First Look – Reid Cycles – Zeus

By: Euan Pennington

Anyone who rides a fatbike will know there is huge interest out there surrounding these bikes, but in a strange twist of fate, not everyone has an unlimited bike budget. Apparently there are those who squander their hard earned on fripperies such as mortgages, rent, food and children, and to these people spending many thousands of fun tickets on carbon confections is out of the question. Odd, but apparently that’s the truth of it.

Enter Reid Cycles. Hailing from the Antipodes, with it’s head office in Melbourne, Reid also has dealers in Europe and the US, and offers budget, but not necessarily cheap bikes in a range of genres. I have encountered Reid bikes when working as a mechanic, and they surprised me as to how much they pack into the price, so when I discovered they were doing a fatty I immediately worked towards securing a test rig.

This “Zeus” is the top of their line of three fatbikes, coming in at a touch under a thousand of our Australian dollars. If you live in, say, the rest of the world, and use real money in your lives, then get on the currency calculator to find out how inexpensive this bike is. The Pacific Peso is performing so well at the moment you could probably buy the bike for a handful of shiny buttons and glass beads, Australian retailers would be good with that.

Currently the bike only comes in one size, but is available in more sizes overseas, and Australia will see more sizes early in the new year. It has a bold orange alloy frame, 2×10 gearing, hydraulic brakes, 80mm rims and Kenda tyres.  Gearing is all Deore, apart from an XT front derailleur not mentioned on the spec sheet, but defiantly present on the bike.  A bonus!  The headtube flares in an exciting fashion, but is actually 1 1/8 at both ends, don’t be tricked there, and the whole package weighs in at 16.5 of our kilograms, or 36 pounds in old money.

Many people as yet do not see, (as some of us do), fatbikes as a year round bike, but more of a niche tool, the N+1 bike, as it were, so are not likely to drop four large on the latest and greatest, but are still curious to get into market. Could this be an affordable entry into the world of fat? I will be living with this bike for the next couple of months to find out the truth of the matter, putting it though a range of riding conditions, although being summer in Oz I can promise its snow prowess will not be tested.

Stay tuned for the final verdict, or go to http://www.reidbikes.com/bikes/fat-bikes/zeus-fat-bike/ to find out more.