Giant Reign Advanced 27.5

Missing from the range in 2014, the popular Reign makes a welcome return in its new guise as an enduro focused weapon.

The top-end bike features a front triangle made from Giant’s Advanced grade carbon fibre, combined with an alloy rear end. Two cheaper all-aluminium models are also available. All deliver 160mm (6.3in) of rear travel using Giant’s floating shock Maestro system

Geometry has been totally revised – the front centre (distance between the BB and front hub centres) is 30mm longer than on the 26in wheeled bike, creating a much longer wheelbase for more stable handling on faster and more demanding terrain. The slack 65-degree head angle further reinforces the Reign’s bias towards aggressive riding.

The bike now rolls on 650b wheels, and Giant have fitted a custom offset crown to the RockShox Pike fork to improve the steering feel at lower speeds. There are a bunch of other smart features on the Reign too, including neat rubber grommets at the internal cable routing ports and a bearing (rather than bushing) in the upper shock mount, which, combined with the RockShox Monarch Plus shock, gives an incredibly active rear end with astonishing grip.

For 2015 there’ll be two aluminium bikes, the Reign 27.5 1 (£3,299) and 2 (£2,999), plus one model with a carbon front triangle, the £3,999 Reign Advanced 27.5 1. We weighed the size large composite bike at 12.7kg (28lb), without pedals.