It’s been hotly anticipated by fans: the Giant Reign 29! By the time Giant got on to the 29er bandwagon, it was already going along at full steam. So we were all the more excited to see how the bike would fare and if the new, bigger-wheeled Reign would do its legendary status justice.
Giant Reign Advanced 29 0 | 160/146 mm | 13.52 kg | € 8,499
The team behind Giant have redeveloped the new Reign 29 from the ground up. Nonetheless drawing on years of experience and proven technology, the frame is made of carbon fibre and features Giants proprietary Maestro linkage, offering 146 mm travel controlled by a FOX FLOAT X2 Factory shock. Up front, there’s a FOX 36 Factory GRIP2 providing 160 mm travel. Coming in at € 8,499, the Reign Advanced 29 0 has a race-ready spec which leaves little to be desired. The build includes only the best in componentry, such as SRAM CODE RSC brakes, X01 Eagle drivetrain and a RockShox Reverb dropper. However, we would have preferred a 32 t chainring instead of the 34 t it came with and the 150 mm dropper post isn’t quite long enough for a size L bike. The paint job of the frame is beautiful but not everything else has been given as much attention to detail. Prime examples are the ineffectively short chainstay protector and rubber plugs at the cable ports that keep on coming loose. However, the biggest flaw of the new Reign is the sizing. There’s a 38 mm leap in reach from size M to L, meaning that the bike is either too short or too long for a lot of riders. Most of our test riders are about 180 cm tall and fell between sizes – we eventually settled on the L with a reach of 493 mm.
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