Giant Glory 27,5" - What's not to like?

TrumbullHucker · Aug 29, 2016

in on this thread

i really like the look of the black and blue carbon ones

kickstand · Aug 29, 2016

I haven't ridden a glory since a 26" version in 2013. and that was only for about 4-5 hours. I had zero complaints at the time. My wife also rode a Glory that day and she liked it quite a bit as well.

I have two friends I race/camp/ride quite frequently with that ride Glory's and they both really like them. One is carbon, the other is aluminum, they both run them with vivid airs and boxxer world cups or whatever version is the air spring. They're both fairly quick riders and seem to get along just fine with them on the east coast tracks we ride.

I have another friend who is still on the last 26" Glory and he loves the bike as well.

I really can't recall anyone having anything bad to say about the Glory.

Wuffles · Aug 29, 2016

It's a pretty good bike. I spent a couple of days on one up at whistler- it was pretty well composed and handled everything I threw at it. It never really called to me like a few other bikes (V10, phoenix, GGDH), but neither did it have glaring flaws (demo, tues). I think pretty much anyone would be happy with it, which in an of itself is a pretty big accomplishment.

... Oh, are we done with the bike media style reviews? Moar specifics?

Anyway, LR is quite progressive, but not as extreme as the Tues. 0.9 delta seems about right for a DH bike. Works extremely well with a coil shock, not sure I'd like an air shock on it. It pedals extremely well for a DH bike, one of the best I've ridden (not that it matters that much). Charging rough terrain is pretty smooth, very little pedal kickback. Geometry is pretty middle of the road for a DH bike, which is a good thing. The 460 reach on the large keeps things nice and stable, I was able to run a really short stem and feel comfortable at 6'0". All in all, probably the best experience I've had on a rental bike.

Probably wouldn't buy one myself, but I definitely think it would work for a lot of people.

spes · Aug 29, 2016

I had same Tues ltd bike L-size(Bos suspension). I'm same height as You, 190cm. I really liked that bike. My friend offered me nice deal of it so I sold it and bought Tues CF Comp 2015 L-size. It has bit more reach (45cm) than old alu version. Cf comp is great bike, better than old one. Better in corners and more pop on jumps and pumps. Might be that Rock Shox suspension works better for me. Mid stroke control was great in Bos but I couldnt get it feel right. I like that its so progressive. Rear is quite flexy too in carbon version, bit stiffer than old one. I'm not sure if would like it more if it was longer. It suits me very well for my riding. My enduro bike has longer reach (48cm) and I'm not sure if I would like Tues to be so long.

SuboptimusPrime · Aug 29, 2016

I'm sure the glory is a great bike, it def seems to check all the boxes. I've thought all the new giant stuff has looked pretty damn good this year. Since you asked, another very reasonably priced option is a GG/DH from Guerrilla Gravity. Large is 465mm reach which feels awesome--I'm 6'2" and finally feel like my DH bike fits correctly. Relatively speaking they are not too expensive, are not carbon and it is definitely a fantastic bike from a fantastic company. No idea whether how tough it is to get in Europe tho...

sbabuser · Aug 30, 2016

I vote xl Jedi (reach = 470). I loved my 2012.

Udi · Aug 30, 2016

The Glory is a very good bike kinematically.
I don't personally like the sizing (the medium is on the small side, but the wheelbase on the large is getting too long for a lot of non-european tracks - obviously not a problem for you, but is for many others) and the geometry is partially to blame for the sizing, since the 17.3" chainstay length forces a longer wheelbase for a given hand-foot distance.

I don't think any of these things are concerns for you (just for most other riders in the common ~5'11-6'0 bracket outside of EU). At your height and geographical location the longer WB is acceptable and by proxy the CS length is suddenly more appropriate too.

Suspension wise I think it's definitely superior to the YT Tues, the minor EOS digression is nothing compared to having things dialed everywhere else (which most other bikes don't).

So if the sizing / weight / geometry works for you then I'd say go for it.

tabletop84 · Aug 30, 2016

Udi said:
Suspension wise I think it's definitely superior to the YT Tues

why?

Gary · Aug 30, 2016

Udi said:
The Glory is a very good bike kinematically.
I don't personally like the sizing (the medium is on the small side, but the wheelbase on the large is getting too long for a lot of non-european tracks - obviously not a problem for you, but is for many others) and the geometry is partially to blame for the sizing, since the 17.3" chainstay length forces a longer wheelbase for a given hand-foot distance.

I don't think any of these things are concerns for you (just for most other riders in the common ~5'11-6'0 bracket outside of EU). At your height and geographical location the longer WB is acceptable and by proxy the CS length is suddenly more appropriate too.

Try riding the Medium with narrower bars but hang off the end of your grips? It promotes a riding style with a MOAR pronounced elbow bend.
Try it? go on... you might be surprised.

tabletop84 · Aug 30, 2016

Mo(n)arch said:
Just my two cents:
The Tues is known to have one of the most progressive rear-ends around. In my case this results in a somewhat unbalanced feel especially on take offs. The rear gives away too much travel at the beginning before the ramp up begins. Obviously I could work around this problem with a stiffer coil but then again this results in less usable travel.
This results in two behaviors: Plowing through rough terrain is actually awesome on this bike. On jumpy trails though, I am not that confident. This might be also a result by the slightly too small bike.
A few pros like Gee are riding these kind of setups with actually quite unbalanced bikes. For me it's not the ideal behavior, though. Also, you can't compare tackling WC tracks with a specific (the fastest) setup with the tracks we are riding on normally, which is a mixture of bermy bikepark tracks, single tracks and all out DH-tracks.

Did you ride it with anything other than Bos? I know Bos has this magic halo around them but especially with the Tues I heard and read a few things that the s-toy isn't ideal for this frame. It also sounds like you are searching for a frame with more mid-stroke support?

Sandwich · Aug 30, 2016

Mo(n)arch said:
This results in two behaviors: Plowing through rough terrain is actually awesome on this bike. On jumpy trails though, I am not that confident. \

this is so interesting to me because this is how I feel about my bike (a GT Fury) which has a fairly linear shock rate curve. It sucks on lips on lips and jumps, but in the rough it's impeccable. I'm not a gary/kidwoo bmxer, pumping off every rock, so my dentitic frame just hangs on and motors through the rough stuff.

ianjenn · Aug 30, 2016

GGDH.....

spes · Aug 30, 2016

Mo(n)arch said:
Just my two cents:
The Tues is known to have one of the most progressive rear-ends around. In my case this results in a somewhat unbalanced feel especially on take offs. The rear gives away too much travel at the beginning before the ramp up begins. Obviously I could work around this problem with a stiffer coil but then again this results in less usable travel.
This results in two behaviors: Plowing through rough terrain is actually awesome on this bike. On jumpy trails though, I am not that confident. This might be also a result by the slightly too small bike.
A few pros like Gee are riding these kind of setups with actually quite unbalanced bikes. For me it's not the ideal behavior, though. Also, you can't compare tackling WC tracks with a specific (the fastest) setup with the tracks we are riding on normally, which is a mixture of bermy bikepark tracks, single tracks and all out DH-tracks.

I think You should try Tues with other shock. I could't get mine work properly with Stoy. It's much better with Vivid coil. Idylle rare was good fork in midrange support but lacked smoothnes on roots and rocks. New Tues feels very solid and predictable on jumps and drops. I run 325 spring, about 27% sag. Bottom it sometimes on drops and g-outs, still very good in rough roots and rocks. You can feel end stroke progression and its not easy to bottom out but I like it. And its cheap

[/QUOTE]

Udi · Sep 4, 2016

Edit - actually having looked more closely, I think the axle path should really be more rearward on the Glory. Not terrible, but I think there are better options out there, it's a DH bike after all! @Mo(n)arch FYI.

tabletop84 said:
why?

This post explains why, you can probably guess which issues pertain to the Tues. That's not to say it's a bad bike at all, it's just that some frames do certain things better without really losing out anywhere for it.

To be very specific: I think the primary potential benefits are increasing stability and predictability without sacrificing bump absorption, and as a secondary benefit, a fully triangulated swingarm (edit: often, but not always) offers a superior stiffness/strength-to-weight ratio vs. horst/split/faux bar designs. On the former stability concerns, you really can't address these with shock choice / setup, and on any frame it's far better to address as much as possible kinematically rather than "leaving it to the shock", because using a shock to address kinematic issues is always a blanket fix (thus hard to target only the problem area, or to give enough magnitude of change).

It's probably obvious from my previous post that I don't own a Glory, just my blunt take on this particular comparison.

Also, for anyone who does own a Tues and has concerns about wallowing in the first half of travel (and/or potentially struggling to ever use full travel when set up correctly) - a good solution is actually an air shock - ideally running higher pressure and no volume reduction. Obviously the idea is to exploit the early stroke spring rate rise on the air shock to somewhat balance out the excessively high frame leverage there, while minimising progression as much as possible. Another good option is a fat-shaft RC4 with BV removed, max chamber volume (greatest IFP depth possible), and 150psi+ pressure. Not perfect solutions, but in my experience if you use a very carefully targetted setup, you can make most "decent" frames (which the Tues is) much closer to "very good".

spes · Sep 5, 2016

Thanks Udi for info! I would like to test Tues with air shock. Is Vivid air good for Tues?

So what downhill bikes are good in LR and axle path areas? And what is the best bike there is?

Udi · Sep 5, 2016

@spes
My default recommendation is usually the Float X2 since in my book it's probably one of the best current air shocks - but I usually wouldn't suggest air shocks at all, and the reason for suggesting one here is because we can use some of the poor characteristics of air shocks to counteract some of the poor characteristics of the frame. Given that, maybe using the best close-to-coil air shock isn't the best solution - but on the other hand I don't feel the Vivid air is a very good choice, so skip that. Perhaps choose between a Float X2, DVO Topaz, and BOS Void - regardless, just try to set it up initially with maximum (positive) chamber volume and set pressure so there is no more than 30% sag on flat ground, probably 33% at absolute max. This will be a good start.

I can't say which is the best choice for this frame without trying them or seeing spring curves, but I feel those three are solid options.

tabletop84 · Sep 5, 2016

Udi said:
This post explains why, you can probably guess which issues pertain to the Tues. That's not to say it's a bad bike at all, it's just that some frames do certain things better without really losing out anywhere for it.

To be very specific: I think the primary potential benefits are increasing stability and predictability without sacrificing bump absorption, and as a secondary benefit, a fully triangulated swingarm always offers a superior stiffness/strength-to-weight ratio vs. horst/split/faux bar designs. On the former stability concerns, you really can't address these with shock choice / setup, and on any frame it's far better to address as much as possible kinematically rather than "leaving it to the shock", because using a shock to address kinematic issues is always a blanket fix (thus hard to target only the problem area, or to give enough magnitude of change).

It's probably obvious from my previous post that I don't own a Glory, just my blunt take on this particular comparison.

Also, for anyone who does own a Tues and has concerns about wallowing in the first half of travel (and/or potentially struggling to ever use full travel when set up correctly) - a good solution is actually an air shock - ideally running higher pressure and no volume reduction. Obviously the idea is to exploit the early stroke spring rate rise on the air shock to somewhat balance out the excessively high frame leverage there, while minimising progression as much as possible. Another good option is a fat-shaft RC4 with BV removed, max chamber volume (greatest IFP depth possible), and 150psi+ pressure. Not perfect solutions, but in my experience if you use a very carefully targetted setup, you can make most "decent" frames (which the Tues is) much closer to "very good".

In general you're right but in fact the tues isn't that progressive. In it's beginning travel its a tad degressive and then it gets linear and then progressive but not really progressive. It might be more progressive in that part of the travel than some bikes though. And yes it always depends on the shock-type and preferrence / riding style.

I think the tues frame got designed around the ccdb and works really good with it. (But with other shocks too obviously when you think of the team).

That the rear-end flexes might be true for some people. I read it a few times but personally I never noticed it being to flexy and it doesn't came up in reviews so I doubt that its an issue. Same for wallowing or travel usage.

kidwoo · Sep 5, 2016

Mo(n)arch said:
Giant Glory 27,5" - What's not to like?

After watching a buddy break the headtube almost off of his plastic one last summer and giant wanting 800 bucks for a replacement on a new frame, I'd say that's something I wouldn't like. They insisted the only thing that would do that is a crash.....it wasn't. Very poor line choice yes, but not a crash.

I rode the last iteration 26" one for a day and really liked it. At 165lbs, even I thought the rear end flexed too much. It was fairly stuttery any time I'd get into any sort of drift. Other than that, I thought it did everything pretty well. I haven't seen a newer aluminum one so I don't know if they beefed up the rear end or not.

norbar · Sep 6, 2016

tabletop84 said:
In general you're right but in fact the tues isn't that progressive. In it's beginning travel its a tad degressive and then it gets linear and then progressive but not really progressive. It might be more progressive in that part of the travel than some bikes though. And yes it always depends on the shock-type and preferrence / riding style.

I think the tues frame got designed around the ccdb and works really good with it. (But with other shocks too obviously when you think of the team).

That the rear-end flexes might be true for some people. I read it a few times but personally I never noticed it being to flexy and it doesn't came up in reviews so I doubt that its an issue. Same for wallowing or travel usage.

Wait what?

It uses too much travel early but that's not because it's "degressive"

Also the coil CCDB is actually a rather poor choice for the problem it faces early in the travel. Though I like the 2014 Tues I rode but it was a tad oversprung and I was forced to ride it slowly (my mate is very precious about his bike)

Peregrinebikes · Sep 6, 2016

This has been a very interesting thread, partly because of hearing how people have felt how some of these popular framesets triangulated swing arms are flexy because some have worried that our design is flexy.

But for a dedicated DH rig, have you thought about something with a rearward axle path? Bump absorption is incredible, night and day difference. The Jedi or the new Commencal DH V4. Although sizing may not be to your liking.

Wuffles · Sep 6, 2016

Peregrinebikes said:
This has been a very interesting thread, partly because of hearing how people have felt how some of these popular framesets triangulated swing arms are flexy because some have worried that our design is flexy.

I think people are talking about frames without fully triangulated rear ends, like any of the Horst link bikes (Demo, Tues, TR500, Sender, etc...) are flexy in comparison with single piece rear ends (V10, Phoenix, Glory, etc...). Unless I'm totally misreading your commend due to alcohol.

Peregrinebikes · Sep 6, 2016

You can have a fully triangulated swing arm and have it still feel flexy. The attachment links, material thickness, etc will have influence even on the Glory's rear end. I havn't spent anytime on the newer ones, but rode a buddy's a few years back, didn't feel any stiffer than the TR450 I was riding. One thing to be sure of is to ride the same wheel set, tires and pressure, between different bikes before determining the it is the rear end that is flexy.

Udi · Sep 7, 2016

@Peregrinebikes
I do agree with you - I said a triangulated swingarm offers a better *ratio* of strength/stiffness to weight. I should have said "can offer", since as you said it's not neccessarily so, and there are plenty of triangulated-yet-poor examples. Will edit that.

The TR450 is a very stiff frame and does have a triangulated/closed rear end (PS. @Wuffles the TR500 is a singlepivot too, a nice stiff one in my book). I know Giant make plenty of frames that lack stiffness in this area so it's definitely not the golden standard by any means. However their frames are also very light - so these things need to be considered together. Of course you can make any frame design stiff if there is no restriction on mass!

Compare the frame weight between a Glory and the Commencal V4 you suggested for example - I think the latter is a very cool bike, but there's also a vast difference in mass - I think for a fair comparison this needs to be mentioned so that a rider can make an objective choice based on what's more important to them. I can already tell you for a fact that the V4 is completely useless to the OP anyway, since the XL size is barely big enough for a rider 5'10 - 6'0, so for 6'3 it fails on the main count he's changing bikes for.

EDIT -
I need to correct myself on two counts here:
1. For the sake of objectivity, I just tried both the 2016 Glory AL and 2016 Glory ADV carbon frames, and they aren't *particularly* stiff in the rear end. Maybe still better than the YT the OP is upgrading from, but other bikes are stiffer than the Glory for sure (I still like the frame).
2. Just checked the frame weight on the V4 and supposedly it's 4.1kg without shock (doesn't specific size), not amazing, but not bad either for a very cool and original frame design. As above, not big enough for OP, but would probably happily ride one myself.

Peregrinebikes · Sep 7, 2016

@ Udi, those are points that deserve some clarification as far as frame stiffness and design go. If you like at our design, it is similar to a TR450 but flipped and far as linkage and pivot placement. The TR450 pushed the link, ours instead pulls the link. The TR450 used a triangular shape, we essentially took what you would use as two seperate tubes of the triangle, used one that is larger but equal as far as mass goes, and did the moto style swing arm.

Em_Ef_Er · Sep 7, 2016

I currently am riding the 2015 Glory 0 and overall I like it... I'm 5'9" and riding the large and couldn't imagine sizing down with the way it rides. Even though it does feel a bit long in the CS dept it handles super steady in the air and plows through rock gardens.

weedkilla · Sep 7, 2016

Interesting reading on people's thoughts on highly progressive bikes. Something not mentioned, that I have noticed, is the need for really good high speed rebound control/adjustment.
I jump like a squid, but if a bike ramps up deep in the travel I struggle with getting kicked on lips if I can't wind in a heap of high speed rebound.

Giant Glory 27,5" - What's not to like?

Turbo Monkey

trumbullruxer

Turbo Monkey

Monkey

Chimp

Turbo Monkey

Turbo Monkey

RM Chief Ornithologist

Turbo Monkey

Monkey

Turbo Monkey

my pronouns are hag/gis

Monkey

Pig my fish!

Turbo Monkey

Chimp

Turbo Monkey

RM Chief Ornithologist

Chimp

Turbo Monkey

RM Chief Ornithologist

Monkey

Artisanal Tweet Curator

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause

Monkey

Monkey

Monkey

RM Chief Ornithologist

Monkey

Chimp

Monkey