Revo Ike - SHS

 

 

Abu Garcia

Revo Ike

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lower half of the gearbox trim has Ike's motto “NEVER GIVE UP” in large capitals, no doubt to urge the anglers using his reel to keep trying! Printed on the other side of the star drag skirt has the line retrieval rate of 83cm or 33 inches per turn. The retrieve amount of line is based on line being filled to spool's brim. So in real practise, the diameter of line on the spool is below the spool's brim, therefore the actual line retrieved per turn would be less. This is the REV04 IKE-SHS version which has the 8.0:1 gear ratio. There is also a lower gear ratio 6.6:1 model.

The EVA handle grips are round and flared at the ends. They are longer than the standard flat EVA grips that come with the other Revo Gen 4 reels. I find that the extra length allows for the third middle finger to apply extra support and pressure when more power or a secure grip on the knob is needed during speed or heavy cranking.

The palming side-plate that houses the dial clicks very positively when adjusting the centrifugal braking force required. This generation of Revo reels have the maximum braking applied when the knob is dialled clockwise. Whereas the previous generation reels was in the opposite direction, something to be aware of. The dial when turned clockwise to the 2 o'clock position reaches the “MAX” stop in tiny white lettering.

The Revo Ike weighs in at 214.8 grams. It is not a lightweight reel for finesse fishing, but feels solid. Part of this weight is from the long knobbed handle which is 12 grams heavier than a same 90mm carbon fibre handle with shorter standard flat grips.

The spool weighs 16.9 grams. Like the weight of the reel, it is no lightweight. This is a reel optimally designed for casting medium weight and above lures. It can cast finesse lures, but would be most comfortable casting lures around 6 grams and above. I did test cast a 2 gram lure and had no problems casting it.

 

 The drag system is very nice. Abu Garcia calls it their Power Stack Carbon Matrix Drag System. If you look carefully you can see it differs from the typical baitcaster drag system. 

 

 

 

 

 

 The main gear is large, and I am glad to see the drag washers utilise the maximum diameter permissible as large diameter drag washers have more torque or moment arm pressure which results in higher drag settings. As far as I know, currently Abu Garcia is the only manufacturer to use this keyed carbon drag washers for the baitcaster drag stack that they call the Power Stack.

 

 

 

 

The new Generation 4 Revo baitcasters have a new spool disengaging design called DuraClutch. I find it has a much more positive in feel than the previous design when pressing down the thumb-bar and turning the handle to engage the gears, feels very nice.

 

 

 

 The Revo Ike is an all round reel, able to cast and retrieve a wide variety of lures types and weights. The extended length of the round handle reminds me of the slightly longer Revo Black 9 handle, giving a little more grip for a firmer grasp when speed or power cranking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abu Garcia Revo Ike - SHS first impressions review

 

by Christopher S.G. Tan

The new Revo Ike reel is here! Who is Ike? Well on Wikipedia it says his name is Michael Iaconelli and is known by his nickname “Ike”. He's a very famous professional bass fisherman and TV personality from USA with a string of tournament wins.

He worked with the designers and engineers at Abu Garcia to create this Revo baitcast reel for anglers.

When I saw this reel on the internet I was calling this “the purple reel”. Then during a fishing trip when I saw it in person it looked green! Ike calls it a “flip flop” paint scheme, because it changes colours with the change of lighting and direction. I have seen it in purple, blue and green hues! This is certainly a reel with a bling, bling paint job!

There is no uncertainty who had design input for this reel. You have the “Revo Ike” with the fish head logo emblazoned on the top right of the reel. Then you have “Mike Iaconelli” in cursive font on the upper circumference of the gearbox trim. On the skirt of the star drag, the gear ratio of 8.0:1 is printed clearly.

The reel handle uses carbon fibre, a favourite of many anglers. The reel handle is 90mm in length which is my preferred handle length for all round use; either speed or power cranking as the arc of travel is not too small and there is enough leverage to deliver the power I need when cranking heavy drag lures or fighting a fish.

The rear edge of the palm side-plate has a cam lock lever to open the side-plate.

Moving the lever to the open position allows the palm side-plate to pop open effortlessly. The lever moves smoothly and easily.

The Revo Ike has the “Gull Wing” side-plate design which is connected to the main reel frame. The side-plate swivels away allowing spool removal and changes to the centrifugal brake activation. This is of great benefit. I no longer have to carefully make sure the side-plate is not accidentally dropped into the watery depths when I need to open it while fishing.

The Revo Ike has the new IVCB-6L braking system which is an advancement over the original IVCB brake system which first came out in the classic MGX about 7 years ago. The first generation IVCB flying arm system came with four flying-arm centrifugal brakes and they were all permanently active. If you needed to deactivate one, you would have to physically remove the whole centrifugal flying-arm. To reactivate it, you would have to re-insert it into the spool housing, with tweezers! Not something that is easily done in the field. This new IVCB-6L braking system has solved that issue.

When the centrifugal flying arm brake is activated, it is free to swing away from the spool when it spins due to centrifugal force. I cleaned off the thin layer of grease or heavy oil on the centrifugal friction plate as I prefer to have the casting consistency of a clean plate rather than having one coated with lubricant that will need changes to the cast control settings as the lube is worn away. I found when I set the friction knob adjacent to the star drag to just let the 7 gram crankbait drop slowly, I needed all six centrifugal brakes activated with the dial turned up to 60% of max, or thereabouts for optimal cast control.

The flying arm brake is deactivated by locking the fine tab opposite the brake block below the housing. Push the brake block till the fine tab clicks beneath the housing. To unlock or activate a brake, use a finger nail and lift up brake till the fine tab releases from the housing.
The first generation IVCB design had a bit of brake noise during the cast, which is inherent to this design. Whereas this new system has a very quiet hum. I speculate that the tab and housing design possibly reduces the high frequency chatter of the brake block.

I currently use it with 5 brakes activated and the dial on the side-plate set somewhere in the middle of min and max. I cast anything from crankbaits to spinnerbaits on this setting. The dial is adjusted accordingly, normally to a higher braking setting if casting into wind or higher drag lures.

This design of drag stack is normally only found on offshore heavy duty overhead and spin reels. The keyed carbon washers enable both sides of the carbon and metal washers to come into play. This extends the durability of the drag. It also increases the maximum drag pressure by 30-40% compared to similar sized baitcasters using the typical drag stack design. This is based on my own measurements of drags, not the stated max drag on the boxes. I only make my max drag measurements after I have tuned the drags to be smooth with no jerkiness at max settings.

I only have one criticism of this reel. I do not like the brown phenolic resin washer between the main gear and the ratchet disc. At high drag settings it often will cause the drag to become jerky. In the latest Abu Toro reels they use a carbon washer instead, which is the best choice for a washer here. In my own reels I will change out the brown phenolic resin washer to a carbon or DIY teflon washer to prevent the drag getting jerky at high drag settings.

The retrieve gearing of 8.0:1 ratio Ike SHS has more than enough power to crank big bibbed deep divers like the Halco Sorcerer 90 + 4m. The reel comfortably casts the 8 gram Halco Sorcerer 68. Casts with a 2 gram Yozuri Snap-Bean was also possible. .

Casting is nice and the distance it achieves overall is great. It equals or surpasses other comparable reels. This was obvious when there were three of us casting the same lures and this reel was just reaching an extra metre or two. Though the gear ratio is a high 8.0:1 for the SHS model, we found that it was powerful and we were able to quickly haul the fish out and away from the structure.

An awesome toman (giant snakehead) which took a Bassman Spinnerbait was brought under control with the Revo Ike! The reel's paint job looks green under this lighting.
The Power Stack Carbon Matrix Drag System literally screamed, as the toman ran hard and fast seven times even though it was a heavily set drag. The drag performed flawlessly for the toman to be successfully landed and then released.

I normally set the Ike's drag between 4-9lbs of drag. I go high drag in snaggy areas, lower drag in open waters. The reel was spooled up with 15lb Tuff-line braid and a 30lb Berkley Prospec fluorocarbon leader.