sound of the bike than any sort of distinct flex or damping.

It's definitely not a super-stiff chassis, like some massive box section carbon and alloy bikes can be, but I'm hesitant to bang hard on the steel is real pulpit and say that the tubing is the only factor at play here. To test this out, I popped a very stiff set of carbon e-bike wheels on the bike and went for a back-to-back ride with the stock alloy hoops, and found that the rigid set really changed the character of the bike, giving it a slightly more unforgiving feel. All to say, I think the Steezl is a plenty stiff bike for hard riding, without being harsh or chattery on choppy sections of trail. Equal credit goes to the well-considered tubing spec, the smartly-chosen aluminum rear end, and of course the Cool Ranch Technology in the rocker link.


I spent some time with the Steezl as a mixed-wheel bike, which was a nice easy swap thanks to the simple shock mount flip chip. The bike felt a bit better jumping in the bike park, and had that additional maneuverability that tends to accompany the smaller rear wheel. I wouldn't say it's significantly better in either orientation, but for the most part I think the Steezl feels like it's meant to be a full-29 bike - you can just happily run a smaller wheel should you choose to. Because of the somewhat higher ride feel of the bike, some people might want more butt clearance for steep features; you can see me hovering above the danger zone in a few of the ride shots. I think I tend to crouch a bit more over a bike with a higher bottom bracket, in order to get my weight lower over the wheels.

The suspension feel is supportive enough for hard pumping and speed generation, without any weird drop-off that you get with more progressive bikes in this travel range. The grip is there when you want it, and the shock remains active even when the brakes are locked up. That latter attribute is something I've really come to look for in bikes that you'll be riding in steeper terrain, as it allows for better braking and control in rough sections where you're simply trying to dump some speed. Some people really prefer the deep and planted feel of a bike that squats a bit more when the brakes are on, but I like the lively, sometimes exciting sensation of a higher ride.

Along those lines, the bottom bracket drop isn't massive on the Steezl, so folks looking to be very in the bike might want to give that a thought. It's not as on-the-bike feeling as my SB160, but not nearly as low-slung feeling as other options out there. Again, this is a matter of preference, as I think the bike still feels very balanced and secure in tricky spots - it just rewards more active riding than pure passenger mode.

How does it compare?

Here we have two mountain bikes, with 29" wheels, 150ish millimeters of Horst link suspension, metal frames, modern geometry, and some adjustment baked in. They're similar and different, and I'd have a hard time choosing an all-out favorite. The geometry isn't always even between the two, thanks in part to the Stumpy's wide range of adjustability, but in the 63.5-64° realm things do feel fairly similar handling-wise. I think the suspension on the Steezl is more refined and well-rounded to my liking, with a slightly bigger feel to it than the Evo. Where it felt better for me with a Zeb/38, the Stumpjumper Evo is definitely more of a Lyrik/36 bike.

If adjustability is your main focus, then the very malleable Specialized is definitely the winner, though the Reeb isn't necessarily lacking. Thanks to the angle-adjust headsets that are readily available for the 44mm headtube, you can change things up pretty radically if you should so desire, plus you have the mixed wheel flip chip. Stumpy also has the internal frame storage bonus, which makes it awfully convenient to carry a bunch of baked beans or whatever you bring on rides.

In terms of livability and long term ownership, I think I'd give the Steezl my final point. The linkage alignment is great, which means bearings are going to be happier when you neglect them and keep smashing turns. Press-in headsets don't creak, where the slip-fit cups on my Stumpjumper always managed to make some exciting crackling noises after a few dusty rides. The overall frame quality on the Reeb just makes it feel like a high-end product, and though the price reflects that, I think it's worthwhile for the right person.

Which Model is the Best Value?

None of the build kits come cheap on the Steezl, but that's not terribly surprising given the price of a frameset. You pay more for a high-quality domestically manufactured handmade item, and if that speaks to you then it's worthwhile. I don't see the Reeb as purely a boutique item though, as it really does perform well.

I'd personally pick the GX mechanical and RockShox air build, as mechanical shifting is still the bee's knees, and the RockShox shock really meshed with this bike well. I might try to upgrade to a bigger fork out of the gate, but most all-mountain applications should be well served by the stock Lyrik. Otherwise, I think the build features a host of very well-chosen parts, with excellent brakes, the longest dropper you can get, decent wheels and tires, and a cockpit that is both high end and sensible. You can really climb the price ladder with the higher-end builds, but I'd wait to upgrade things down the line or simply build it from frame up. Unique bikes deserve unique parts.

Technical Report

Transmission X0 Drivetrain: The shifting performance was excellent as ever with the T-Type kit on the Steezl, but one annoying issue did arise with the derailleur. A few weeks into testing the clutch force got noticeably weaker, resulting in much more chain slap than before. It led to more noise on an otherwise quiet bike, and made the gear retention a little less consistent in rough descending. I talked to a SRAM representative about this, and they said that while the clutch tension was still "within the range of acceptable," it could simply be a warranty item and the clutch would be replaced.

Industry Nine Enduro S Wheels: These wheels have a very comfortable ride feel to them, especially compared to some of the stiffer carbon wheels I've been testing of late. That said, they proved to be some of the least durable wheels I've had on a bike recently, requiring truing and re-tensioning multiple times over the course of the test. They never fully gave up the ghost, but without quite a bit of attention they would not stand up to regular abuse. No fault of Reeb here either, just something to be aware of if you're spending time with a set of them.

TRP DH-R Brakes: These TRPs really impressed me. Consistent feel and a strong bite after they initially heated up, without any fade or pump-up over long descents. Though the bike came with a 180mm rear rotor, I never felt the need to size it up, as the stopping power was plenty for heinous steeps and lengthy runs.

Vittoria Mazza Trail Tires: I don't mind the Mazzas, but the Trail casing is too light for a bike this capable. They feel similar to Maxxis' EXO in terms of support, and I had a few tire burps even at pressures higher than I'd typically run. Probably fine with an insert, but also just nicer to have a tire with a bit more built-in support.

OneUp 240mm V2 Dropper: I was so happy to see this wonderfully long post on this bike. They give you all the clearance you can get, and thanks to the long straight seat tube it's no sweat to run full stroke on plenty of frame sizes. More of this!

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Pinkbike's Take

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Reviews and Tech Reviews Enduro Bikes Reeb Reeb Steezl