I have a Reverbs post and no bleed kit. So do they always need bleeding on initial installation , presuming I shorten the hose.
Apparently not, you should be able to shorten without bleeding. But don't be too hasty with the bleeding - it took me a while of faffing with different routing before I was happy (not tried it in anger yet though!) and I needed the full length on a medium Hemlock.
I shortened mine and it Def needed bleeding. Cheapest bleed kit I found was from here;-
http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/products/bleed-kits/rockshox/reverb/complete-kit/
Have a look at this thread for hose routing ideas - mine is now similar to Legend's.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/another-reverb-question
You should be able to shorten the hose without the to bleed afterwards, just take your time. Mine was a doddle.