Giant reckons their Reign 29er could be the ultimate Enduro machine but what does our resident aficionado of all things big mountain make of it after subjecting it to eight months of testing?

Giant’s Reign has long been a staple of the brand’s mountain bike line up. The design and wheel sizes may have evolved over the years but the Reign has always been there. For 2020, Giant embraced 29er wheels for their Enduro focused Reign Advanced Pro range of bikes and I had the good fortune to be given the opportunity to give one a long term test. The Giant Reign Advanced Pro 2 is the bottom of the range (if you can call a bike that cost four grand that!) and marks the step up from Giant’s more economically priced alloy versions of the Reign. I’ve long been a fan of Giant bikes – I have ridden a few over the years and have always considered them as a brand to recommend to friends when looking at options for their next bike. As such, I was pretty excited when I took delivery of the bike back in early March although the excitement was tempered somewhat when lockdown kicked in and my new Enduro focused machine was reduced to riding only local trails initially and not the big mountains which are my preferred terrain.