The XB95

[mo65]

Does the XB65 also have a Brass Main Gear?

   No, the XB65 had a zinc main. It and the XRL40 did have a brass pinion though.

[sandbar]

Thank You for your help.
Just getting back in after a couple months of outage work.
Another one next month.
Reels are waiting.
Where is Festus ?

[Gfish]

If you looked on da Bay or another old tackle selling site, is there a way to tell the earlier XB's from the one's with the zinc main gears?
I re-read this'n and liked everything about this reel, especially that main shaft with the big fat spool bushing, but yeah, to be an A, rear shaft support would be needed, IMO. Great write-up and research Mo. Where do you find all these gems?
Of alla big company reels out there, modern Zebco's do "seem" to be more "plasticky" than others. Look what they did to the 33...

[mo65]

If you looked on da Bay or another old tackle selling site, is there a way to tell the earlier XB's from the one's with the zinc main gears?
I re-read this'n and liked everything about this reel, especially that main shaft with the big fat spool bushing, but yeah, to be an A, rear shaft support would be needed, IMO.

   As I remember G...you can't tell a '72 model from a '77...so it's a roll of the dice on getting the brass main. They may have made more from brass than zinc, as all three models I bought had the color. Ebay used to be a great place to find old fishing reels...now it's a great place to overspend on "vintage collectables".
   Also, that shaft is supported directly behind the pinion, so no worries there.

[karpkg]

Let's talk again about those reels.
This is explanation from ZEBCO's catalogue 1977:
Following the Cardinal reels are four pages of Zebco's XB, XBL, XR and XRL series of spinning reels. According to Braun, these spinning reels were made by the Japanese company Ryobi. Nowadays Ryobi is known primarily for its power tools, and has abandoned their American fishing division, but back in the day they produced a strong line of spinning, baitcast, spincast and fly fishing reels. Ryobi sold its tackle division to Japanese tackle conglomerate Joshuya in 2000. You can still get Ryobi reels off of Amazon. Anyway, back to the catalog. We begin with three XB ball bearing, heavy and light saltwater reels that somewhat resemble the black Mitchell reels of the time. The next page shows the three XBL freshwater series reels, featuring handles that could be changed to the left or right side to accommodate left or right hand dominant anglers.

Dick Braun told me an interesting story of Zebco's contract with Ryobi. In 1972-'73, Ryobi signed an agreement with Zebco to manufacture one-million spinning reels for the company. These reels are the XB, XBL, XR and XRL series. According to Braun, Ryobi was so appreciative of their relationship and the contract with Zebco, that after they completed manufacture of the million reels, they made an additional four 45XBL reels plated in gold, and gifted them to Zebco. Those four gold-plated reels eventually left Zebco, and Dick ended up acquiring three of them, while a fellow collector acquired the fourth.

The final two pages of spinning reels showcase the handsome bronze and green XR and XRL series. These were all freshwater reels save for the 80XRL, which was considered a medium saltwater reel.

Actually, those reels were sold in US as ZEBCO, in other parts of world that was RYOBI. His most famous series of reels was PROFESIONAL, dark gray, with brass drive train and slow spool oscilating. Identical model to XB75 was 177. Those were fantastic reels, so smooth in working, it seems that handle is faster than your hand when retriving. It's not wonder that you can't find those reel on EBay, nobody wants to sold them (as one my friend sad: you can buy it only when owner has passed away). I have five 177 (XB75) and two 155 (XB65) and couple of spare spools. Good thing is that spools of those models are the same, fully compatible, but comparing those two models, 155 (XB65) is just common middle class reel of that time, 177 (XB75) is high class.