Giant Reign 3
Originally uploaded by jmdgolfman.
Finally sold the Bullit. It was a great bike and I had a blast on it for 3 years. But it was time for a better pedaling bike. Picked up this Reign 3 (used - but only 1 ride), which is the low end model, stripped it down to the frame, and built it back up with the best parts from the Bullit. Put on the following new parts: Marzocchi All Mountain 1, 6" fork, Avid Juicy 7 hydraulic disc brakes, XT Cranks, Azonic Double Wall Riser bar. It is an amazing bike. The Reign pedals so well, and climbs like a hardtail, yet opens up to a plush DH bomber on the descents. Still need to tweak a few things, like a shorter stem, as this bike is considerably longer than the Bullit, and shorten the handlebars a bit. They are currently 28" wide and I think that made the front end wander around just a bit too much on tight singletrack. Overall I'm totally stoked with it. With 6" of travel front and back, the bike is very balanced. Whereas the Bullit had 5" front and 7" rear, it was not ideally balanced. Oh yeah, and the best part is that it weigh's almost 5 pounds less than the Bullit.
