The Bike Geek

The folks from Atomic Bikes were gracious enough to lend me a 2005 Giant Reign 2 to test ride on one of our favorite local trails called the Fullerton Loop. What more can I ask more than to actually ride on the trails rather than on a parking lot? This Giant Reign was custom made and didn’t have the stock components. Here are some of the specs from this bike:

Front Fork: Manitou Flick
Rear Shock: Manitou Swinger 3-way with SPV.
XTR Rear Derailleur, and XT in the front, XT Cranks and XT shifters.
Race Face Double Cranks
Mavic CrossMax Rims
Hutchinson Scorpion Front Tires
WTB Velociraptors in the back
Hayes HFX-9 XC 6″ Rotor in the rear and 8″ in the front with Carbon Fiber Levers
Monkey Lite Aliminum Hi-rise bars
Azonic Stem

This bike is clearly set up for big riding, the first thing I noticed was how high the bottom bracket is. As I was getting used to the bike, we hit some sweet singletrack. The bike absorbed every bump on the trail, it felt kind of heavy though. As we hit some uphills, that’s where the bike’s weight and high travel showed. I really struggled on some of the uphills that I’m used to riding on my middle ring. But then came the downhills, FREAKING AWESOME DUDE!!! That’s what I told RL as we met at the bottom of the trail. The bike just bombed down the trails with ease.

I’m currently looking for an ‘All Mountain Bike’. A bike that can climb and that can descend with ease. Unfortunately this bike isn’t what I’m looking for. It is a great bike to go down fast, jump, go off 5 ft drop offs, but it doesn’t climb to my expectations.

I’ll like to thank the folks from Atomic Bikes for lending me this bike, now, can I borrow that Trance????