2013 Giant Reign 2 Bike

(discontinued)

sweet, fun, poppy, corners predictable.

Upon purchasing this I immediately changed a few parts out : Chainguide, Straightline Pedals, Shimano XT Brakes, Super Short Stem, Race Face Atlas Freeride Bars (uncut). After riding with these upgrades I have no desire to change out anything else. Even these tires are pretty dope and are predictable. I also ride a 2007 Santa Cruz V10, and I set to replace my 2007 GT iDrive 5 3.0 with this Reign. I still have my V10 but the more I ride this Reign the more I love it. I can pedal all day long and still flick and throw cutties around with the Reign. Super Fun Bike. I am really impressed of the downhill capability this has. Of course the shuttle days I always will bust out the V10 but until then I am loving the Reign.

If you know Ashland, we are a great place for Enduro. After living here for 8 years I finally have a bike I can confidently claim "it can do everything." Back to the XC portion, the Reign pedals way better than my GT did. Pretty incredible how efficient this Reign and how comfy the climbs are. If you are thinking about getting one I highly recommend choosing the parts I did.

I'm 170cm and brought a small, if your around that hight, I would probably go for a medium, unless, like me, you enjoy a small bike. I have upgraded the forks to talas to make steep climbs easier, but the standard forks feel awesome too. Running ~20% sag still bottoms out hard on 1m drops. Fixed this by putting grease in the shock air spring to decrease the air volume creating a more progressive feel. You can also buy spacers from fox that do the same thing. I would like to go 1x10 but the lack of chainguide tabs and the press fit bb makes that difficult. I havent had much joy with the press fit bb, it sezed after 5 months. This bike has its issues, however they arecompletely overshadowed by its handling and performance.

Overall this is a great all mountain bike that is great on climbs and descents. I like the bikes more slack geometry, like on many giants. If you are a road rider, a trek's more leaning forward type of position mat be more comfortable. Also, this bike isn't good for drops or riding around the neighborhood, but of course this bike isn't made for that.