2023 Giant Reign Review | A Better Enduro Bike In Every Way
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- Check out the full review here: flowmountainbike.com/tests/gi...
Completely overhauled for 2023, the new Giant Reign is no doubt the most forward-thinking iteration yet. Featuring a new frame with internal storage, adjustable geometry and mullet compatibility, the Reign has received a lift in travel to better suit the demands of modern enduro racing.
How does it ride? We’ve been testing out the new Giant Reign over the past few weeks to see whether it’s as good as it looks!
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Giant Reign Review Contents
0:00 - Intro
0:21 - Giant Reign Overview
1:04 - Giant Reign Price & Spec
1:52 - Giant Reign Weight
2:10 - Strengths
3:34 - Flip Chip
4:14 - Downsides
5:14 - Sizing, Suspension Setup & More
5:27 - Flow's Verdict
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Love the review guys. Beautiful aussie scenery.
Thanks very much mate, glad to hear you're enjoying the reviews! [Wil]
Impeccable timing, works well in Maydena I hear 😊
Looks awesome!
Will you do a review on the New SX?
ayoo! I know it's a bit late, Do you know if the giant reign 1 has a more progressive suspension set up than lets say a norco? around 23%?
Awesome bike 🤘🤘🤘
I’m getting one for hardcore riding
Reminds me of the custom enduro bike that Pinkbike had built😂😂
it just won the first round of the enduro world series so it cant be to bad haha
Luke would win on a kmart bike
Bikes don’t win races, riders do
@@tylercrosbie not 100% true. Jesse Melamed (the champ) switched teams and a new bike this year and didn't even make it on the top 10 this first round
Bikes 100% have everything to do with winning but more so suspension. You can’t win at that level on an average bike without the correct geo and chassi feel required. Yes riders play a part, prefect exam was Jack Moir last year
Not true at all, it’s a combination but bike has a massive effect. Chassi, suspension and rider are all just as important
hi im 180 cm but short legs and long torso, do you think M is really too short ? (reach at 460 ...)
just a quick correction. At least in a size large the new reign has a bit of a shorter reach. I ride a 21 Reign 29 and my bike has a 488 reach. In the low position the new one has a 476 reach
thank god.
Have you test the Reign on Mullet?
Not yet unfortunately - our Reign test bike was whisked back to Giant shortly after we finished this video! Would be awesome to try it out as a mullet though, hopefully we can get our hands on another bike in the near future. [Wil]
although i love my 2021 reign, i wish this travel and frame update came earlier
you can actually increase the travel of your reign to 157mm by increasing the stroke of your rear shock to 65mm. I did that to my reign and now it feels way too good
@@sendyboiii7 what size frame do you have? I heard that only works on large & xl sizes bc the linkage may hit the seat tube
Hey mate, don’t be disappointed with the 21 reign. It really doesn’t ride too different. That said, I mullet my 21 reign with a custom length shock and longer stroke and modified my rear end to be longer than the new reign. They are identical feeling back to back riding
Hey guys. I appreciate what you do but why do you always review the top spec model? And not the more budget friendly models? Most of us don’t have $8-9k to spend on a bike.
I like very much my 2018 reign plus I think it gets old very well. I go uphill very good and downhill it goes very good too, I feel new enduro bikes are more focus on bike parks and not actually in endurance which for me its not good. Thats why now if i want to go for a new bike I would rather go whith a stumpjumper or a habit, a more trail capable bike. Not a bike park focus bike !!!! What you all think ????
What do you like better than reign or the polygon Colossus n9
Imagine commenting on a bike saying the front end pushes when you’re riding a bike that’s likly too long for the testers and then rolling down mildly steep trails. Maybe size the bike accordingly and it won’t push the front.
I think 193cm tall 'Towering Trev' would disagree with you Stu 😂
9k for slx brakes and GX drivetrain 🤯
the Reign 2 is a better value .. agree with you 100%
@@marcstolk6682 you'd probably get a fairly well spec'ed Santa Cruz for that
Not quite - a Santa Cruz Megatower frame & shock currently sells for $6,499 AUD. Yep, just for the frame and shock. Now THAT is mind-blowing! [Wil]
@@FlowMountainBikeCZcams megatower 2 for $10.5k ♟️
@@willd2156 mega tower CC with GX is a $13000 bike.
With under 15 Kg in size Large its just impressive. Imagine the weight if u would add lighter cranks und Cassette, smaller rotors instead of 220, 650b rear wheel and the float x instead of x2. Yes this would be my build with 160 up front on the 38.
Best reviews, no jokin
And then you have a $12k giant. That would be foolish
@@willd2156 I love the fact people "look down" on giant and trek etc
Then go out and buy anther brand that is semi botique or expensive for no reason and performs worse.
@@MrSupermugenwhat most people don't know is giant builds the frames for most bike companies like specialized bikes are frames are made by giant
@@rangerbuckley9174 Specialized are made by Merida.
How many times did it crack during testing?
No cracks, despite Towering Trev inflicting some serious abuse on that Reign! [Wil]
why? Its not a yeti.
@@MrSupermugen Yeti doesn't have a monopoly on cracking! haha
Raced and rode (hard) a carbon reign for 5 years, no cracks yet.
@@trentvlak I've owned two yeti's, the sb150, cracked 3 frames then the new version came out and i ended up with that frame, Lasted 2 months, cracked in a similar spot....
Yeti's are nice bikes but their quality has always left something to be desired.
My friend put this bike together for his son and before I knew it he was done czcams.com/users/postUgkxHL1v1R3NE5x4KiYfyt8dnQmyNYz7qi5L When the son came to put it together he was surprised to see it was already done. All he had to do was take the bike to get air and be on his way. My friend did not have any major problems putting this bike together; small issue was putting one of the brakes on straight; however when the son got home he was able to fix it. The bike rides well gears move correctly; good bike for the price. Wrote review after the son took the bike. Sorry.
Great bike but Giant is losing the plot in model speccing. I suppose they were never the best at this but only having the Reign 2 and the Pro 1 models to choose from... Or buying an incredibly niche build of the SX model or selling your house to get the Pro 0... Yuck
So you're forced to go Trance trail bikes to get better value propositions. And you don't even really have options for XC and DH now. The only credit I can give them, if any, is keeping dual 27.5 bikes in the Trance line up. But outside of that they are falling into the 'bog standard builds' trap of other large brands but without as many options per price range.
And I say that as someone who personally likes the 2 and SX model, but they're really dropping the middle class with this bike and trying to convince people that the Pro 1 model is more or less the middle class bike. But no... A ~7000usd bike is not 'middle class'. I mean for the SX pricing you're getting a damn Fox 40. That's great but who the hell wants that build for their local trails. Looks like people will be going the boutique brand method of buying the Giant Reign 2 and then upgrading as they see fit, all for a tasty upcharge on individual aftermarket parts. Weeeee :)
I mean the middle class is slowly going away and it's not with just bikes (peep at the house market)
@@DavidFoundCo Yup. And by going away we of course mean actively being killed by the financial elite and their less wealthy but powerful political allies... What a worrrld
While ever they keep fitting pressfit BB, then it's a nah from me. I've had my fair share of Giant pressfit BB issues.
as an engineer once told me "made properly, Pressfit bearings - when correctly made are alot better than any threaded bearing"
The press fit bearings are fine, Its often poor install or poor frame alignment(holes) often alloy frames are much better for PF due to being able to be machined.
I haven't had issues with PF BB on two previous bikes. However I've just had my Canyon frame warrantied after the threaded shell broke loose from the carbon frame.
Perhaps it's a canyon thing but I'm of the opinion carbon frames should be PF and aluminum should be threaded.
@@jamlee344 yeah canyon had a huge batch problem with the spectral & torque.
@@MrSupermugen
My bike is the new Strive which did the same thing. My mate had his Strive do the same thing also.
Canyon replaced both so can't complain about the warranty. Just hope it doesn't keep happening.
@@jamlee344 Oh maybe strive aswell then, Im not part of the strive group, only spectral and torque.
My 2022 mullet frame had 5 BB failures.
its the bike they should have built last time, was quite disapointed with my one. Wont be buying another
well priced💀
Looks very similar to the trek slash
almost first
nobody cares.....
@@MrSupermugen you did, that’s why you replied
bro, your fork is way to soft in this video.
looks like it lacks tokens, Ride height looks pretty good.
I have second hand embarrassment when I listen to some flow reviews. To be clear, the new reign has one of the most planted front ends over equivalent enduro bikes. If you are pushing the front end on a reign you don’t know how to set up a bike or riding a bike that’s too big for the application.
No need to be embarrassed Stuart!
It's possible you may missed the point that Trev and Jono were making in their review about the application the Reign is suited for. We try and provide as well-rounded of an explanation of a bike's character as possible, discussing its pros and cons so that folks who are weighing it up against different bikes can get an idea if it'll suit their needs. After all, no bike is perfect at everything on every type of trail right?
The Reign's front-end is certainly well planted for the riding it's intended for, and the geometry was a great match for Trev's abilities and height of 193cm. It is very slack, especially in the Low geometry setting, so that means you need to ride it accordingly on flatter gradients. That's fine if you have the skills and concentration to do so, but not everyone does. While it might not be relevant to you personally, there will be riders out there who may be better off on the Trance X instead of the Reign, so hopefully those folks find the information useful.
Hope that helps explain Stuart, though just give us a hoy if you've got any other questions mate!
[Wil]
The message isn’t conveyed in the way your intending, clearly explaining that any bike at this length with a slack head angle would have the characteristic of pushing the front on flat trails would help people better understand.
Also explaining that if you want the big comfy travel on flatter trails, that sizing down would help balance the bike better and provide more front end traction.
We see it to often in Australia everyone oversizing these enduro bikes and not riding them on the steep terrain intended. Nothings more fun then sizing down to get a better balance on the less aggressive trails and allowing the bike to come alive.
That's a great point about downsizing Stuart! Certainly a good idea if you're looking for more agility from a shorter wheelbase.
In the case of the Reign test bike, the XL was the smallest size that Trev would ride. He's a big fella - he would max out the seatpost on a Large and would have struggled with the shorter reach and lower stack height. The XL ended up fitting really well, though ideally he'd have fitted a higher-rise bar to lift up the stack further.
As you've pointed out, we see a lot of folks over-sizing and over-biking these days, so it's always worth a good look at the geometry chart while considering your riding style and the terrain you spend the most of time on to choose the right bike for your needs.
Thanks for checking out the video and for the discussion Stuart!
[Wil]
@@StuartCali-vx7fq you have no idea about bikes.