[Closed] Anyone ride the 27.5 Giant Reign?

Yes, I've been on one sine the back end of last year.

For me, it's a great blend of what I wanted in a bike. It's long, very low & slack.

My two minor niggles are the PF BB, but that's maybe my own prejudice, as it's been issue free & the pivot hardware looks like a bit of an afterthought.

It manages to combine being bonkers fast and still playful and fun to ride, which in my experience is quite a rare mix.

I appreciate the geometry is pretty full on, so it may not be for everyone - but I race and plan to continue to do so on it next year so it's a compromise I'm prepared to make. It's still reasonably good fun on flatter stuff anyway, as it's very light for what it is.

Oh, and mine is a particularly vile shade of green and yellow, but I can live with that.

I have the Reign 2 (alloy), with a couple of mods: 1x10 with a OneUp 42t+30t, Renthal Carbon Fatbar Lites, a swap to Hans Dampf (High Rollers always try and kill me...), setup tubeless on the P-AM2 wheels.

Everything that Hob Nob has said is true: very long, low, slack - and in the Alps (Morzine etc.) it's like a semi-guided missile! (only semi-guided due to my incompetence) but is very forgiving and has lots of 'get out of jail free' built in.

Even the basic Reign 2 is 'race ready' out of the box - the Giant dropper, whilst only 100mm, hasn't gone wrong and is still smooth. The brakes are proper sized - 203/180, with decent Shimano stoppers, and the Pike and Debonair Monarch are the best suspension I have ever encountered.

Bought for Enduro racing, haven't done much this year due to recovering from an injury, but next year I'm planning more racing.

But... It's a big beast to pedal around and can be quite tiring getting it to shift along, and for my local, very flat trails and light trail centre use, I wanted something a little more 'playful', so I purchased an end of season Trance 27.5 3 in the sales, which compliments the Reign (but there is also a fair amount of crossover)

Overall, I love the Reign - but it *is* long!

Don't own one but have ridden one, thought it was a wonderful bit of kit. Rode it At Bringewood up the the hill and then down the d/h trails and did some of the trails that contour the hill on it and it filled a big talent gap! Can image on less testing trails it would feel like you were overbiked though, bedfordrd's got the right idea.

Yep, tested both a Reign and Trance back to back from Pedalon in Basingstoke prior to deciding which to buy....opted for the Trance.

Really really wanted the Reign because as others said, it is long low and slack...downhill its a beast and very much Enduro race ready out of the box....but i havent raced an Enduro in a couple of years now, i tend to do uplift days on my steel HT and really my next bike is going to take dual crown forks so....i had to be honest with myself and decide what i wanted from a FS.

Having a Reign and then building up a DH bike next year would overlap in too many areas for me, arguably some would say that having the Reign would negate the need for a DH rig (in the UK at least) and it would save me money by not wanting to buy a DH bike...perhaps and perhaps not, the steering from a dual crown fork and 20mm axle is noticeably different to single crown forks and Maxle type fixings and that is what i'm after for my next 'gravity' bike....similarly as slack as bikes like the Reign have now become (65 degree HA), downhill bikes have evolved too with most of the 2016 batch coming with 62-63 degree HA's....nothing stands still and the now cliched line of 'AM/trail/enduro bikes have DH geometry from 10 yrs ago' is wearing thin seeing as DH bikes have gone slacker still.

Anyway, i decided a FS for me had to be a better trail bike than anything else and thats why i went with the Trance, it is shorter, lighter and slightly more responsive to ride as a result....not as good downhill but thats what my DH bike will be for!....i put 160mm forks on the Trance giving it a HA of 66 degrees as per Giant's own SX version of the bike, its fine....really how much slacker than a 66 degree HA and 160mm of travel do you want on a trail bike?!...already seems like overkill when you think about it.

If you race get the Reign, it will also do Alps holidays well i should think....if you just ride in the UK and do more trail centre stuff get something else.

Have a look on eBay there's some real bargains on the 2015's.
They were even better last week but euro's picked up a bit, was very tempted but bought a strive instead.

Cheers chaps, generally its for riding the trails that are used in Enduro races in the Tweed Valley. My big concern is it being a pig in the tight stuff.

I barely ride on groomed trail centre trails these days, the closest I get is the inner DH trails.

Having a Reign and then building up a DH bike next year would overlap in too many areas for me, arguably some would say that having the Reign would negate the need for a DH rig (in the UK at least) and it would save me money by not wanting to buy a DH bike...perhaps and perhaps not, the steering from a dual crown fork and 20mm axle is noticeably different to single crown forks and Maxle type fixings and that is what i'm after for my next 'gravity' bike....similarly as slack as bikes like the Reign have now become (65 degree HA), downhill bikes have evolved too with most of the 2016 batch coming with 62-63 degree HA's....nothing stands still and the now cliched line of 'AM/trail/enduro bikes have DH geometry from 10 yrs ago' is wearing thin seeing as DH bikes have gone slacker still.

The reality of that in the UK though is an Enduro bike is plenty enough to ride and race DH on. I regularly race regional DH stuff, and unless your hitting Fort William and racing the sharp end of the BDS a DH bike can be a pig to race on,many that's before stuff got significantly slacker, lower and longer. DH bikes really need to be ridden at a high pace to make them work properly.

I would hazard a guess most people would be quicker on the smaller bike. I certainly am - I can podium on most local stuff on the Reign.

Anyway, that's a separate discussion. If you have the terrain, or want to race, the Reign is a great choice. It's not a barge in the tight stuff either IMO.

an incredibly good descender. will cope with full on dh tracks if you can. very low so i bashed pedals and taco a number of times. good grip on techy or loose climbs but very very slugish. like trying to pedal a tank to get it up to speed. needs steeps. personally i wouldnt buy one for the uk. but would buy one for here in whistler.

As mark rich said there are some great deals on the 2015 ones on ebay from a seller called jjbikes or something like it. Pay by credit card over the phone to the Giant store in france clearing them out. I got mine a few weeks ago and love it.
I got the green and yellow one with carbon frame,pikes, reverb, monarch plus and shimano build for £2330 delivered. delivery took 8 days from payment.
I raced the last Pearce dh on mine and have been riding it all around the peaks. It's the first time in years I've not needed a large frame to get enough reach and I love the way it rides, it carries speed much better than my Nukeproof Mega AM that I had before.
Just to counter the last comments I've had no trouble catching pedals etc and it climbs fine to me, not sluggish at all.

Ahh, interesting. So jjbikes are actually legit? I've always thought if it sounds too good to be true then it is.

So they're france based?

As above, don't own one, but have ridden one.

Very much a winch and plummet bike. If you like climbing, this isn't the bike for you. If you think climbing is a means to an end, then go have a look. As others have said, it's long. Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong. Very long! Look at one on the floor of your LBS, and it will be longer than every other bike in the rack. Apart from the other Reigns! Longer than slack, long 29ers! That translates in to great stability at speed, but not in to a good bike for climbing, IMHO.

Would I own one? Yes. Very much so, but only really as a trail centre/uplift bike. Not an everyday trail ride.

Sorry rickon yes they are legit. I was pretty sceptical when I first started looking and talking to them but they are a Giant store in france - I guess they aren't allowed to sell out of country officially and are using this as a way to move bikes. Email the guys and confirm what you want, then ring the store and pay by credit card and that's it.
Any other questions email me but I can vouch that my dealings with them were great.

If only I were allowed a new bike right now.

Becoming more and more fixated on these.

Lot of comments about it doesn't like climbing. Which I find a little odd, it's pretty much the same as any other 150/160mm bike.

They are never going to win an XC race, but they are by no means a bad climber.

I don't even have a lockout on my shock, as it doesn't really need it.

I wish this thread had popped up a bit sooner! I just bought a Reign 2 in the sale (a steal at £1760), but was really after the advanced version. Everyone out of stock in the UK. I'd seen jjbikes and even exchanged a few emails with them but decided it had to be a scam when they wouldn't tell me where they were based. I'll have to comfort myself with having saved £600 and still having a phenomenal bike.