Aggressive and Relaxed All At The Same Time.
by Cheri Felix
Steel. That sounds like the opposite of what I want between my legs in a frame but it’s what happened. I met a nice guy in Fruita that happens to work for Oskar Blues and the next thing I knew I was on full time garage security alert. And that is how the Dikyelous came to stay for week.
I’m almost sure you know this but REEB is beer spelled backwards. I’m also fairly sure you know that REEB Cycles is a part of Oskar Blues. The bike shop is located in the CyclHops Bike CANtina in Longmont. You can check out bikes, have a taco and a beer. It’s like Disneyland but different; no lines and no churros. On second thought, maybe they do have churros. Back to the Dikyelous. Just in case you’re excited (impatient), I loved it. Pleasantly surprised. Like a first date where you don’t spend a lot of time reading the bio or looking at his profile picture but you are pleasantly surprised and glad you stayed until the check came. Steel? What? I ride a 21 pound carbon bike all over the front range. No one is more surprised than I am.
Okay, I’m not going to bike geek out on you for long because you can get all that from their website and the magic of REEB is that you can choose your build. Here are a few thoughts:
- Rode like a dream
- Hardtail
- Absorbed everything I threw at it
- Climbed as well as it descended
- Nimble and twitchy in all the right ways
- 29er
- Seat dropper post
- 1×11 (all I needed)
- Size small frame (I’m 5’3”)
- 29 x 2.40 tires
By the way, I have strong feelings about seat dropper posts. In case anyone still hasn’t joined the seat dropper train, choo choo- all board! The bike was aggressive and yet relaxed. I felt like I was riding a racy park bike that could climb well. I chose different lines because I could. The steel absorbed whatever I rolled over. It had all the travel I needed. It really was fun. As I look back over the pictures I feel a little bit nostalgic. The bikes are made here. Like in Longmont. I went to the weld shop and snapped a few photos of the cool guy with the weld torch and saw a frame that was in the powder coat stage of creation. On their website you can choose color, gearing, finish and decals of your choice.
Check out this cool video about bike shop is located in the CyclHops Bike CANtina in Longmont.
Take away: I’m not going to lie. I mostly notice guys riding steel bikes. Like guys with tattoos and they’re wearing chino shorts with a belt and possibly wearing a fanny pack. HIP people ride steel. I am the opposite of HIP. It never occurred to me that a steel bike would work for my style of riding. I was so wrong. These bikes are for all of us. In a perfect world, the Dikyelous would sit beside my other three bikes in the garage. REEB also makes fat bikes, cross and gravel bikes and road bikes. They’re up to so much good plus everyone I encountered was really nice. Yes, maybe they have to be nice to me because I wield the mighty pen but I think I know good people and bikes when I see them. And, when I ride them.
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