For the past two years, a majority of my reviews have come from Trek in one way or another. I like working with Trek and their dealerships, and they make quality products with plenty of support Australia wide. Rarely do I get to review other brands because they don’t reach out to me or they don’t have a dealer nearby to lend me anything. But returning to Mount Mystic up in Bright, there was an offer to ride a bike from a brand that I have been wanting to do a review on since I started this blog, and it is a style of bike I dearly wanted to build for the project bike. For the first time since riding a 2016 Giant Stance up in Falls Creek, I was about to comprehensively test another Giant bike being the 2019 Giant Reign 2.
Similar to how Trek makes a conservative but great bike for a decent price, Giant have specced the Reign 2 quite well in order to attract customers into buying their first enduro bike that doesn’t require a fifth mortgage.
The 2019 Giant Reign 2 in all its matte black and gun metal grey glory. While it looks imposing, I find Giant’s latest approach to paint schemes to be easier on the eyes and more appealing.
Cockpit of the Reign 2 includes Giant Contact SL Trail Rise bars (780mm wide), Giant Contact SL 35mm stem (8 degree rise), Giant lock on grips, and FSA head set. While this is a fairly budget set up considering everything is in house stuff, it works well enough for the “starter” enduro bike in the range.
Front end includes the Rockshox Yari RC Debonair with 170mm of travel and the Charger dampener, Shimano MT500 (Deore) with 203mm rotor, Giant AM alloy rims set up tubeless, and the Maxxis Minion DHF at 27.5×2.5 inches. On paper this is a good mix of parts for an enduro bike.
Core of the bike includes the Rockshox Deluxe RT with lock out adjustment giving 160mm of rear end travel, the Giant Maestro linkage system with trunion mounting, Praxis Cadet cranks and chain ring with 30 teeth, MRP chain guide, and a KMC 10 speed chain. The middle section of the bike is again well suited for enduro riding.
Giant Contact SL Neutral saddle and Contact Switch S internally routed dropper. Not a fan of the saddle since it’s a bit harsh, but it seems more durable than the Contact Saddle on my Giant Stance.
Rear end has the Shimano MT500 (Deore) brake with a 180mm rotor, Shimano Deore drive train with 10 speeds (11-42 tooth range), the Giant AM rim and Maxxis Minion DHR II 27.5×2.4 inches. With the built in chain stay protector, you can’t complain that they got a few things right with the rear wheel.
The test trails for the Reign 2, codename “Obsidian Fury”, will be Mount Mystic in Bright and Big Hill in Mount Beauty. These trails are true alpine trail networks, steep prolonged climbs to access prolonged descents of the technical and flow varieties. While my mileage for the week was conservatively low at 120km, I was able to get a sense of the bike’s climbing and descending abilities within that.
Climbing Catastrophe
An enduro bike is meant to be a downhill bike that you can pedal your way up to earn your descents. This doesn’t necessary mean you get the best technical climber however…
On the uphill switchbacks that the singlespeeder handled well but struggled with gears (hey, it only has one so go figure), the Reign 2 didn’t quite hit its stride. With the bulk that comes from a heavily built aluminium frame, heavy suspension components and the Maxxis Minion rubber, it was a sluggish bike to push uphill and it wasn’t easy to throw around. The 10 speed drive ratio means you either have first gear to idle uphill and it makes a whirring noise similar to a four wheel drive in low range, or you hit second and the effort seems to double instantly. For such a heavy bike, it would have been nice to include an 11 or 12 speed drive train like the SRAM NX 1×11, Shimano SLX 1×11 or the SRAM Eagle NX 1×12. When in an alpine environment, the first three gears are for climbing and the last seven are for downhill with major jumps in between cogs. So when your legs get tired from spinning or muscling up climbs, the handling isn’t great.
It climbs like a slack mountain bike would. It understeers on tight uphill switchbacks and it is hard to bunny hop up ledges. I know I shouldn’t treat this like a cross country or trail bike, but I honestly feel the weight and the gear ratios let down the climbing. Geometry will influence the overall handling and capabilities of a bike, but minimising weight and/or giving a greater selection of gears would benefit the Reign 2 overall.
The lockable rear shock and compression dampener on the fork do make things a tad easier on fire road climbs and switchback climbs. The Maestro link does put in some effort to reduce pedal bob, but when you fully lock out the shock and have it in a low enough gear, it makes it a tolerable climber. And only having the option of locked or unlocked is oddly excellent? No wondering what the differences between Open and Trail mode on a Fox DPS Performance shock, here’s Unlocked or Locked and it does what it says on the tin. Love it!
Section Summary: This bike is far from being the best technical climber I have ridden, but the few tricks it has to overcome the weight and poor selection of gears does make it okay at doing some climbing. Give it an Eagle or chop some weight, either way for prolonged alpine climbing this is a heavy bike for long days.
Land Cruising
I ask myself every so often whether I could use an enduro bike daily. And while I could use it, I wouldn’t get the most out of it.
On the simpler sections like Playground and Rapids at Bright, or Up Track or Traverse at Mt Beauty, the Reign felt awkward and under-used. It did cross these sections really well and the initial stroke of the travel made the ruts and roots smooth to ride over, but I always had the feeling that I was using less than 10% of its ability when I could be up to 50% or more on a cross country bike.
The Maxxis Minion DHR and DHF possess incredible mechanical grip in loam and wet conditions, but when you’re taking on a green grade cross country loop the knobs slide and flex on hard pack surfaces due to the lower speeds. The handlebars and stem have the short and wide feel you want on an enduro cockpit, but when the trail is barely dropping a metre across twenty, do you need that aggressive of a downhill set up? 170mm of front end travel is great for saving you from a 2 metre drop off, but you barely crack 10mm of travel rolling over a log.
My point is, this bike is under utilised on green grade trails and blue trails. If you are looking at this bike because you believe you need more travel for your local cross country loop, look towards tuning your suspension properly or getting volume reducing tokens. You don’t buy a utilitarian four wheel drive for getting around a small village, so why buy an enduro bike just for green grade trails?
Section Summary: it was time to get out of the easy stuff and look towards the stuff that made me wish I brought a proper full face helmet.
Reign Down on Me
Awesome. Exhilarating. Competent. These are the words for the Reign’s descending capabilities. Regardless of the flowiness or technicality, the Reign chassis is brilliant at going downhill with confidence. And the whole package starts to come together once you point it down.
The “seven descending gears” provide a surprising amount of range when taking on fast flowing jump trails like Shred Kelly’s Last Stand and Hero at Bright or Banaroma at Mt Beauty, or for technical blacks like Corkscrew and Curtain at Bright. In combination with the seven gears, the brakes have a decent amount of modulation to control the bike before smashing into the next corner. The Rockshox Yari and Monarch RL trunion mounted shock have the right response to particular situations like braking bumps or heavy impacts. The geometry puts you in the right position to control this enduro beast down on an express trip to Hades and Cerberus, and this is where the bike shines. The weight of the bikes makes it feel planted on the chattery sections of Corkscrew and Grivend’s Way in Bright, and I’m pretty sure the way the suspension was loaded meant I could do certain things on Rachel’s Way on Mt Beauty that I couldn’t on my Stance 2.
My only complaint comes down to either the Giant alloy rims or the frame itself. I found that on berms with high G-forces or tricky corners with off camber and roots, the bike flexed and flicked in odd ways. It wasn’t predictable in these high stress situations, and with riders pushing the manifold to double black diamond or taking certain corners faster than I am, I found that the floppy alloy in some part of the rolling chassis made this bike slightly unhinged…
Section Summary: unbelievable on descents, but Achilles Heel could be the flexible alloy in the rims and/or frame?
Slick Graphics, Sick Bike
I usually don’t include paint schemes or graphic in a review, but this 2019 Reign 2 is something special. Go back 3 years or more, Giant would paint their bikes three or more colours like this 2016 Giant Reign 2:
With the neon lime, aqua, turquoise, black and white decal work, it’s a bit harsh on the eyes. And while it might look great off the show room, after a few scratches and grease stains plus the paint job fading after extended use, the neon brilliance looses its charm quickly. Fast forward to the current line, most bike are either black with grey, black with a strong colour, or some form of unique colour scheme like the 2019 Reign SX to show it’s special:
It’s simple, but it looks great for a mountain bike. Even the logos are minimal to an extent so people can no longer distinguish you’re riding a Giant from the International Space Station. People had to ask me what I was riding if they weren’t in the know that the menacing Obsidian Fury was brought to you by the same people that made the neon fever dream of 2016. Good on Giant for making a refined paint scheme to make their bikes look fast and tough. Goodbye Mitsubishi Eclipse with neon under glow and hello BMW M3.
Conclusion:
This bike does not belong in the hands of people like me or those really who can’t afford to ride in alpine locations often. While this is probably the best descending bike I have ridden, it is also the most awkward I have felt trying to climb a blue grade switchback. It’s heavy and using the largest gear makes it look and sound slow. For all the soaring highs you experience on the descents, it doesn’t translate to the climbs.
I feel this bike is well suited to the crowd wanting to get into enduro, but also want to use a shuttle service or have slow switchback climbs to get to the top. If you’re already into enduro, then you’ll already realise the carbon fibre Advanced Reign 0 is the way to go. If you don’t want to shred alpine flow sections all day every weekend of the year, a trail bike is the way to go. But if you have the time and space to invest in an enduro bike to take to Falls and Bright to do the downhill trails but not climb them, then this is a great option. I feel uncomfortable on this bike because I like a snappy climber and don’t like bombing the downhills, but I see the merit in having an affordable enduro bike for weekend warriors and I did feel awesome pounding down Mount Mystic on this stealthy beast.
The 2019 Reign 2 is a good enduro bike, but it is only okay at climbing and is amazing on descents. The Deore drivetrain needs to be improved upon, but the Maxxis Minion tyres and Rockshox suspension make this a good rolling chassis that can be modified easily. If you are serious about enduro, I would look further into the range for a worthwhile investment. But this is a good enduro bike for the weekend warrior that wants something that can take a beating when it’s unleashed from the shuttle vehicle or chair lift.
Editor’s Note:Â I accidentally called the Yari a “Lyrik” in the “Reign Down on Me” section. Thank you to one of my readers for pointing this out, I still do take comments and criticism to this day, so thanks again!
Seeing as it is now June 2019, we should be seeing the 2020 Reign 2 be announced soon and I hope it adopts a 1×12 Shimano SLX that has just been released last week as of writing this. Could this be the solution to my gripes? Hopefully…
Through an amateur's eyes 
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