These days, it's rare that a revision of a bike model isn't accompanied by the tagline “longer, lower, slacker,” but with the new Giant Reign 'longer' is the only one of those words that applies. That's largely due to the fact that the previous model was ahead of its time when it was launched in 2014, with geometry numbers that would still be considered modern today.
With a 65-degree head angle, the previous generation of the Reign was slack enough to meet the needs of Giant's pro enduro racers, but they found themselves wanting to push its already generous reach numbers even further. The result is a new frame with reach measurements that are 15mm longer than the previous version, a design change intended to make the bike even more stable at high speeds. The lineup includes two models with a carbon front triangle and an alloy rear end, and three full aluminum models.
Giant Reign Advanced Details
• Intended use: all-mountain / enduro
• Wheel size: 27.5"
• Rear wheel travel: 160mm
• 65º head angle
• Trunnion mount shock
• Carbon front triangle, alloy swingarm
• Full aluminum versions available
• Boost hub spacing
• Size: S, M, L, XL
• Price: $5400 - $8200 USD
• www.giant-bicycles.com Along with the slightly revised geometry, the 2018 Reign now has Boost spacing front and rear, and a trunnion mounted shock that delivers 160mm of travel. Giant was able to reduce the bike's leverage ratio, which means that lower air pressures are required for air shocks, a welcome change over the previous model. There are also two coil sprung models in the lineup, complete with a handlebar mounted lockout.
Similar to the Giant's shorter travel
Trance, the Reign now sports a forged carbon fiber upper link, while the lower link is still aluminum. Making the switch to carbon allowed Giant to shed some weight from the frame while also adding stiffness. Thanks to the trunnion mounted shock, the upper link pivot's location now sits slightly lower in the seatube, creating more room for longer travel dropper posts.
The top of the line Reign Advanced 0 pictured above retails for $8,200, with a build kit that includes a 160mm RockShox Lyrik RCT3 fork, a Super Deluxe coil shock, Guide RSC brakes, and X01 Eagle drivetrain, and a DT Swiss' alloy EX 1500 wheelset. That price does seems like it's on the high side to me – after all, only the front triangle of the Reign is carbon, and it's spec'd with a house brand dropper post, seat, and handlebar. The alloy Reign SX could be the standout workhorse of the new lineup – it has an alloy frame, 170mm Lyrik RCT3, coil Super Deluxe, and a Shimano SLX 11-speed drivetrain for $4,000 USD.
Geometry A size large Reign now has a reach of 473mm, an increase of 15mm over the previous version. That increase, along with the use of a 46mm offset fork (compared to the 'typical' 42mm offset) gives the bike a wheelbase of 1,232mm, which is certainly on the longer side of the scale compared to other bikes in this category.
Fork offset has been a hot topic recently, with several companies releasing bikes that feature less offset, a move in the opposite direction of what Giant did with the Reign. The increased offset was present on the previous version of the Reign as well, a design decision that's intended to give the bike quicker steering than its 65-degree head angle would suggest. It's an interesting move, especially considering how many bikes are on the market now with 65-degree head angles and forks with 'regular' offset; I'd be curious to ride the bike back-to-back with a 42mm offset fork to see how much difference there really is.
Giant chose Santa Caterina di Valfurva, Italy, as the location for the launch of the Reign, a small mountain town surrounded by steep valleys and tall glaciated peaks. The trails were a mix of tight switchbacks, rocky straightlines, and twisty, wooded sections – a good mix of terrain to begin getting a feel for the updated bike.
It took me a little bit to get used to the position of the dropper post lever and the remote lockout; there were a few times when I went to drop the seat down, but inadvertently ended up pushing the lockout with my thumb instead. That's because I'm used to having my dropper post lever located where the remote sits, but I eventually retrained my brain and was able to consistently hit the levers in the right order, and by the end of the two riding days I barely had to think about it.
The Reign is a decent climber even with the rear shock fully opened, but there is a little extra motion when you're standing up and cranking. That's where the lockout comes into play, and it wasn't long before I found myself hitting it even for short, punchy climbs to take advantage of the additional pedaling support. It's not a lockout in the strictest sense of the term – there's still enough compliance to allow the rear end to take the edge off of hits, and if you do happen to forget to unlock the shock before dropping in it's not going to rattle your fillings loose.
I was a little surprised to see that the Reign's seat tube angle didn't get any steeper to go along with additional reach. 73-degrees is on the slacker side of things, which creates a more stretched out climbing position, especially for taller riders who run their bikes with a lot of post showing. Kevin Dana, Giant's Off-Road Category Manager, said that they did experiment with a steeper seat angle, but found that they preferred the seat position with the slacker angle on steep descents – riders were getting more tire buzz (between themselves and the rear tire) with the steeper seat angle. Mountain bike geometry does require compromise, and in this case it appears Giant placed priority on the bike's downhill performance.
The plush Super Deluxe Coil / Lyrik suspension combination provided loads of grip, and the bike tracked very well, pitter-pattering over sections of trail that were covered with a thick layer of baseball-sized rocks without any harshness. It's easy to find speed even without stomping on the pedals – pumping into a corner or over a roller kept the Reign charging forward, and it never felt like it was getting hung up on the multiple awkward rock sections that I rode through.
There were a couple times when I found myself wishing the Reign had SRAM's new Code brakes rather than the Guide RSCs. They didn't pump up or fade, but I did need to hang on tighter on sustained steep sections than I would have with the more powerful Codes.
I was especially impressed by just how energetic the Reign felt on the descents – even with the extra length that's been added to the front end and the coil-sprung shock, it's still easy to pop up and over rocks and roots at the blink of an eye. That pep made it easier to navigate through some of the more awkward rocky sections of trail, along with tight switchbacks, the calling card of European riding – they didn't feel any more difficult than usual. While there's no denying that this is a long bike, I didn't have any trouble with slow speed maneuvering.
The new Reign certainly hasn't lost any of its downhill prowess, and the updated suspension layout makes its 160mm of travel feel better than ever. This is a bike that can be a big, rock smashing brute when necessary, but it's also capable of dancing through tighter sections of trail with a surprising level of finesse. As usual, all of this comes with the caveat that these are just initial impressions – two days of riding is enough to get a good idea of how a bike handles, but not enough to suss out all the quirks, or to comment on long term durability – that'll have to wait until we put in more miles on a wider range of terrain.
Some brands are spec'ing Star Trak handlebar/stem combos for more bucks.
The way I see it is that the market is complicated enough..this is exactly what the riders of these bikes Need. Simplicity
Looks great, will ride great...and offer enough models with a good spec and pricing is fair.
Those complaining about the price of these need a reality check - Giant is one of the most affordable brands out there. Direct-sales brands are killing the LBS.
The old models develop play in the system and don't have a smooth lever feel at their best.
Giants new lineup has revised dropper posts on some of their models. For instance, the cheaper stance/embolden models come with a completely redesigned externally routed post which runs smoother with tighter tolerances - haven't had any of the new internally routed ones come in yet, so time will tell. I would avoid the 2017 dropper posts, or ask for some extra $$ off of the old model if you find it in a shop due to the improvements for this year
John Penticton BC Canada
1.Can carbon be forged ? To me only metals can be forged but I'm not really a specialist in carbon
2. Are there other alloy versions than the SX ?
They look awesome BTW and I'm glad they didn't go for bigger is better like other brands.
The dough is then formed by being forced into shape ('forged') between two or more moulds and heated to cure the resin.
Avec les métaux on déforme (corroyage/écrouissage) et ça renforce la pièce : la microstructure est modifiée parce qu'on allonge carrément les grains dans la direction de déformation.
En composite : on peut juste tasser/orienter les fibres en "forgeant" la matrice (et les fibres incluses suivent).
Je trouve que c'est un abus de language, mais ya des points communs. Schéma/vidéo nécessaire pour expliquer plus
Sorry. Couldn't contain my inner geek.
It's a shame that people like you have very quickly forgotten what is to survive on minimum wage.
We need new down to earth riders to write these articles rather than overpaid "smart people"
This is not the EDGE OF MTB DEVELOPMENT.
Shimano is currently working on a way for DI2 users to share programs for shifting settings acording to an specific trail.
And soon a GPS linked automatic shifting , which is standard equipment on all new Rolls Royce cars.
I'll call that: The edge of mtb.
www.bikerumor.com/2016/04/28/carbon-bike-offers-inexpensive-lightweight-components-thanks-to-forged-carbon-construction
Maybe that's why Reigns have been cracking at the headtube?
Not sure why all the neg props Warhotdog. Could be indicative if our PB audience, at least the ones trolling, being a bunch of inexperienced Millenials?
Just looking out for the little guy
@TyranT21:
Good grief I hope you are wrong. I've worked with glass and resin quite a bit in my other hobby, boating. Chop strand is one of the weakest was to lay up glass and you would probably never see it used with carbon due to the high cost of the material. It is typically used for parts that need less structural strength, or when doing things on the cheap. Think bathtub, or on a boat, something like holding a seat platform in place. No part of a mountain bike is suitable for such a thing.
Putting it in a 'dough' as you suggest would be a difficult material to work with and you would end up with something very weak. What you don't want is a lump of resin with no glass to reinforce it. It is far too brittle.Glass and carbon (or kevlar, dacron, etc) layups get their strength from the interaction of the fibers and the resin. One without the other is fairly useless.
More likely, they are using multiple layers of cloth with continuous strands, then vacuum forming. This allows the exact amount of resin on the shape to be used, fills all voids, etc. Or, they are using the same multi-layered approach and then using a mechanical male-female press to create the shape, with vacuum to get the ratio of resin correct. A release agent is applied to the mold prior to lay up so that it can be removed cleanly without damaging the final product. Extra bits are cut off if needed and off you go.
Very interesting. So they are chopping, impregnating and extruding the material in a press to form the 'cloth', then heat catalyzing after it is in the mold, The economy at scale for that technique must be quite good since they only use the resin needed for a given square measure. It would also eliminate the need for vacuum bagging.
I was wondering if they have to use the chop vs continuous strand in order to get the material to form around the complex shape. A quick bit of Googling found this:
www.fibreglast.com/category/PrePreg_Fabrics
They are using continuous strand in the pics. I'd wager that is what is being used on bikes based on some of the photos and in persion carbon bits I've seen. My Ritchie bars are a good example of long strand lay up.
There were a couple years they killed the anthem 29er. I think they still had the XTC.
They definitely said 27.5 was the future even for XC. Now they have an updated anthem 29er that looks awesome, but they were wrong about people wanting a 27.5 xc race bike.
If I were in the market for a 160 bike I'd just buy a freaking Capra and have $ left over for a trip to Whistler. Done.
Anyway, my point is about what one reasonably needs and about the fact that buying what you can actually afford need not be less satisfying. Maybe it's also about getting old and learning how not to give a fock about the external pressure to consume for no good reason. I can afford this mofo, but I know I will gain very little from spending the cash apart from a fear of trashing the thing... I'm starting to wonder whether this post relates to anything mentioned above.
Interesting, didn't think they still had the 29er in 15&16. Thought I had the last year. I had a carbon '14 and an alloy '10. They were the same bike. It was a decent bike but twitchy.
www.giant-bicycles.com/us/reign-2-2018
Read more at www.velonews.com/2013/07/mtb/giant-goes-all-in-with-27-5-inch-wheels-in-2014-off-road-line_297570#fSo6gMU2Bcqr026o.99
Seems you are wrong. The internet doesn't forget.
What model year did Giant not make a 29er? Claiming they will go away and actually going away are a little different. Snagging a few sentences out of an article on the hopes that anothers reading comprehension is weak may work for some but it doesn't make you any more correct than Giant was about killing the idea of a bike with 29" wheels.
I'm a little curious where I was "wrong"? Are you telling me that I wouldn't be able to page through Giant sourcebooks from the last 3 or 4 years at the shop and find a bike 29" wheeled bike?
Time is a flat circle.
Feels weird that the st angle would make that big difference when you're standing on the pedals and the seat is lowered.
They specifically write that it happens when you go downhill. So I would say it can only be a tire clearance issue (which still doesn't make any sense to me...).
And as an owner of the 2015 Reign 1 with the dropper fully extended out of the seat-tube, i too am surprised at the fact they kept it the same. The old (current) design has an actual seat-tube angle of ~60°, the 73° number is a virtual angle based on the TThor. measurement.
With the Reverb fully extended on an L frame, i wouldn't be surprised if the actual angle is under 70° given the very low stack value and the actual angle of the seatpost.
I brought a new Giant Reign back in 2013. It had the words "Custom Fox Tuned Suspension" stickers all over the bike.
That frame had terrible leverage ratios, resulting in constant bottoming out (even when running zero sag). The matched Talas fork was famously incompetent too, with Fox australia never coming to the world wide "free upgrade/ recall" party. $4k wasted.
I mean yeah, bikes currently are longer and slacker, which requires a more central riding position, but that doesn't mean you don't get to hang your behind out the back anyways... And true, i am quite tall, but i really haven't ever had a tire buzz thing going with my behind, is this a common occurence with the seat being lower down (for smaller riders)?
So when you're out of the saddle and your body is moving all over the place relative to the saddle we're supposed to believe that they designed the bike with a slack seat angle for about 1.5cm of rearward saddle position?
Pure BS.
Having said that, a steeper ST would probably have been great for climbing.
If you're buzzing the rear tire then presumably the seat is down, at which point the STA is largely irrelevant.
It's also a bit odd they increased the reach so much without steepening the STA, as usually the two go hand in hand. Was a 25.2" top tube (on a large) just too cramped? Were riders really having to run a 65mm stem to get comfortable?
Also last years trance was the first giant to use the updated maestro, its now on the anthem and reign and I wouldn't be surprised to see it on the glory next year
Alot of the time riders have no idea how suspension setup works, some run 20-25% / and some ride 30-35%. Depends on where you live and what you ride. Almost every shock has some sort of lockout, right?
Now to the uphill performance, we live in a time where there is 11 and 12 Speed drivetrains with changeable chainrings..I'd bet mounting Eagle on a DH bike will get you up the hill...
I for one do not want a carbon back end...after a season of riding with no issues. For me, Aluminium rear Ends make sense.
As an experienced mechanic, I have seen quite a bit and most of these issues are due to lack of greasing, tightening and just generally checking the bike once and a while...
It's been a long time since I was on either a Stumpjumper or the Enduro, but the older models, to me, were not as efficient as the as the Trance and Reign. Then again, the Enduro did feel like it had more plush travel then the Reign.
I've owned numerous bikes over the years, generally always around the 150mm/170mm travel. Since 2012 a 1st gen Trek Slash 9 (the green machine), a Trek Session 88, Canyon Vertride 170mm travel and lately a carbon Nomad Mk I (another green machine).
So I test rode a 2016 Giant Reign Advanced 0, size large. I'm 5'9" 30" inseam. In theory I should have been on a medium. It was my mates, so I didn't have a choice. That bike is HUGE with a reach of 458mm (verses Nomad's 383mm, a 75mm difference i.e. 3" to you old money dudes!) and fitted with a 170mm reverb. I couldn't get the seat down to my usual comfort levels. So I was ridding a massively long bike with a seat up my backside.
Well I absolutely smoked all my usual technical trails i.e. rough and steep in sections (some of them are more DH than Scotlands official DH tracks) Anyway, I couldn't believe the difference a significantly longer front end makes. It simply wasn't an issue not being able to pop the front up. However, I did struggle in the tight steeper tree sections. I just could get my position right to twist around the trees.
A year later, after buying a medium Reign. The problem in the tight trees was simply due to the seat up my backside. Having lived with my size med, I now feel I want a size large, but was worried I wouldn't be able to fit a 150mm as it would bottom out on the pivot - BOOM! along comes the 2018 Reign with the a 15mm longer front on a size med. I'm a happy man :-)
So to all you doubters about long front ends. You need to at least test ride one (preferably on your own terrain). I will be very surprised to hear you don't like it........
PS the SA I don't have an issue with mine. But I think it would have made sense to make it steeper!
Really Giant? You had 3 years to improve on the design, and this is the best you could come up with? Really all you did was re-hash the old bike with an update to "the Standards". No carbon rear end? No improvement to the cable routing or plugs? Same old shitty chainstay protector? No change to the way your pivot bolts lock down to the bearings? No change to the size of the bearing to prevent from blowing out so quick? Did you do ANYTHING to improve on the massive amount flex in the rear end?
If you're going to charge that much for a bike, you have to give me worthwhile improvements to the frame over the bike from 3 years ago and the other competitors bikes. I could go out and buy a Nomad4, for similar pricepoints, but I'd have internally guided cable routing, a carbon rear end with custom molded chainstay protection, probably the best bearing preload system on the market and a lifetime warranty on the bearings, a better seat angle and a non-in-house seatpost (which sucks btw), a threaded Bottom Bracket, bolt on downtube protection, and depending on the pricepoint, carbon rims. Then they wrapped up in a package that has clean lines and immaculate paint. Giant, it looks like Hot Wheels came up with your paintjobs. We are adults, we want bikes that adults look good on, not for a 14 year old kid. And you can't keep releasing the same paint schemes that were on your bikes two years ago. :cough: Reign SX :cough:
@OzarkBike Foam inserts are great and all, but to have it designed into the frame is very doable with Giant's resources and materials, and much easier from a mechanic standpoint. I've reduced the noise on mine through multiple ways, ie zipties, rubber grommets, foam tubes, etc. But having worked on frames with built in routing, both the noise is significantly less than anything else, but also routing the housing isn't a such a chore. In addition, the plugs they use wear out quick, and look like garbage within a short time.
There are some welcome improvements over the last design, the Trunnion and Metric Shock, the one-piece link, lower leverage ratio, and routing for the shock lock-out and what appears to be a Di2 plug. But all of these changes wouldn't warrant going out and buying a new one, when the last design is still so close to this one. Take a look at the alloy bike and compare to last years; it appears they added a link and shock to match, boost, drilled a few extra holes in the frame, and ditched the FD mount. I could see this as a mid-generation release to update, but not after 3 years, as other bikes have been coming out swinging with their latest releases. Instead of putting themselves head-to-head with the competition, they have come out with a bike that should be dated in 2014 (how long have other brands been putting one-piece carbon links on their bikes?). This would be ok, as there are still a lot of brands still playing catch up, but as a bike manufacturing empire, their prices do not reflect the quality you would expect, when compared to Trek, The Big S, and SC, let alone YT and the others. And as far as the reach goes, 2 options: I really feel they could have expanded their sizing beyond 4 frames, and added an XXL. The height of Josh Carlson would explain the need for the increased reach without having to size up and reduce the height of a dropper post you could insert. But gapping from a S~425mm reach to M~460mm, then only L~473mm is absurd. OR I'd be ok with a 460mm reach on a medium but not with a 73 degree seat angle effective, and a ridiculously slack actual. The last gen already felt like you were pedaling from behind the rear wheel.
The bike is a really solid climber and can descend quite well even compared to my Supreme Operator DH bike which was a big surprise for me.
No complaints here.
Their Dropper posts are great...easy to install,replacable cartridges and value for money. Plus,great option for those wanting to upgrade their bike(can either run ex -internal)
Just grease the spot under the collar and the mechanism in the frame to keep dirt away. I liked mine...
I just hope that it will be possible to buy Liv Hail as a frame only option soon.
For me the Reign is a non-compromising racing bike for enduro and occasional bikepark laps and it is just fantastic. If I did not race I might be inclined to go for Trance which is super capable but more all-day one-bike-quiver type of bike. But when you need to just bomb it through rough rock gardens and root infested trails at race pace I would not want Reign to be anything less than it is really.
Also, i see 30 mm wide rims specced as standard, like on more and more brands. What size of tires is mounted on the new Reigns? I don't like this trend of ultrawide rims too much :/
If you got the same frame not once, not twice but four times..why didnt you just ask the Giant Dealer for a credit note instead of the same frame?
Surely that was an option...and any how, there are so many people that do not have a bike insurance(alot of XC riders do)..
All of the major players have a Lifetime Warranty, or at least crash replacement..but if some crashes or incidents are not covered the insurance surely will.
No Frame is indestructible and everyone knows that..Giants Warranty Service is pretty good, not the best but good
For longer travel bikes, I'd say get the aluminum one. Get the right (not just any) carbon bars for hand comfort, and carbon wheels if you really need to rail corners....who's with me? Is the demand for a higher spec aluminum bike going to vanish real soon?
Reach and stack are great for DH bikes, where you don't sit on the saddle much, but are otherwise useless.
So yeah, if you steepen the seat tube angle, the reach number will get much higher even if the TT length stays the same, since you effectively moved the BB backwatrds in relation to the seat and handlebars. Therefore the reach number lengthens.
But, with any bike that gets pedalled, so anything from an enduro bike all the way down to XC bikes, the actual seat to handlebar relationship is more important (with other measurements as well, as you note) simply due to the time spent in that position.
I don't know about you, but i ride my Reign (so i'm also well aware of how rideable long bikes are, even if not at the extreme) sitting down for 1,5 hours (okay, there are a few out of the saddle pedalling situations, but not many) and standing up, going down, for about 10 to maybe 15 minutes minutes on a normal afternoon loop. The amount of energy used in the sitting down position is even greater compared to the energy used while standing up.
Therefore it is imperative for any bike that gets pedalled to be optimised for this position, regardless of the amount of travel. These bikes are not DH bikes, these bikes get ridden up. And even sacrificing some performance while going down while gaining it going up will be a benefit since you'll be fresher at the top.
Also, i don't see how optimising the cockpit for the ideal pedalling position would damage the downhill aspect of the bike, since you can adjust the chainstay length, headangle and the suspension characteristics independently from the front triangle hardpoints. Yeah, it does affect the wheelbase, but like you said, even absurdly long bikes are still rideable.
Yet at 5’ 11”, Mr. Rude rides at 426mm of reach—maximized by slamming stem—https://www.pinkbike.com/news/richie-rudes-yeti-sb6-bike-check-ews-round-5-aspen-snowmass-2016.html. See also Callahan’s Cube geometry.
On other end of the spectrum, there’s Geometron, with its frequently slammed and downturned saddle and tiny stem. But hey, like a Shonky, it’s rideable. No single dimension overrides, but with one eye on reach, another on top tube, a third on wheelbase, and a fourth on application, desired geometry is attainable.
But to answer your question—this bike is stretched. A size M is about the same as a Large 2018 Nomad—except with a slacker STA because the tire hits your ass without the saddle there to block it? I admit to a shorter geometry preference for general trail riding and that replying to @Norski specifically is opportunistic, but I really don’t understand how this new Reign is supposed to fit.
Point to note, in road biking where effective TT and Reach was forcing everyday cyclists to flip stems and buy sub 100mm stems the industry released a whole new set of bikes with shorter reach and higher stack for normal weekend cyclists. The same companies make a lot of MTB's as well. Maybe the product range will split (already did at Canyon where the Strive was offered with a pro geometry).
but yeah, giant has gone crazy. the reach on a medium is 460mm, 10mm more than even the new kona process line, which is known of course for having long reaches. and not having a steeper STA to offset that makes absolutely no sense to me
One thing I can say the bike is perfect one of the best I ever had planning to buy the carbon frame and change just that.
All my friend are crazy about my Reign special after the Ohilins shock that was the best upgrade of my life they say to me they love when I put a picture of the bike alone.
A lot of hate here is from jealous riders that dream with a Reign and stay with this crap seat tube angle problem. No bike is perfect no one.
I will suggest you to buy one and don't stay borrow minder about Specialized or Trek... Giant have good prices for the perfect bike it is. There are better bikes? yes but more expensive.
Also it's got maxxis tires instead of the usual schwalbe, and maxxis ditched the yellow color for the occasion.
Also, i hardly ever use the compression adjust on both ends, mainly only on tarmac ascents, if i get to pedal out of the sadle. And comparing it to a Slash last year, i couldn't believe how much that thing bobbed. With it closed it bobbed more than my Reign did open in the rear. And i doubt it was to do with shock settings on the Trek too.
You could practically put your comment in every bike review here at Pinkbike.
Allow me...
Hope(insert every major bike brand here) have fixed their cracking frame issues
What?
Melt forged or cold forged im so confused.
mrblackmorescorner.blogspot.com.es/2017/09/giant-reign-2018.html
8200$ is a lot of coin for a half carbon bike. The value isn't there with these.
Giant as a brand, despite building bikes for the world has a brand a step below the other big companies. Adjusting for that you would expect a much better build and a much lower price. They are closer to Motobecane than Santa Cruz.
Glad to see them being at the forefront of geometry trends. You would think that because they build everyone elses bikes they would be on top of things.
ha, that's a bunch of garbage. only someone tricked by all of santa Cruz's marketing would believe that
Marketing or not, I have yet to meet anyone on a Giant who acts like the Apple Fanbois 98% of Santa Cruz riders are.
of course (as it sounds like you know) giant's bikes are as good as, if not better than santa cruz, but SC spends a bunch of money on marketing and cool paint jobs, so they get a lot of people who like pretty colors buying their bikes and thinking they are somehow better than a giant
No doubt what you consider "boutique" frame, bars, etc are often built by giant
Notice the pivot above the axle?
Giant uses a virtual pivot that pivots forward and above the BB and uses a one piece rear end (notice no pivot by axle).
You need to look more closely at bikes and not judge them by a silhouette taken 20 meters away.
Wait, maybe I'm clueless and Giant won....... The internet engineers win again!