Street Ryderz is correct.
Reed will help your low end, but since it is usually paired with a larger carb and more fuel can often help peak HP as well. My simple piston port motor with no reed and basic mods does 53mph with no high dollar parts and is still super reliable. I still have room for further port work, reed, bigger carb, etc but I'm gonna just leave it as-is and maybe throw a triple tree on it eventually. Honestly 53mph is more than enough for a bike frame, even with disc brakes it is sketchy at that speeds due to bicycle forks and cheap thin tires. Compression is on the high side to help the low end without a reed, but still runs on pump gas, doesn't overheat, and with the sleeved jug and malossi circlips it will last thousands of miles.
Don't need a ton of money on high dollar parts for a solid build, just attention to detail and research.
As per the OP, yes - reeds can and do fail. They eventually split and start to flutter.