Chameleon Saturn is the name of the dazzling green hue found on the Giant Reign. It hands- down won the best paint award, and combined with Giant’s new Tensio design language, which imparts the frame with beautiful flowing lines, creates a very handsome machine. It feels like one of the most expensive bikes Giant makes, and also has the dubious honor of being one of the priciest bikes at this year’s Bible.

We know we’re starting to sound like a broken record when it concerns geometry, and this will be no exception, as the Reign boasts all our favorite modern numbers. Almost. The 65-degree head angle and 76.8-degree seat angle are right where we like them, but the long 493-millimeter reach (size large) befuddled us a wee bit. The medium measures 455 millimeters, so that leaves a massive 38-millimeter gap between the two sizes. Giant defends these numbers by explaining that the steep seat angle negates the extra reach, but that’s only true while seated. And Giant still comes to the table longer than other bikes with similar seat tube angles in this travel category. To be clear, this is not a bad thing, just different and requires a touch of acclimating.

Photo Credit: Margus Riga

The Maestro suspension delivers 146 millimeters of rear travel, which is a narrow focus between trail and all-mountain. Obvious comparisons in this travel range are the Santa Cruz Hightower at 140 millimeters and the Yeti SB150. The Santa Cruz is more trail-focused, while the Yeti is more all-mountain/enduro. More obvious is the 145-millimeter Ibis Ripmo—consider it high praise that we’d call the Reign a comparable bike.

The frame is stunning, and comes with a lifetime warranty, but the real standout is the additional two-year no-questions-asked crash replacement warranty. If running out of talent is a regular occasion for you, definitely put this on your radar. Underneath the good looks, the frame drew criticism for its unrefined cable management; at this price, it should be internally tubed. Nine-thousand dollars buys you an X01 SRAM kit and top-spec Fox Factory suspension. You also get Giant’s carbon wheels, a solid choice, however in a landscape in which carbon wheels routinely come with lifetime warranties, Giant’s two-year warranty isn’t up to snuff. We are fans of the EXO+ casing they chose for the Maxxis tires, it’s nice having something a little tougher without paying the weight penalty you get with Double Down casings. There are a couple of wonky spec choices worth mentioning though. We like the Reverb dropper, but on a large frame that boasts copious room for long droppers, why only a 150? And the 34-tooth chainring may require a swap if you live anywhere with mountains. We weren’t quite as picky when assessing the build on the adequately spec’d $5,000 Advanced 1 build. There’s not a lot of compromise for saving $4,000.