The egg legend Wollmilchsau?: Review: Giant Reign 29 1

Giant Bicycles is one of the largest, if not the largest, bicycle manufacturer in the world. They almost praise the Reign 29 1 as the jack of all trades - "Regardless of whether it's a bike park or an enduro weekend or daily trail sessions in rough terrain", the bike should do everything with ease. Ascents and downhills should not be a problem. That Giant has experience building bikes is undoubtedly true. Giant has always had racers under contract who compete in the highest classes of mountain biking, so they can use their experience in series production. In the 90s, the German Downhill World Cup overall winner Jürgen Beneke was part of the Giant Downhill Team. With more than three decades of racing experience, Giant has the necessary knowledge of what is needed in the mountain bike performance area in order to be able to compete in the top series, such as the Downhill World Cup or the Enduro World Series. At the Reign we want to see how well this experience is incorporated into today's series products.

Giant Reign 29 1 – Equipment

In addition to Giant's own attachments, which are installed in the cockpit, in the saddle area and on the wheels, the Reign 29 1 relies entirely on a Fox and Shimano mix. A Fox 38 Performance Elite suspension fork with GRIP2 damping works at the front. The fork has 170 mm travel and has the Boost 15×110 mm installation dimension. It's all controlled by a Giant Contact SL TR35 handlebar with 20mm rise and a Giant Contact SL 35 stem. The Fox Float X2 Performance damper works at the rear, which is installed as a trunnion mount variant with a length of 205mm and a stroke of 60mm, making a spring travel of 146mm possible on the frame. Giant's own Contact Switch Vario support with a diameter of 30.9 mm serves as the seat post. Depending on the frame size you ride, the post has a different stroke. The S model has 125mm, the size M has 150mm and the large L-XL frames have 170mm travel available. It is shifted with a Shimano Deore XT 12-speed gear system, which is driven by a Deore XT crank with a 32 chain ring. An MRP chain guide should ensure that the chain stays where it belongs. The wheels also come from Giant and are equipped with a Maxxis Assegai with a width of 2.5" at the front and a DHR II with a width of 2.4" at the rear. Both tires are tubeless ready. The Reign 29 1 makes a good impression with its rather inconspicuous gray finish.

Suspension

The highlight of the bike is certainly the Fox 38 Performance Elite suspension fork with GRIP2 damping. With the specifications that you can find on the fork and the information that Fox provides, you can adjust the suspension quite well and thus have a good basic set-up for your own body weight. However, the fork is rather on the firmer side, which is particularly noticeable when climbing technical trails and you have little pressure on the front wheel and a soft response is missing with roots and stones that are in the way and you work a little more must. Downhill, however, the fork is in its element and has a high spring deflection and does its job with flying colours. The world looks different from behind. The Fox Float X2 Performance damper works perfectly. Even when going uphill on loose gravel, the rear wheel does not lose grip and you can move forward without much effort. Once you have the basic set-up, you can do some fine tuning. But as with so many things, less is often more. That means a change of one or two clicks is ok to feel a noticeable difference. But if you start to combine the different setting options with each other, then you quickly open Pandora's box and often move in directions that you don't want to have. It is always worth making small changes here.

Giant Reign 29 1 – First impression

All in all, the bike is great and meets all the expectations that one has of a modern mountain bike. But still, it's not bad if you take a closer look at a few details. The built-in Giant attachments such as handlebars, stem, saddle and seat post do their job just as well as comparable parts from other suppliers. It's also nice that Giant has installed several spacers under the stem. You can adjust the bike depending on the terrain or preferences and vary the height of the stem. The handles take a little getting used to. They are nice and thin, but have individual fins distributed over the entire handle, which make the handle a little "softer". But even if you grip firmly, you always have a slightly spongy feeling in your hand. The advantage of the handles, however, is that if you ride without gloves, you always have a firm grip even with sweaty hands and your hands don't slip off, because the slats provide a kind of ventilation.

With the shift/brake levers, the fact that the shift lever is mounted on the brake lever means you have a “tidy” cockpit. However, the whole thing has the disadvantage that you cannot adjust the shift lever separately and so you always have to make a compromise when it comes to reaching the shift lever and the brake lever from the handle.

The Shimano XT circuit works perfectly, precisely and without any problems. The brakes were a bit annoying. In the beginning they squeaked depending on speed and brake hardness. When you thought the squeaking had stopped, you were taught otherwise.

And otherwise?

The bike is built just for fun. Even if Giant states that it's made for climbs, you can say that with the Fox chassis and especially with the 38 mm Fox suspension fork, the fun only starts when things get really, really hard going downhill. The bike has the finest qualities and the built-in parts all make sense. Whether it's the Maxxis tires that stick to the ground or the Shimano components. Everything harmonises with each other and results in a nice well-rounded package.