Zesty 214 vs Reign 2 – will I notice a difference climbing? Anything else?

On from my previous topic, I’ve narrowed my choice of insurance-replacement bike to either a Zesty 214 or Reign 2 from wheelies.co.uk.

I think the deciding factor will be whether the Reign will be noticeably worse in ascending than the Zesty 214?

Doesn’t seem to be much in it, but it does seem the Reign is considered a little better on the way down.
Seen very little bad about the Zesty on the other hand and the 214 comes up £200 cheaper from where I have to buy it.

:wink:my current bike is the 214 😛 let me tell you this bike is fantastic on the ups….. and is fast and true on the downs….been to trail centres and singletrack….if you buy this you will not be disappointed 😉

Glad to see some positive comments on the 214 too, as most have been for the 314/514.

But then I haven’t seen much bad about the Reign either, especially modern ones – and will I be telling myself that if I’d have just had that extra 10mm travel, I’d have kept that 55 year old local on a rusty single speed at least in sight as I try to make up for my lack of skill with technology :P.

Reigns are fantastic bikes. They don’t have the cool factor that the snappierres do, but they ride fantastically. Sure, a 6″ trail bike isn’t going to be amazing on the hills, but the reign is no slouch.

I’ve got a reign and to be honest, it made me a much faster rider. The suspension works so well you find yourself flying. Then again, I haven’t ridden the 214, so I can’t compare, but I don’t think you’ll go wrong with either. Also, own brand parts on the reign are quality bits of kit, not some own brand tat you find on some bikes.

I’m probably qualified to answer this, I’ve had a 314 and a Reign 2.

For me the Reign is a much better bike all round, it climbs better than the Zesty due to the Maestro suspension design, as seen on the Anthem and Trance.

It dances over stuff I can’t get up on my race bike, it feels harder work, but it has better traction and far more clearance.

Descending wise, it’s confidence inspiring to say the least. It handles like the Anthem, so very sensitive, but is a lot more burly – so you don’t clatter around as much as you would on an Anthem.

I really liked my Zesty, but the Reign was the first bike I’ve sat on and thought it was made for me.

Cheers, very useful; definitely veering towards the Reign!

Unfortunately the closest place likely to have a Giant to look at/pedal in the car park is some way away and even then, may not – I’m told there’s a two week wait for Giant UK to get a L Reign in and January for a M!

How tall are you? I need a large Anthem, but a medium Reign at just shy of 6′.

Ah, just under 6′ too (doctor’s scales say 5’11.6″). I generally go for around 17″ frame for a bike I want to move around on a bit.

Other places I’d read people saying that generally they were a bit smaller than others, however may have got it confused with other Giant bikes.
Apparantly it’s the top tube that changes with the size – maybe an inch longer for the L (though now I forget if that’s from the M or S).

The large Reign would be totally wrong as a trail / freeride bike really, the Medium Reign does feel so similar to the Large Anthem, although the stats say different.

I’ve ridden a fair few bikes now, and the Reign is truely awesome.

Reign geometry has changed in recent years (looks better now). You should at least sit on a current one.

Both Reign and Zesty have push-fit BBs now I think, I wouldn’t buy a bike with one myself – but there are lots of satisfied owners so what do I know.

Zesty 214 will come with a basic Fox shock, which may be a bit rubbish on bumpy stuff – but the 2012 bikes have tweaked suspension so they may have improved this.

Once I got a decent shock on my old 214 it rode better than the Reign I had owned beforehand (which had 2008 geometry). I suspect the Zesty still handles better, tbh.

HTH

Cheers Chapking,

I should have clarified also – My Zesty was a 2010 as is my Reign. I had a 314, with a Float R, which I exchanged for an RP23 which really helped it out.

Although you could always ask LoCo to do some custom shimming to the Float R to firm up the first part of the travel – so it’ll climb better, but shouldn’t affecting the descending as it’ll blow through the first part of the travel pretty quick.

I really did like the Zesty, and would easily have another – the Reign just fits me better.

giants have always seemed to come with long stems so be aware of that when you size it. Munqe chick had an XS Reign and now has a S Cypher and they both came with something like 90mm stems (which is a tiller on a 14.5″ bike!) so this may be reflected throughout the size range?

Cheers for the further thoughts all, even if it is leaving me less sure! – having more information before deciding is always good in the long run. And ta rickon, was going to ask what years etc.

The ‘standover’ height of the L is only 3mm longer than the M for the reign apparently.
However the top tube is 25mm longer, which is the major difference. I am actually relatively short legged (err, thus long-torso’d, I presume), so that might not be too bad for me. However, I still want to be able to easily shift my weight around too.

Unfortunately nowhere has Reigns in stock at the moment for me to have a sit on. And it seems quite possible places won’t have mediums in a couple of weeks either when they may have some in large.

Did you post this on Pistonheads too?

Gee – where are you based?

I did neil and cheers for the pics 🙂 – though that post was a little further back along the decision tree!

Rickon – I’m in Keighley, West Yorkshire (actually quite near the singletrack magazine offices as it goes – my aunt used to have a flat directly opposite them!)

A bit too far for me I’m afraid, you could have had a blast on my Reign.

Cheers for the offer anyway.
Turns out rutland Giant does have one medium 2011 Reign in stock, but quite a way for me.

can’t help with the 214 v’s reign but in my opinion the 314 climbs better and felt more sorted on the downs. This was at innerleithen so a fair battering was had by both (not known for my mechanical sympathy) opted for the 314.

Cheers for your thoughts.
It does seem that I’d probably be happy enough with either and that it’s probably going to be pretty random which I find better.

I’m still a bit stuck on the Reign*, but if I want a medium it will be a wait until January as I have to go through wheelies.co.uk.

Annoyingly rutland has a 2011 Reign 1 in medium for £1800.

If I went for the large, would a shorter stem solve some of the problems if it did turn out to be too long? Or would that then cause other problems?
Not that up on mountain bike geometry specifics.

*I do have a bad habit of going for the biggest/fastest when I don’t always need want it; ie I’ve got an (old) m3, but probably had just as much fun in my laguna. At least with motorbikes I got a 144cc bike for fun while the 1000cc superbike was the ‘boring commuter’ :).

Gee, you dont need to go through Wheelies – ask your insurance company for the cash settlement amount, this will be different to what Wheelies have said your claim is worth. I went back to my insurer for this, and was surprised to find our claim was worth a good 25% more than Wheelies told me.

If you can get the cash, you can barter for a lower cost bike, or buy from your LBS… or even go secondhand-but-new from STW classifieds 🙂

I can’t see that being likely in my case unfortunately as it’s fairly good deal through wheelies.

After spending some time on the phone, it seems wheelies CAN get a Reign 2 in Medium. It would seem it’s up to wheelies to offer a cash settlement; they only ‘want’* to if it’s a bike they can’t supply, which they now claim they can for this case.

* I’m not sure how much they can or can not say what happens. I think I will talk to the loss adjusters to try and confirm exactly what’s going on, etc.

An update – after being sent around the houses a bit, having emails not answered etc; been offered £1311 for the bike + seat post as opposed to the £1700 to spend at wheelies.

Rutland have a Reign 1 2011 model in medium up for £1800. So that’d be spending an extra £500 for the ‘1’ model versus £248 for the ‘2’ with wheelies.

Or could go second hand of course, which I may well end up doing.

+1 secondhand, although they dont seem to come up for sale very often.

Although…

This Reign 1 is only £1689, available in medium.

http://www.ashcycles.com/site/giant-reign-1-2011?zenid=493e479e01d9610f19abc27adc5325ca

If it were my money, I’d buy a secondhand frame in almost mint condition (if you could fine one), then spec it up out of mostly secondhand-but-new bits off here. Buy some new Hope Pro2 Evos on Crests, Si from Progressive seems to have a load of them about too 🙂

Cheers, that’s a pretty good deal there.

Would prefer a ready-to-go bike for general ease.
Of course, with second hand that brings up a whole ‘nother selection of bikes to consider; but it’ll be never ending if I widen my choices to all the bikes from the last few years.

Well, went for more than I really wanted to pay, but my snipe got it with £4 to spare…
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130593410764
2008 has a very slightly different rear suspension design to the latest, no tapered head and no big axle at the front. Apparently a set of forks with a chunky axle and slightly more suspension travel is a worthy addition.
The fact that it’s listed as a lb lighter than my boardman appealed.

Money’s a bit tight at the moment, so this means the electric bike and hang glider I’ve just bought are mostly paid for out of this as well, rather than coughing up more on top to get a new bike.

Looks like a good deal there Gee 🙂 Under £1000, so nicely in pocket.

Still not sure on that versus the overall newer ‘tech’ of the 2011 1, but then I really shouldn’t be spending THAT much right now.

A friend got her well specced 08 for £600. But then as you say, not many about it and I got “want it NOW” syndrome… has been a couple of months now since the bike was nicked!

Nice. I’ve got a 2008 Reign 1 and it’s a great bike. I’ve added big forks etc as I mainly use it in the Alps and for uplifts and it’s the biz. You need to get a shorter stem on there ASAP – they were specced with silly long ones and it makes a huge difference

Cheers – will see if I’ve got anything sitting about that’ll fit (as have the carcass of both a carrera Banshee and Fury sat here).
What sort of length should I be going for on the stem (not sure what is considered long or short)?

Will leave the longer forks for the moment, but keep it on the ‘to do’; especially if I do get myself over to Stainburn etc a fair bit.