Issue #030, Review -

Giant Reign Advanced 0 Review

“Good things made even better” is the motto for the new Giant Reign Advanced 0. The old Giant Reign was very popular with racers thanks to its potent geometry. For the coming season Giant has made the main frame even longer and reworked the rear triangle. Has this made the bike even faster?

For an overview of the test fleet head to the main article: Let’s go Racing! – The 10 fastest enduro bikes in test

Giant Reign Advanced 0
Giant Reign Advanced 0 | 160/160 mm (front/rear) | 13.56 kg | € 6,999

The new Giant Reign Advanced 0 comes with top-of-the-line components as standard! At the rear of the carbon frame is a RockShox Super Deluxe Coil shock, which is mounted to a new carbon trunnion-mount linkage. For long uphills or fast sprints, the shock can be stiffened directly from the handlebar. At the front, Giant relies on a RockShox Lyrik RCT3 suspension fork with 160 mm of travel. Providing grip is a MAXXIS Shorty 2.5″ WT on the front and a High Roller II at the back. Both tires come mounted tubeless as standard – nice! Giant’s own dropper post performs reliably, but the remote lever seems outdated. Due to the low stack height (593 mm in size L), all testers installed two large spacers under the 40 mm stem.

Giant Reign Advanced 0

Even with a coil shock and an aluminium rear triangle, Giant have kept the Reign Advanced 0’s weight down to 13.56 kg (without pedals). In combination with the effective suspension adjustment on the handlebars, the bike is surprisingly efficient. If you ride predominantly long and steep climbs, it is advisable to push the saddle as far forward as possible in order to compensate for the slack seat tube angle (73°). On downhills, the greatest strength of the new Reign is its enormous stability. The rear suspension generates huge amounts of traction and stays glued to the ground. Paired with a 65° head angle and a reach of 473 mm (size L), the bike rides through rock gardens as if on rails.

Giant Reign Advanced 0 Giant Reign Advanced 0
Giant Reign Advanced 0
Helmet Troy Lee D3 | Goggle Oakley O-Frame | Shirt ION SEEK | Shorts ION SEEK Shorts| Shoes ION RASCAL

High speeds are its greatest strength! You get onto the bike, take a good grip on the handlebar, and then let go of the brakes. Let’s go! On long stages, the rear end of the Reign saves a lot of energy. Long, open turns at high speed are no problem with this bike. If the trail is tight and twisty, however, you will have to manhandle it. At slow speeds the Reign feels slightly undefined and sluggish. If you want to be fast on flat sections, you will have to pedal hard and try to make yourself light. When pumping, it feels as if a lot of power is absorbed by the plush rear suspension.

Giant Reign Advanced 0 in Detail

Fork RockShox Lyrik RCT3 160 mm
Rear shock RockShox Super Deluxe Coil RT 160 mm
Brakes SRAM Guide RS
Drivetrain SRAM X01 Eagle
Seat post Giant Contact S Switch
Stem Truvativ Descendant
Handlebar Giant Contact SLR Dh Carbon
Tires Maxxis Shorty / Maxxis Highroller II
Wheels DT Swiss EX 1501 Spline One
Price € 6,999

Giant Reign Advanced 0
Bump-absorption Happy
The RockShox Super Deluxe Coil damper sucks up more than an American V8, helping the bike achieve a tremendous amount of traction.
Giant Reign Advanced 0
Not so nice
The remotes of the dropper post and the RockShox shock didn’t convince us in terms of ergonomics.
Giant Reign Advanced 0
On the edge
Despite its tall knobs, the MAXXIS Shorty has a very wide range of applications. They don’t fold on hard surfaces, but handling is less defined than a Minion DHF or DHR. On soft ground, on the other hand, the Shorty is amazing!
Giant Reign Advanced 0
Jacked up
Due to the low stack height (593 mm in size L), all the testers installed several spacers under the stem in order to improve control over the bike, especially on steep terrain.

The geometry of the Giant Reign Advanced 0

Size S M L XL
Seat tube 380 mm 431 mm 464 mm 496 mm
Top tube 600 mm 635 mm 655 mm 680 mm
Head angle 65° 65° 65° 65°
Seat angle 73° 73° 73° 73°
Chainstay 435 mm 435 mm 435 mm 435 mm
BB Drop 10 mm 10 mm 10 mm 10 mm
Wheelbase 1174 mm 1209 mm 1232 mm 1258 mm
Reach 424 mm 459 mm 473 mm 495 mm
Stack 575 mm 575 mm 593 mm 602 mm
Wheelsize 27.5″ 27.5″ 27.5″ 27.5″
Giant Reign Advanced 0
The classic has gotten even better! The Giant Reign convinces with its plush and stable character – which unfortunately has made it a bit vague.

Conclusion

The Giant Reign shows its strengths mainly on long, hard, and fast descents. If you want to plow through a trail at Mach 5, this is your bike. If you are looking for an agile, playful bike, you will need to look elsewhere.

Strengths

– very stable and composed
– components are race-ready
– plush suspension

Weaknesses

– rather cumbersome, imprecise handling


For more information head to giant-bicycles.com

The test fleet

For an overview of the test fleet head to the main article: Let’s go Racing! – The 10 fastest enduro bikes in test

All bikes in test: Canyon Canyon Strive CF 9.0 Team | Lapierre Spicy Team Ultimate | Nukeproof Mega 275 RS | Pole EVOLINK 140 29 | Rocky Mountain Altitude Carbon 90 | Santa Cruz Hightower LT | SCOTT Genius 900 Tuned 2018 | Specialized S-Works Enduro 29 | YT JEFFSY 27 CF Pro Race