Hi lads I’ve had my 2016 reign 1 for a few months now.
Before I bought it I read reviews of how it’s a bit of slug uphill or on the flat. However I don’t find this to be the case. I’m no slower on this than my anthem or Boardman fs and find I can climb steeper technical climbs better.

Does anyone else find that the Reign is fine as an all round bike or am I just strange 😀😀

I think the Reign is a great bike. Sometimes not loved so much purely because its a Giant

Reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt. I think the differences are often exaggerated. A lot of them can only be really appreciated by super experienced riders or pro’s on the clock.

I’ve got the 2018 reign and find the same thing, it climbs pretty well meaning it’s good as an all rounder

I really enjoyed my Reign, rate it still as one of the best bikes I have owned. But, it was a bit of a slug compared to newer style bikes with much steeper SA’s (in my experience). But, with a slack SA & being quite tall, it did put me out over the back of the bike quite a long way.

It certainly went down hills very well though 🙂

I had a 2016 for a while. It climbed fine for an enduro bike.

More of a slug on the flat I thought.

I use to have an anthem, it was amazing going up hill. I now have a trance, it’s good at pedalling but noticeably worse than the anthem.

I’d find it odd if the even bigger reign reverses this trend..so either you are fitter now than you were, you are blinded to its limitations by the fact you like the bike, or you are indeed strange.

My experience is that tyres make a huge difference. If you put something like a Racing Ralph on the back and stay seated and pedal smoothly, longer travel bikes can roll along pretty quickly. Standing up and sprinting is a different matter though. If you put a really draggy knobbly on the back of an XC bike, it will feel slow.

I think I’m probably strange lol. I could be blinded but my strava times aren’t much different. I went from a giant Anthem 3 to a Reign 1 and put good wheels on it so it’s actually lighter than the Anthem was.
But I have defo been able to get up short steep climbs that I couldn’t before but that’s probs to aggressive tyres enabling me to stay seated. I’m still going to go with being strange though 👍🏻👍🏻

I really like them. In fact may be my next bike

I’ve had an Anthem 1 2012, trance 4 2016(upgraded) currently have a reign 2 2015 and a trance 1 2017.

The anthem was by far the best climber, probably helped that it had 3 x on the front and 100mm travel, was like a mountain goat.

Wasnt great on anything steep and technical downhill due to the low travel and head angle, to be fair that wasn’t its domain. Trail centres it was perfect at.

My trance 1 is pretty good, I do a lot of natural riding in Mid Wales and you can almost sit bolt upright on all but the steepest climbs, the only problem is the 1 x 11 gearing as the jump between 1st and 2nd is a pain on steep stuff, not too bad when fit and the 1st gear is nice when you have 40k in the legs and still have a few climbs to go!

Descends quite well on any terrain and is a lot more playful than the reign,the fox performance elite suspension is brilliant to be fair

The reign despite being 2 x 10 is a pretty poor climber, you have to be leant right over the front and bum right on the edge of the seat and even then the front will fight you all the way up a steep climb. Going down it’s an absolute steam roller but a little bit numb and almost feels too easy

I agree with the front end becoming light on the steep climbs. Is this what defines a bike as a good climber ?
I’m not being sarcastic by the way. I just thought that the fact I can get up gnarlier and steeper stuff that it was a decent climber but you do have to put a bit weight over the front.

Dont get me wrong the reign is a capable climber and you get used to it, but also having a Trance 1 in my ever growing stable of Giant bikes makes you realise just how unsuitable it is for more natural riding, I’m talking about steep grass climbs/slate, where once you stop you wont get going again.

The constant fighting to keep the front end down and also trying to maintain rear traction on the reign makes it my least used bike as the majority of my riding is natural xc and trail centres. I use it more for bike parks where it comes into it’s own as a very capable downhill bike. It’s almost a bit too much for a trail centre in my opinion.

It’s a lot easier when you can sit more upright like on the trance, I’m only going off the 2015 model Reign, so they may have improved the geometry since.