Looking at reviews of nukeproof reactors, they don't pedal too well, what are they like in real people's experience?
reviewers are real people too 😀
I've had a short go on one, and I thought it was absolutely fine, just what you'd expect from a 'trail' oriented short/mid travel bike. Particularly if you get one with the excellent Float X (so much better than the old DPX) which has a cheater swwitch right between your legs for any long tarmac drags.
The only issue with the reactor is the terrible ratio of reach to seat tube length - it'll fit fine if you have giant gangly legs, T-Rex arms and dont mind a short dropper.
I’m interested in this too, I have a Reactor 290 on order currently. A few reviews note the bike rear shock “bobs” quite a bit when climbing, making it an inefficient climber. I concluded a fair bit of the inefficiency might just be the very heavy tyre set, I plan on swapping out the Maxis Agessi for lighter tyres. The XL is a bit on the heavy side (around 15.2kgs with pedals), not much can rally be lightened there bar the wheels & tyres.
Anyone else able to comment on this please.
I've only ridden a friends that's much to small for me but it pedals like most horst link bikes do, plenty of grip but will bob a lot if you're not smooth and have the shock open. Compression damping fixes that. She complains it's heavy and slow though, the frame feels solidly built and the wheel/tyre combo is hefty.
I have one in large and at 6ft I run a 210mm dropper with room to spare. Maybe I have long legs. Mines a carbon with 140 pikes built up at around 30lbs rather than some of the burlier builds they sell.
Pedalling is ok for the type of bike it is, ie descending focussed trail bike. It doesn't have the snap forward under power of a bike with more antisquat, the flip side of this is it feels great on fast chattery stuff. Traction on technical climbing is also good, but the effective seat angle is fairly slack (this maybe be better with less seatpost showing) and it likes to dip into its travel so you have to shift around a fair bit at times to keep the front planted.