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Best light travel fully

wishihadmoney

Monkey
Dec 1, 2005
293
0
Boone, NC
...on a budget. lets say under 7 inches of travel and under 2500 dollars. what do you guys think is best. im thinking transition preston?
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,582
2,010
Seattle
Best for what, exactly? I love my Bottle Rocket. I use it as kind of a heavy duty AM rig, with some drops, lots of technical singletrack, and the odd DH day. Other bikes I considered- Giant Reign/ Reign X, Knolly Delerium (NOT cheap, which is why I didn't get one) Rocky Mtn. Slayer SXC, Preston. I went with the BR primarily because it had the geo I wanted, and also since it was beefy, wasn't too expensive, and had a great company backing it up. I'd have gotten the Knolly, but I didn't want to sell a kidney. :D
 

bent^biker

Turbo Monkey
Feb 22, 2006
1,958
0
pdx
reign X1 is pretty awesome and it is not overpriced like some (cough cough sxt cough cough)
 

bent^biker

Turbo Monkey
Feb 22, 2006
1,958
0
pdx
Reign X1.

What's your definition of freeride?
i second that. whats not freerideable about the reign? Giant may list it as an AM bike but talking with their rep, they intend it for going big and all day lift served riding.

you get what you pay for the sxt is a great bike and lifetime warranty
dealing in both at my shop it would seem there is not a whole lot of difference in quality and the warrenties are almost the same. a couple hundred of what you pay for with the sxt is that berrecloth rides one.
 

quickneonrt

Turbo Monkey
Apr 8, 2003
1,611
0
Staten Island NY
Did not know Giant has a lifetime warranty. I have not ridden the reign x so I can't really comment on it but the sxt is really nice if you get out and ride one. Handles rock gardens with ease, is stable in the air and not difficult to get in the air either. It is really stable and fast on single track and easy to throw around. It really is more like a mini dh bike. I bought the frame only and built it the way I wanted so yes it gets expensive but Specialized does spec their completes out nicely and for less than if you built it yourself. Bad part is they are sold out till aug when they start rolling out the 08's The fact that they were sold out awhile ago must mean something, they did a great job with the 07
 

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,030
1,747
Northern California
SX Trail is a great bike.

The difference from a geometry standpoint with Reign X is the chainstay length, the Reign has longer stays. Wheelbases are about the same, so front to center on the SXT is a bit longer. The Reign X has a lower BB height, and the weight is carried lower in the frame.

Suspension wise, the SXT squats more. Braking feels about the same. Reign X does a better job with square edge hits.

I almost bought an SXT (it was either that or a Demo 7), then I tried the Reign X1. I could have gone the EP route on a Specialized through my old shop, but wound up paying close to retail for the Giant because I liked it better.

You won't be disappointed with either, but I prefer the Reign X as my "mini dh bike".