Flow’s First Bite: Giant Glory 1


The not-so-minor details

Product

Giant Glory 1

Contact

Price

AUD4,299.00

Weight

17.30kg

Positives

New-school geometry.
Proven Glory reliability.
Great value for money.

Negatives

Not a great deal of suspension adjustability.

Us

Find our full review here.

The Giant Glory was once all over the downhill scene, like sesame seeds on a Big Mac. In the past few years, the value proposition of some of the Glory’s competitors has improved – bikes like the Specialized Demo, Norco Aurum, Trek Session have risen to challenge Giant’s dominance.

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The Glory retains the Maestro linkage which has underpinned Giant’s dual suspension range for many years now.

At the same time, the Glory was perhaps 12 months behind in terms of geometry development too. It was a little steep and short when compared to some of the opposition, and in the trend-driven world of downhill, this was enough to dampen the enthusiasm for the Glory a bit as well.

But Giant have fought back, not only improving the value of the Glory once again, but  completely revising the geometry too, slackening the bike out to 63-degrees up front and lengthening the front-centre measurement markedly.

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Cranks, brakes and shifting are all Shimano Zee.

At $4299 off the rack, the Glory 1 is kitted out with a full Shimano Zee groupset. This will be our first experience riding Zee, but early impressions are that it’s incredibly Saint-like (the rear derailleur is noticeably cheaper looking, but everything else is very similar). You’re also treated to FOX front and rear, with an Performance series 40R fork and RC2 shock. These items don’t offer the same adjustability as the more expensive Factory series fork and or RC4 shock, but that’s a tradeoff we’re certain many will be willing to make.

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The rear shock is FOX RC2, offering low-speed compression and rebound adjustability. The FOX 40 fork is similarly simple to adjust, with preload and rebound.

Alongside the Scott Gambler we’ve also got on test, there’s plenty of downhill riding to be done!

 

Them

With 8 inches of fully active Maestro Suspension mated to a lightweight, super-strong ALUXX SL frame with a co-pivot shock mount, Glory is the only bike in the world that can keep up with 2011 DH World Champion Danny Hart.

With geometry that’s tested and race-proven by Hart and his Giant Factory teammates, plus the stout OverDrive steerer tube design, which provides supreme front-end stiffness and control in the rough stuff, it’s the ultimate confidence boost for the most aggressive DH terrain in the world.

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