A resident of Washington, D.C., Herb Reiber had a long career in motorcycling that began in the 1920s and spanned four decades. He worked as a factory service instructor, engine developer, hillclimb racer, tuner, and motorcycle dealer.
In the late 1920s, Reiber was employed by the Harley-Davidson Motor Company as an assistant service instructor and factory hillclimb racer. A pattern maker by trade, Reiber also worked in Harley-Davidson’s experimental racing department. He was part of a team that built a 45 ci (cubic inch), V-twin, twin-cam, overhead-valve engine that was campaigned during the 1928 hillclimb season. In 1929, Harley-Davidson developed a dedicated 45 ci racing motor that Reiber and other hillclimbers used with great success for several years.
Reiber and his wife, Babe, ran an Indian dealership in Washington, D.C., which grew to include the Triumph, Ariel and BSA marques. He continued to race at hillclimb events until well into the 1950s. In the fall of 1956, he took second place aboard an Indian machine in the 1,000cc Sportsman Hillclimb at the National Capital Motorcycle Club event in Washington, D.C.
In the mid-1960s, Reiber was still involved in racing and was tuning Triumph-powered machines for flat track racers. Reiber died in 1977.
Reiber was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.