#233 - Changes to my Reign

Below are the changes I have been doing to my Reign.

The changes that I have done (and still doing) hopefully

makes my Reign easier to handle.

L-R : Thomson Elite Setback 30.9mm cut to 375 mm length
stock Anthem Giant setback seatpost 30.9mm 375mm length
Giant Switch R 30.9 mm 375mm length

SeatPost

I have to be honest. One of the things that made me buy

the Reign 1 is the dropper seatpost. However, I have brought

my Reign to several trails around Singapore and the thing is

I seldom use the dropper seatpost. In fact, I couldn't get

used to the notion that before any steep downhill section,

I have to press the remote and bump my saddle down

with my butt... not to mention the things that I read on

the net about dropper posts failing at the most ill

opportune times. This has even led me to bring a separate

seatpost in my bag. Do you know anyone who has

a spare seatpost in his bag?

Anyway, above are my 3 choices for the seatpost.

Although the Thomson is the lighter choice,

I chose to go with the Giant seatpost that came

with my Anthem. I find the setback style of

Thomson ugly hehehe.

Fulcrum Red Metal 10 with Ashima 160mm
Airotor (claimed weight 85g)

Width of the Fulcrum Red Metal 10 is 19mm

Stock Giant wheelset comprised of DT Swiss E540
rims + Shimano M525 hubs ... not sure what the
spokes are. The brake rotor is by Avid.

The stock wheelset is 22mm in width



Wheelset

This is a very important component. It is always

wise to save weight on anything that spins.

The easier and more expensive way is just to order

a set of ZTR Flows + Hope hubs + DT Swiss spokes.

But having just paid for a whole bike, I don't have

the money for a new set of wheels ... maybe for

my birthday ?! Ahem ahem.

I have 1 set of Fulcrum Metal 10s lying around with

a pair of Ashima Airotors. Looking at the stock wheelset

and my spare wheelset, I thought that the Fulcrums will

be a lot lighter. However, the weight difference is just

a 100grams plus! I then measured the inner width of the

rims and found that the Fulcrums are 19mm and the

stock wheelsets are 22mm ... hmmm I think for this

one, any weight savings will be offset by the effects

of a skinnier rim ... and so in this case I decided to

go with the heavier wheel BUT I changed the

Avid 160mm rotor to Ashima Airotors.

Stock Avid 180mm front rotor

XT 180mm front rotor

Brake Rotors

One day, while loitering around Hup Leong, I saw

these 180mm XT disk brake rotors on offer for 50%

off. I can't remember the exact price but I paid just

20$ odd (23$? 26$? around there).

When I got home, I immediately weighed them. I also

took off the stock Avid 180mm rotors to see their weight.

As you can see, the Avids are lighter ... but since (1) I already

took them off, (2) the XTs are nicer, and (3) it would be a

shame if I don't use them, I attached the XT rotor to my

front wheel. Did I notice any difference in braking? Let's

call a spade a spade ok? No difference!

Don't do this. I can't find a post to post 180mm
adaptor for the rear brakes so I tried this.

This is the change that made a lot of difference!

Since, I now have a 180mm Avid lying around, I decided

to use it on the rear. I searched high and low for an

adaptor for Avid Elixir brakes that will make me

mount a 180mm rotor on the rear of a post mount

frame. I can't find any. I then took some very long

screws and added spacers to it until the brake calipers

clear the rotors. Success! I went to BT and Rooty

Trail, verryy nice (<== said like Borat).

On the way home, I went to Tay Cyles at Bukit Timah

and had a chat with one of the mechanics there. I was

willing to pay Tay Cycle BT price (which is very high)

as long as they can give me a post to post mount for

180mm rear brakes. They don't have any. The mechanic

also told me that it is not a good idea to do what I just did.

He said, yes it will work, then slowly, the screw holes

will loosen and then it will be bye bye screw holes

... and since the screw holes are post mount ... then

bye bye frame.

After that, I quickly went home while consciously using

just the front brakes (hehehe) and after I rested, I quickly

dismantled my 180mm modification. Now I'm back to

using a 160mm Ashima Airotor at the back :(

Left is 11-36 10spd SLX cassette, Right is 11-36 10spd XT cassette

The pic above is just for info. I didn't change my cassette

to XT... which is just as well since the scales say it is just

around 30grams lighter than the SLX cassette that I have.

A low mount FD should be the solution for the chain rub
issue that I was facing. BUT, take a look at the areas pointed
to by the arrows. I think the suspension will hit them when
it compresses ...



Just a little bit of a backgound, the Reign 1 2012 came

with a triple ring SLX crankset. The rings are 40T-32T-24T.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I noticed that I very seldom

use the 40T on the trails since the Reign is heavier than my

usual XC bikes. I took out the 40T and substituted it with

a bash guard. After that, my biggest chainring became 32T.

I cycle to whichever trail I go. If I am alone, I can

take my own sweet time. But when I am with the 'peloton',

it is very difficult to keep up with just 32T as the biggest

chainring. ALSO! If you notice, the smallest chainring

is now 24T. Last time, I used 22T. So now, I have

a lower than usual gear for the road AND a higher than

usual gear for the trails ?! What do I do?

Good thing I have this 2 chainring SLX lying around :)

and so, I took out the new SLX and in went the old

2 chainring SLX in it's place. For those of you who

are wondering, yes, the old SLX is for a 9 speed drivetrain

BUT it will work with a 10 speed front shifter AND

it will also work with a 10speed chain.

The problem now is that when I shift to 22T, the

chain rubs on the lower part of the FD cage.

This is what I was trying to solve with the photo above.

I tried to use a low mount, 9 speed XT FD on the Reign.

but as you can see, although, it is ok to mount, it seems

that there will be problems when the suspension is

compressed. See photo above.

Top left : I had to mount the FD at the lowest point possible
Top right : Now when I shift here ...
Bottom : ... the chain does not rub any more

 In the end, I went back to the original FD. I mounted

it to the lowest possible point and after a few magic

incantations the chain now clears the FD cage when

I'm using the 22T chain ring (see arrow in photo above).

However, note that if you cross chain, say, use 22T in

front with 11T at the back, then for sure you will have

chain rub issues.

... and last but not the least,

we debunk Giant's OverDrive2 standard.

Background again, please read this article from BikeRadar.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Giant seemed to have this

burning desire to be different thus creating a new standard

called Overdrive2 which means the upper part of the steerer

is supposed to be 1 and 1/4 inches while the bottom part

remains as 1 and a half inches. I even bemoaned the fact

that since the steerer is now bigger, the rest of the stems

that I have will no longer work.

Then this morning, Deck popped me in WhatsApp

saying : hey, our fork steerer can accept the normal

sized stems. This text was followed by a picture showing

his fork's steerer being 'pinched' by his digital calipers.

I said he must be dreaming. Wait a while and I will show

him the error of his ways.

I took out the top cap of my fork followed by the

OverDrive2 spacers. I then took a normal sized carbon

spacer and tried to push it onto the steerer of my Reign

fork expecting that the steerer will not go thru the spacer.

But it went thru !!! Huh?!?!

See the pictures below. It seems that the only thing

that is sized 1 and a quarter inches here are the spacers.

The steerer is normal sized!

I immediately ditched the Giant 70mm stem and

replaced it with a Spank Oozy 50mm stem :)

Top spacer is stock Reign. See gap pointed to by the arrow.
Bottom spacer is normal spacer. Note that steerer is supposed
to be 1 inch AND a quarter.

Left is a pic of a normal spacer. Note absence of gap.
Right is spacer from Reign 2012. Note presence of gap.



#226 - Giant Reign 1 2012

The cat's out of the bag :-) After four years of begging

for an All-Mountain bike, Santa Claus (AKA my wife)

has finally relented and so I got a Giant Reign 1 2012

for Christmas !

I took my own sweet time before I started any sort

of  'review' for this bike. To date, I have brought this

bike to four offroad rides (mainly in Rooty Trail) and

one city ride where I descended on all the stairs that

I could find from Kallang PCN up to Boat Quay.

But still, I think I have barely scratched the surface

of what this bike can do (especially the DH part).

Ok, let's start.

Fork - the bike came with a 150mm RockShox

Revelation. This is the RLT version and it comes

complete with lockout and a negative air spring.

The front wheel is connected to the fork using

Frankentein's favourite - a big screw! Also, the

steerer is now  1 1/4" at the top and 1 1/2" at

the bottom.  This promises unheard of stiffness

in the steering department. However, God help

you if ever you need a different length stem or

if ever you need a new stem.

Rear Shock - Giant equipped the bike with

a Monarch RT. Up to this day, I'm still scratching

my head about this shock. This is the picture of

the shock from RockShox's website. If you notice,

the blue lever on that picture is missing from the shock

that I have on my bike. In place of the blue lever, is

a gold dial which is something like a blow-off valve.

Now, on my Reba (and the Revelation fork on this bike),

you lock the fork and then you set up the blow-off

using that gold dial. So I am wondering how I'm

going to use this gold dial on the shock when I can't

lock the shock in the first place???

GroupSet - funny thing that I had my first taste

of a 3x10 speed groupset (SLX) on an AM bike

instead of a CrossCountry bike. My 3x9speed

SLX has never let me down since 2008 and

I expect the same from the 3x10speed version.

Brakes - The brakes that came with the bike

are Avid Elixir 5s. The brake disks are 180mm

in front and 160mm at the back. These brakes

seem to lack in the braking power department.

I am used to SLX brakes with sintered KoolStop

pads and these Elixir 5s are nowhere near the

power of that setup. The good thing though is,

I'm not sure how it happened, but I tend to brake

more using the front brakes with this bike. If I

have powerful brakes that may send me straight

to Endo City. So, all in all, I don't see any issues

with the brakes (yet).

Wheelset and tires - The rims for this bike are

DT Swiss E540 (which as the name implies are

540grams in weight). The front hub is Giant's own

15mm Tracker hub. The rear hub is a Shimano

Deore number. The tires that came with the bike

are Maxxis Minion DHF 2.35 (F) and Maxxis

High Roller 2.35 (R). However, knowing how

anorexic Maxxis tires can get, I decided to change

the tires to Kenda Nevegal 2.35 Stick-E compound

for both front and rear (hehehe bad move).

SeatPost and Saddle - Giant has been equipping

their bikes now with Fizik saddles. My Anthem came

with Fizik Tundra, I can't remember which saddle came

with Paolo and Bal's Trance (surely Fizik, but which model?),

and now my Reign came with Gobi. The seatpost is the

new Giant Switch telescoping seatpost with Remote.

What disturbs me is that the Reign 0 (the next highest

model for Reign) comes with a Joplin seatpost.

The Joplin seatpost, if you believe all the reviews

on the net, must be the worst ever telescoping seatpost

of all time... and it is not cheap! So when Giant

equips their Reign 0 with Joplin and Reign 1

with the Switch, what does that mean???

Having that in mind, for the first 2 rides, I brought

a spare Thomson Elite seatpost with me

jussstttt in case.

Stem and HandleBar - As I mentioned before, Giant

seem to be having this overwhelming urge to be different

and so the fork steerer is now 1 1/4". It follows that the

stem is also that size and the length is 70mm with 8 degree

rise. If this does not suit you, then you might be out of luck

as I think only Giant manufactures this size of stem.

The handlebar is the exact same handlebar that

came with my Anthem. This is another head scratcher

for me as I find it odd that Giant chose to equip their

XC bikes with the same handlebar as their AM bikes.

What does that mean? Does it mean that the bar is

sooo wide for XC that Giant expected us to cut

down the bar? But I didn't cut down my bar.

Is that wrong then?

Anyway, that's the rundown of the bike specs and

so we now go and ride!

Changes

1. The moment I sat on the bike, the first thing that I

felt was ... this bike's handlebar is soooo 'tall'. Coming

from an XC background, I can't stand this. I took all the

spacers from under the stem and placed them all on top.

The stem is now at it's lowest. BUT the handlebar still

felt 'high'. I complained about this to SR Deck and he

told me that since the stem has an 8degree rise, I should

go and flip the stem upside down.... I said ... uhhh that

might result on some weird and funky steering traits

so I better not do that.

2. I thought that when I press the remote for the seatpost,

my bum will just go down? No? It didn't do that. I 

thought I got a lemon. In the end, I realised I had to

give the seatpost a bit of a 'nudge' before it will go down.

Going up is nice and smooth though.

Now, off to the trails :

3. Tires - I thought I was going to pass out !  The decision

to change the original tires to 2.35 Stick-E Nevegals

was definitely wrong! They were sooo draggy! After

just one trail ride, I changed back to the original tires

and I am now even contemplating on putting on 2.1

Crossmarks at the rear when all the mud dries up in

Rooty Trail.

4. I used the Switch Seatpost for two rides, it was

very nice to ride with the saddle lowered all the way

when going downhill BUT I find that there is actually

no need to lower the saddle that much in our trails.

So after 2 trail rides, I took off the Switch seatpost

and changed it to a setback Thomson Elite seatpost.

The bike is not just lighter now, my backpack is

lighter as well since I don't have to carry a spare

seatpost.

5. The steering is very twitchy! Is it because I lowered

the stem too much? Anyway, lowering the stem seems

to have helped in the climbing department and so I will

not put back the spacers under the stem. ... and so I

went hunting for a 700mm handlebar ... not just a normal

700mm handlebar, it has to be low-rise (stock Giant bar

has a 19degree rise), in fact I know that there are wide

straight handlebars (e.g. Sunline) ... but it has to be cheap

too hehehehehe. Lo and behold, when I went last Saturday

to Hup Leong's X'mas Sale, I saw a ControlTech 700mm

flat bar that only costs 66$ before discount! I got that!

Lucky, since it was the last piece. See picture above

comparing the ControlTech straightbar with the original

Giant bar.

6. Did I mention that the bike does NOT come with

pedals? Yup, you need to fork out more money to

get pedals. Nice thing that I have a pair of new XT

Trail Pedals lying at home just waiting for this bike.

7. Lastly (whew!), there are lots of fallen trees

in our trails nowadays due to the never ending rain.

After two trail rides, I noticed that I have been using

my biggest chainring more as a fallen tree crampon.

I use the biggest chainring when I'm on the road going

to the trails but I never utilise the 11T on my cassette.

So I thought the biggest chainring had to go! Good thing

there are some cheap and good bashrings at Hup Leong's

sales bin. I got a black MRP bashring for 28$ and

I installed it myself at home.

That's all! I am very happy with the changes I made.

I went to go for a trail ride yesterday (Sunday) and

everything was almost perfect ... I said almost because

... my wheelset seems to be heavy? (evil laughter ensues.....)