Chromag Reazon
Wheel Size: 29’’
Suspension Travel:
- Frame: 135 mm
- Fork: 160 mm
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, M/L, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 64°
- Seat tube angle: 78°
- Reach: 485 mm (size M/L)
- Chainstay length: 438 mm
Frame Material: Steel front triangle; aluminum rear triangle
Price:
- Reazon Frame: $2,750 USD
- Complete Bikes: $5,300 to $7,300 USD
Blister’s Measured Weight (Reazon Eagle 90, size M/L): 36.73 lb / 16.66 kg
Test Locations: Washington, Utah, North Carolina, South Carolina
Reviewers:
- Xan Marshland: 5’10”, 160 lbs / 178 cm, 72.6 kg
- David Golay: 6’, 160 lbs / 183 cm, 72.6 kg
Test Duration: 2 months
Intro
Chromag’s journey to launching their first full-suspension bikes was a winding one — which we detailed with Chromag engineer, Joe Swann, back in Ep.184 of Bikes & Big Ideas — and now the family has grown a little bit. The new Reazon slots in between Chromag’s other two adult full-suspension models, the Darco and Lowdown, as a 135mm-travel All-Mountain bike. We’ll be getting a Reazon in for review before too long, but in the meantime, let’s check out what Chromag has cooked up:
The Frame
The Reazon frame draws inspiration from the Darco and Lowdown, which it joins in Chromag’s full-suspension lineup (along with the Minor Threat kids’ bike). The front triangle is steel, paired with an aluminum rear end, and the suspension features a Horst link layout with a vertically oriented shock to produce its 135 mm of rear wheel travel, which is meant to be paired with a 160mm-travel fork.
The kinematics are largely similar to those of the Darco, too. The Reazon’s overall leverage ratio is a little lower, but both feature similar overall progression (~29% for the Darco vs. ~31% for the Reazon), in a relatively straight line. Anti-squat starts at about 120% and falls off to 74% by bottom out, again in a nearly straight line, and the anti-rise curve is pretty flat, at around 75%.
There’s not a ton that stands out there as being particularly out of the ordinary, in a good way. If anything, the Reazon’s leverage curve is a little more progressive than average for a 135mm-travel bike, which we’d generally expect to help make it feel on the more planted, grippy end of the spectrum (and play well with both air and coil shocks, which Chromag specifically endorses).
The other frame details are delightfully no-nonsense. The bottom bracket shell is threaded and features chainguide mounts; the cable routing is fully external, apart from the derailleur housing going through the chainstay; there’s a bottle cage mount on the downtube and an accessory one under the top tube; and normal standards everywhere else (44/56 mm tapered headtube, 31.6 mm seatpost, 180 mm brake mount, etc.) There aren’t any geometry adjustments or other bits to mess with, either, though Chromag is working on an aftermarket rocker link to convert the Reazon to a mixed wheel setup.
Fit & Geometry
Chromag offers the Reazon in the same five sizes as the Darco and Lowdown — S, M, M/L, L, and XL — and at first glance, its geometry is extremely close to that of the Darco, in particular. But there are some important differences if you look closer.
The Reazon gets 64° headtube / 78° effective seat tube angles and 438 mm chainstays across the size range. The reach figures start at 445 mm on the small and grow by 20 mm per size, up to 525 mm on the XL; the stack comes in at 626 mm on the S and M, 635 mm on the M/L, and 644 mm on the L and XL. The bottom bracket drop is 35 mm.
That’s the same headtube and seat tube angle as the Darco, and the Reazon’s chainstays are just a few millimeters longer; the Reazon’s static bottom bracket is also slightly higher, but its extra suspension travel should roughly cancel that out at sag. The notable tweaks are to the reach and stack — the Reazon’s stack heights are appreciably higher, and the reach figures have been reined in slightly to match. The Darco’s (and to a lesser extent, the Lowdown’s) stack heights are pretty low by modern standards, and the Reazon’s numbers look like a nice update without going off the deep end.
The Builds
Chromag offers two builds on the Reazon and, per usual for them, they’re all-SRAM affairs. In fact, both get all the same parts outside of the drivetrain, where you can pick between an Eagle 90 Transmission and an X0 Transmission setup. Either way, you get SRAM Maven Silver brakes, RockShox Lyrik / Super Deluxe suspension in the Ultimate tier trim, and a Chromag finishing kit including their own wheels.
Reazon Eagle 90 ($5,300 USD):
- Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle 90 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver w/ 180 mm rotors
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate
- Wheels: Chromag Phase30 with R4 hubs
- Dropper Post: OneUp V3
Reazon X0 Transmission ($7,300 USD):
- Drivetrain: SRAM X0 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver w/ 180 mm rotors
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate
- Wheels: Chromag Phase30 with R4 hubs
- Dropper Post: OneUp V3
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) I really clicked with both the Darco and the Lowdown when I reviewed them, but they’re both notably aggressive, game-on descending bikes for their respective travel ranges. Chromag is talking up the versatility of the Reazon as a do-it-all All-Mountain bike — maybe more than they do with the shorter-travel Darco — so where does it land on that spectrum?
(2) How significant do the tweaks to the fit / body positioning of the Reazon feel compared to the Darco and Lowdown — both of which favor a relatively forward stance?
(3) Will Chromag’s full-suspension lineup continue to grow from here?
FULL REVIEW
We got along quite well with both of Chromag’s first two adult full-suspension bikes, the Darco and the Lowdown, when we reviewed them a while back. But the gap between them in Chromag’s lineup was large, with a do-it-all All-Mountain bike-shaped hole in the middle. That gap has been filled, at least on paper, by the Reazon. But how does it stack up? Here’s what we’ve found out.
Fit & Sizing
Xan Marshland (5’10”, 160 lb / 178 cm, 72.6 kg): The Reazon’s steep, straight(ish) seat tube won me over immediately, comfortably placing me in the center of the bike and reeling in its 485 mm reach. Plus, as someone who’s often on the border between Medium and Large frames, Chromag’s M/L size is an excellent idea. I suspect that many other 5’10”-ish riders will feel similarly.
And while I tend to be happiest on frames with a slightly shorter reach and slightly longer chainstays than the M/L Reazon (especially on more gravity-oriented bikes), our test bike’s combination of reach and rear center feels cohesive and particularly well-suited for riders who like to get over the front of the bike.
David Golay (6’, 160 lb / 183 cm, 72.6 kg): I’m a little taller than Xan, but also had an easy time getting comfortable on the M/L Reazon, and wasn’t particularly tempted to deviate from that sizing. (For what it’s worth, Chromag’s size chart puts Xan squarely in M/L territory, and me in the overlapping region between the M/L and Large.)
I probably could ride the Large Reazon just fine, but I quite liked the balance of the M/L and, particularly given that it’s a bike that works best with some weight over the front end, the more compact dimensions of the M/L made it a bit easier for me to load up the front wheel than I suspect it would be on the Large frame. Chromag’s sizing recommendations seem generally reasonable, but I wasn’t particularly tempted to size up to the Large.
Climbing
Xan: The Reazon feels notably traction-focused, especially for a bike of its travel. On technical climbs, it hides its weight well, feeling neutral under pedaling forces and conforming to every bump.
Largely as a result of its excellent pedaling position, I threaded the Reazon through loads of unfamiliar, awkward uphill sections from a neutral, relaxed stance. Especially when you consider the bike’s weight, long reach, and slack head tube, this is commendable.
On less engaging climbs, the bike’s heft and active suspension reveal themselves in a less positive light. As the trail gets steep, smooth, or both, the Reazon begins to feel less like a ~130 mm Trail bike and more like an Enduro bike. If you swapped both of the Reazon’s Double Down / MaxxGrip tires for a lighter, faster rolling setup, you could certainly make some gains in climbing efficiency, but realistically, some of these climbing traits are simply coming from its frame weight and suspension performance.
David: Agreed. The Reazon offers excellent traction under power and respectable, but not outstanding, pedaling efficiency. Given that those traits tend to conflict with each other to some extent, the balance that the Reazon strikes feels entirely reasonable, but it wouldn’t be my first recommendation for someone who specifically wants a really snappy-feeling, shorter-travel All-Mountain bike.
On chunkier climbs where grip is at a premium, the Reazon’s excellent traction under power makes it super easy to maintain momentum and does a lot to make up for its middle-of-the-road efficiency and not-super-low weight; on smoother, mellower climbs where that traction is less of an asset, the Reazon is a fine, if not especially inspired, climber.
The Reazon’s seat tube is relatively steep, and the pedaling position that results feels suitably upright for the bike’s intentions and the things it does (and doesn’t do) best, as we’ll get into in a minute. The fit is decidedly more “mini-Enduro” than it is “long-legged XC” and (spoiler alert), that suits the Reazon’s overall demeanor nicely.
As Xan already touched on, that combo makes the Reazon a notably good technical climber, at least for folks with the right preferences. Its combination of great traction, a fairly upright seated position, and reasonably nimble low-speed handling (particularly as compared to most bigger Enduro bikes) makes the Reazon especially adept at motoring up and over chunky sections of trail without needing a huge amount of rider input to loft the bike over stuff and manage its grip.
I might prefer something a little snappier pedaling for really big stair-step-y moves, where large dynamic weight shifts are an inevitable requirement. But for the sorts of climbs where you’re more concerned with maintaining traction and momentum over roots, smaller rocks, and the like — of which there are many in Chromag’s Whistler, BC back yard — the Reazon does especially well.
Descending
Xan: On the surface, the Reazon behaves like a well-rounded Trail bike. It’s quite lively and feels at home skipping over the tops of obstacles, rather than plowing through them. I especially appreciated the Reazon when speeds were high and natural takeoffs were ample.
Push the Reazon hard, though, and it offers a lot more descending confidence than you might expect given its modest rear travel figure.
Occasionally, I’d get off line and expect to suffer the consequences. But when sliding, correcting, or simply slamming into an unexpected obstacle, the long front end, slack head tube angle, and proportionally long-travel fork did an excellent job of keeping things under control.
As for the bike’s notable travel differential, the Reazon makes a good case for it in most, but not all, situations. Sometimes the 160mm fork would lure the bike into a big hit that felt hard for the rear end to manage, but this was rare and tended to occur on trails that I typically blast down on a high-pivot Enduro bike.
Like the Reazon’s siblings, the Darco and Lowdown, the fairly long front end favors a forward stance. Make an effort to press the front end into corners, and you’ll be rewarded with ample traction. Ride from a neutral position, and you may find the front end wandering a bit or resisting cornering inputs.
David: The Reazon is decidedly on the more descending-oriented end of the spectrum for a 135mm-travel bike, and compares more directly to a lot of ~150mm-travel All-Mountain ones than it does many ~130mm-travel Trail bikes. As you’d expect for its travel bracket, the Reazon is pretty lively and favors a relatively dynamic approach to super chunky terrain over just bulldozing its way through. But it’s also reasonably stable and feels impressively smooth over chattery bits of trail.
The Reazon still transmits some feedback about what it’s doing underneath you on mid-sized chatter, but the sharper, harsher bits of that feedback feel especially well muted — more of a dull thud than a sharp ping. It’s a nice balance of traits, particularly for a short-ish travel bike that’s meant to feel at home on relatively stout descents. You get a big dose of the direct connection to the trail and the responsive feel you expect from a ~130mm-travel bike, in a package that feels a bit less punishing than most when you push it into terrain typically reserved for a burlier, longer-travel bike.
There are sharper-handling, more responsive options, and there are bikes that feel more composed if you point them down something steep and just let them run, but the Reazon hits a compelling middle ground there, with a ride feel that stands apart from the sea of carbon fiber mid-travel All-Mountain bikes out there The Reazon is more engaging and energetic than most full-on Enduro bikes in mellower terrain, but less punishing and fatiguing than most bikes with similar rear travel figures if you want to charge on it.
Xan: The Reazon feels notably muted and damp. And especially at the beginning of the test, there were moments where it felt to me like the Reazon was moving in unfamiliar ways.
Particularly when pushing the Reazon into burlier terrain, there was a twisting sensation as the bike flexed and found grip through successive vertical and lateral hits while the bike pinballed through piles of rocks and roots.
Whether you appreciate this sensation is extremely subjective. You could certainly perceive this sensation as ‘imprecise’ relative to a carbon-framed Trail bike. All the same, you could also romantically compare this sensation to the independent front axles of a trophy truck articulating over a rough landscape.
My take? The Reazon seems to wiggle free of errors rather than punishing its pilot for them. And at least for long days on janky trails, this feels entirely worth it. In the brief instances noted above, the steel delivered some immediately noticeable compliance, but over the course of a big, technical ride, it left my hands feeling less fatigued than I would have expected.
David: The Reazon’s frame differs notably from most of its competitors in its overall ride feel, but I wouldn’t characterize it as being dramatically flexy or imprecise. It’s certainly not a notably stiff frame, but it’s not a noodle, either, and I think the occasional instance where I found its handling to feel a little vague had more to do with body positioning and geometry than frame flex.
While I think the Reazon’s larger-than-average front-to-rear travel discrepancy works pretty well overall, there were a few instances where I felt like the Reazon hung up more dramatically than expected when I mis-timed my setup for a big compression, particularly on a steeper section of trail. As we already touched on, the Reazon favors a somewhat forward stance to keep the front end weighted. Among other things, that helps it feel relatively lively and responsive when the trail isn’t super steep, but it also makes the Reazon a bit more demanding of maintaining appropriate body positioning than some other bikes that favor a more upright, centered stance, especially on steeper descents.
Most of the time, I found the Reazon to be quite intuitive on that front. But there were a few instances where I didn’t set up cleanly for a big compression, and started to pitch forward a little more than I’d planned for as the bike started to hang up slightly. In those moments, when I was already starting to do a pushup on the bar to hold myself up, the Reazon’s long-travel (relative to the rear end) fork felt prone to diving more than I expected it to, pulling me farther forward. It didn’t happen often, and only cropped up when I was (1) pushing the Reazon pretty hard on a steep, chunky trail and (2) made an initial mistake to set off the chain reaction.
Mostly, those moments served as an abrupt reminder that I wasn’t on a bigger, longer-travel bike (and the fact that the Reazon would, at times, lead me to forget that fact is a testament to its descending chops). And, again, I think the fact that the Reazon favors a relatively forward stance helps make it feel sharper handling and more nimble at lower speeds / in tighter spots than many other bikes that feel comparably composed as speeds pick up. I bring that handling quirk up mostly to highlight that the Reazon is a bike that is going to work best for folks who like to ride from a relatively forward stance; if you want to ride it more centered and upright, its sweet spot feels somewhat constricted. It’s a bike that wants you over the front end, pushing the front wheel into corners.
If that approach works for you, though, the Reazon’s notably good composure at speed relative to its lower speed handling, smooth, muted ride feel, and reasonably energetic, poppy suspension is a compelling combination.
The Build
David: We tested the Eagle 90 spec, the more affordable of the Reazon’s two builds. It’s a notably good value, and quite well-sorted. Offering top-tier RockShox suspension (a Lyrik Ultimate fork and Super Deluxe Ultimate shock) with a mid-range SRAM Eagle 90 Transmission group and Maven Silver brakes is a great bang-for-buck proposition, and the $5,300 US asking price is impressive.
I would love to see a longer dropper post than the 180 mm OneUp V3 that came on our M/L test bike (and ran a 210 mm version for most of my time on the Reazon), but that’s my only real quibble with the build (and I am admittedly at the tall end of the range for the M/L frame). I also love that Chromag specs Maxxis DoubleDown casing tires on both ends — beefier casings than we see even on many true Enduro bikes. The MaxxGrip rubber Minion DHR II tire is somewhat slow rolling and wears rather quickly, but I’m not mad about that choice either. If you want to make the Reazon a little snappier on the pedals, a MaxxTerra version of the DHR II rear tire helps, at the expense of a bit of grip.
The fit and finish on the Reazon frame are also tidy. The chainstay protection is effective, the brake hose is delightfully external (I complained about it going through the chainstay on both the Darco and Lowdown in those reviews), and the tight tire clearance of the Darco, in particular, has been greatly improved, too. All told, it’s a nice refinement of the Chromag full-suspension bike recipe.
Who’s It For?
Xan: The Reazon favors riders who like to get over the front and are willing to push the bike into corners to generate traction. And even if it doesn’t produce a distinctly sharp-handling, stereotypically ‘racy’ feel, it manages high speed, rough trails incredibly well.
Additionally, those who contend with lots of technical features on the way up and down will get the most out of the Reazon’s traction-focused intentions, and likely won’t spend any time fretting over its weight.
And of course, those who appreciate the durability, simplicity, and no-fuss philosophy of a metal bike with a proven suspension linkage should take a long look at the Reazon.
David: The Reazon is a very well-rounded All-Mountain bike for folks who prefer a somewhat forward stance on the bike, and want a bike that responds best to being ridden assertively, over taking a more passive approach and letting the bike run.
But if you take charge and push it a little bit, the Reazon offers well-above-average composure on burly descents for a 135mm-travel bike, plus a healthy dose of the lively, responsive feel typically associated with bikes in that travel bracket. The Eagle 90 build is also notably good value.
Bottom Line
Xan: I’ve long appreciated materials that are designed or selected specifically for their intended use. Instead of drooling over aerospace-grade carbon in our bikes, why can’t we get stoked on bicycle-grade steel?
The Reazon exhibits all of the properties that – at least on paper – we should want out of a vehicle designed to cover rough ground at high speeds. Furthermore, the Reazon’s unique construction is backed up by proven geometry and excellent suspension performance.
Though others have been beating the same drum, the Chromag Reazon, with its combination of solid construction, well-rounded suspension performance, and nicely-sorted geometry, makes a compelling case for bringing steel back to high-end All-Mountain bikes.
David: The Reazon makes a compelling case for steel as a frame material, but that’s only part of the story. It’s just a well-rounded take on an aggressive All-Mountain bike, for folks who want a notably smooth, muted ride feel and an extra dose of composure in burly terrain, while still being a lot more lively and versatile than a more full-on Enduro sled.
Deep Dive Comparisons
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Deep Dive: Chromag Reazon
We compare the Chromag Reazon to the Chromag Darco, Chromag Lowdown, Forbidden Druid V2, Knolly Fugitive 140, Propain Hugene 3, Trek Fuel EX Gen 7, Kona Process 153, Reeb Steezl, Transition Sentinel, and Starling Murmur.
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Chromag looks compelling…. Always loved the og steel frames like the samurai