2015 Reign 2 + 2014 Lust 2 (Now an all giant family!)

[marc.r]

Just picked up the new reign!

Stock except for the 32t raceface NW and had the bars cut down to 760mm.

Weighed it in at 14.1kg last night WITH PEDALS. saved about 500gm going 1x before I even rode it.

next up will be re-assessing the tyres as I prob wont need a hans on the back for a hot dusty Sydney summer.

My girlfriend has been rocking a 2014 Lust 2 for about 6 months. its a super little bike. we planned to upgrade the groupset but everything is just working so well!
Picked up the 2014 cobalt 3s from pushy EOFY sale for a ridiculous price. So far they have been rock solid! Always laugh a little when I see them on CRC on sale for double what we paid!
Put on an XT 11-36 cassette went tubeless and saved 600gm from stock straight away! weights low 12s I think.

Just put on some candy pedals to match the colour scheme as she wanted to try something new!
Next mods will prob be purple floating rotors and 1x with a blue NW ring!
Also since seeing the downtube protector on the reign she has madly been seaching for something similar for this. Anyone seen anything suitable?

 

[ChopSticks]

nice his and hers ride!


slightly surprised how heavy that stock reign is........ you should be able to drop a kg easy with a few smart upgrades!
are you in syd? I've got a giant downtube protector you can have

 

[marc.r]

nice his and hers ride!


slightly surprised how heavy that stock reign is........ you should be able to drop a kg easy with a few smart upgrades!
are you in syd? I've got a giant downtube protector you can have

yeah they are like 14.4kg without pedals on the showroom floor :-(.

I think most of the remaining weight is in the wheels/tyres. the stock wheelset was weighed by someone on here and is about 2.2kg. they are plenty stiff though and have a decent internal width. they are speccing the same wheels on glorys this year so im guessing they really kitting these reigns out as mini dh style.

I rather start with this as a base and turn it more traily then start with a trance and have to buy a pike etc. i promised myself I would never buy another all mountain bike with a 32mm fork despite how good late model revos are!

thanks for the offer chops of the downtube protector too, i'll put it too the mrs!

 

[teK--]

Lookin good mate!

That is my favorite colour scheme of all of the new Reigns (poor man's Advanced 0 Team)

Stock weight on par with my Trance SX which was 13.63kg with no pedals.

I saved a fair bit by putting on a lighter saddle, removing the chain device, lighter cassette, going tubeless.

edit: p.s. Stick a rock razor on the back perfect dry conditions tyre.

 

[Ezkaton]

Not a fan of what you guys have done to the Lust!

Mismatching color on the bars, random red spoked wheels?
My OCD is going wild!

My lady also has a Lust, but all she/we have done with it from stock is replaced those horrible stock grips with some low profile lock-ons, and chucked on some Saint flats.
I'd upgrade the brakes and rotors if it were mine though, the stock brakes are so bad!

Shimano M447/M505?

My XT have more power on the rear using 1 finger than using 2 fingers on both front and back on those things!

 

[marc.r]

Not a fan of what you guys have done to the Lust!

Mismatching color on the bars, random red spoked wheels?
My OCD is going wild!

My lady also has a Lust, but all she/we have done with it from stock is replaced those horrible stock grips with some low profile lock-ons, and chucked on some Saint flats.
I'd upgrade the brakes and rotors if it were mine though, the stock brakes are so bad!

Shimano M447/M505?

My XT have more power on the rear using 1 finger than using 2 fingers on both front and back on those things!

really? I found the brakes fine. she doesnt hit mach speeds and doesnt weigh much. they seem to do fine. they def are two finger levers but thats how she has always braked anyway so she likes it!

the colour scheme is not everyones cup of tea but we love it and it gets lots of compliments!

re the grips. I think they are esi silicone knock offs. I quite like them! I was even thinking of getting some for my bike! personal preference too I guess!

 

[marc.r]

Update on the Reign

1. Now that i've got the pressures in the shocks close to setup this bike is getting much faster and its very easy to ride. 160mm doesnt seem to be an issue at all for trail ridding.

2. I had my first pinch flat because of the increasingly hard riding that the geometry and travel allows. I was too lazy to go tubeless before the first couple of rides so I just left the tubes in :-(. Flatting sucks and you almost forget its a regular occurance when you have run tubeless for so long.

The rear is now setup tubeless with stans flow tape and sealant. I only had one spare tubeless vale as I must have lost the other! Took a bit more sealant than would be needed with a proper tubeless ready setup to keep them sealed up without loosing pressure but worked in the end. The beadlock doesnt seem to be as tight as with a stans rim or even the rovals on the specialized but i'll reserve judgement until after a few rides!

 

[Nerf Herder]

I like the colour scheme too

 

[teK--]

1. Now that i've got the pressures in the shocks close to setup this bike is getting much faster and its very easy to ride. 160mm doesnt seem to be an issue at all for trail ridding.

2. I had my first pinch flat because of the increasingly hard riding that the geometry and travel allows. I was too lazy to go tubeless before the first couple of rides so I just left the tubes in :-(. Flatting sucks and you almost forget its a regular occurance when you have run tubeless for so long.

The rear is now setup tubeless with stans flow tape and sealant. I only had one spare tubeless vale as I must have lost the other! Took a bit more sealant than would be needed with a proper tubeless ready setup to keep them sealed up without loosing pressure but worked in the end. The beadlock doesnt seem to be as tight as with a stans rim or even the rovals on the specialized but i'll reserve judgement until after a few rides!

I also found, that the stock Giant rims didn't lock the tyre bead that firmly when running tubeless. So when you let all the air out the tyre tends to shrink and collapse into the rim channel. I'd hate to think how it would feel to blow out a tyre at speed.

 

[Seabass]

Just picked up the new reign!

Stock except for the 32t raceface NW and had the bars cut down to 760mm.

Weighed it in at 14.1kg last night WITH PEDALS. saved about 500gm going 1x before I even rode it.

next up will be re-assessing the tyres as I prob wont need a hans on the back for a hot dusty Sydney summer.

My girlfriend has been rocking a 2014 Lust 2 for about 6 months. its a super little bike. we planned to upgrade the groupset but everything is just working so well!
Picked up the 2014 cobalt 3s from pushy EOFY sale for a ridiculous price. So far they have been rock solid! Always laugh a little when I see them on CRC on sale for double what we paid!
Put on an XT 11-36 cassette went tubeless and saved 600gm from stock straight away! weights low 12s I think.

Just put on some candy pedals to match the colour scheme as she wanted to try something new!
Next mods will prob be purple floating rotors and 1x with a blue NW ring!
Also since seeing the downtube protector on the reign she has madly been seaching for something similar for this. Anyone seen anything suitable?

How is the 32 t chain ring working for you ? I've just ordered one for my regin2

 

[marc.r]

How is the 32 t chain ring working for you ? I've just ordered one for my regin2

its fine. I used to run a 34t on a 26 inch bike so 32 is marginally easier. The only time 32/36 is tough is when you are really tired and are struggling to put the effort in on techy climbs but honestly at that speed you may as well take a break or walk as you prob have bigger problems getting hung up/stalling/pedals strikes from poor body weighting.


I havent done any seriously long rides with long but easy climbs so it is possible in those cases maybe a 30T would save your legs over a long day. If i was doing those climbs on my regular rides i'd rather just grab 40T granny ring and modify the cassette. especially seeing as the bike comes with a nice long reach mech cage!

In summary i wouldnt go a 30T unless you are really struggling with your leg strength or do extended easy climbs/marathons and in those cases the reign prob isnt going to be the bike of choice for you anyway!

 

[Seabass]

its fine. I used to run a 34t on a 26 inch bike so 32 is marginally easier. The only time 32/36 is tough is when you are really tired and are struggling to put the effort in on techy climbs but honestly at that speed you may as well take a break or walk as you prob have bigger problems getting hung up/stalling/pedals strikes from poor body weighting.


I havent done any seriously long rides with long but easy climbs so it is possible in those cases maybe a 30T would save your legs over a long day. If i was doing those climbs on my regular rides i'd rather just grab 40T granny ring and modify the cassette. especially seeing as the bike comes with a nice long reach mech cage!

In summary i wouldnt go a 30T unless you are really struggling with your leg strength or do extended easy climbs/marathons and in those cases the reign prob isnt going to be the bike of choice for you anyway!

Cheers chief

The 32 should be fine for me .i don't tend to do massive climbs and I'm not to bad when it comes to hills . Swapping to a single ring should give me some extra clearance on the rocks the bash guard has paid for its self already

 

[marc.r]

picked up a 140-120mm talas for the lust courtesy of DJR yesterday! :whoo: he even gave them a clean and a touch up. they will soon to be going on the lust to turn it into a lust SX. i think the 2015 model comes with a 120mm fork as ive always thought it was a bit tooo sharp and under forked for a trail bike. the rear end however is fine. the axle to crown looks almost identical to the 100mm float in 120mm mode and only about 2.5 cm taller in 140mm mode.

will be interesting to see how it changes the geometry but the idea is to slacken it up a bit for queenstown and possibly just leave the fork on in 120mm permanently. she is running it with about 4cm of spacers under the stem right now so certainly doesnt want the handlebars lower for climbing.

 

[Kramer]

Keen to hear how your Reign 2 is riding... How is the fork / shock combo handling the fun stuff? Any comments on the Giant branded wheels and hubs (heavy or bendy)??
Thinking of making one of these bad boys my n+1 :-D

 

[marc.r]

Keen to hear how your Reign 2 is riding... How is the fork / shock combo handling the fun stuff? Any comments on the Giant branded wheels and hubs (heavy or bendy)??
Thinking of making one of these bad boys my n+1 :-D

The shock and fork combo is fantastic. I cant fault it at all. I might add a bottomless token to the fork with the first service as I think I would prefer it a touch more progressive. I think the internet reviews say it better then me both the monarch debonair and the pike are pretty much the best you can buy. Sure its not a monarch + but I dont know how many of us non alpine riders can really tell when the oil heats up so much it degrades damping...which is really the only benefit of a piggyback oil reservoir as far as I can work out.

Its phenomenal that such a desirable suspension package come on the bottom of the range bike! Put that together with what I think is genuinely one of the best rear suspension designs on the market (including boutiques) I dont think anyone should be able to say a bad word about this bikes suspension design.

I'm just starting to get used to the bike and already getting PRs on strava on both climbing and descending sections. Bobbing when climbing with 160mm is a non issue unless its a serious standing sprint and in those cases most 140mm bikes arnt amazing either. When you use the threshold on the rear shock for long climbs bobbing is a non issue.

The one thing that has surprised me is its cornering ability. Amazingly for such a long bike I am cornering faster then ever, comes down to the small bump sensitivity providing traction in corners and the awesome (for me) geometry. The slack head angle is a non issue. So unless you plan to ride it on a pump track forget about it as being too slack.

http://linkagedesign.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/giant-reign-275-2015.html << read that if you are interested in the technical stuff.

The wheels are heavy. They had to make up the money somewhere I guess. They are luckily reasonably wide and pretty stiff which is why I haven't swapped them out already! The only time I ever felt flex was when I tried to jump off something that I shouldnt have and landed on a berm halfway around a corner....I have absolutely zero issue with the stiffness of any part of the bike though. Its just a non issue for my level of riding.

The wheels work tubeless and haven't given me any trouble at all so far. In summary the only reason I would be upgrading is for weight reduction to improve sprinting/energy conservation on long days! That being said In order to get equivalent stiffness, width etc while dropping 400gm or so I would need to look at wheels circa $800. There are some occasions when I want to sprint that I can really feel the weight of the wheels but right now I'm concentrating on working on my legs and ticker first! Once I max my personal goals out I might spring for some shiney wheels in the new year. The wheels are pretty much the only thing I can see you could upgrade on this bike to get a REAL performance gain. Even the giant branded handlebar is good!


In summary, its by far the best bike Ive owned and I really cant see anything in the Australian market that comes close to its price/performance ratio.