El Guapo or Giant Reign 2?

benchallinor

I'm really struggling to decide between these bikes. The specs look really similar apart from the Pikes on the El Guapo, but then it's £300 more than the Giant, which has a (own brand) dropper post.

What would you go for?

alexthebear

El Guapo is A LOT of bike for the money and it has Pikes. That's the game changer

Cookeh

Pikes are indeed better forks. But for the £300 difference, given thats about the only difference, you could get the Reign, and use the £300+sale of the Revelation to buy a Pike.

benchallinor

Cookeh wrote:

Pikes are indeed better forks. But for the £300 difference, given thats about the only difference, you could get the Reign, and use the £300+sale of the Revelation to buy a Pike.

Yeah I was thinking that, but what would be the benefit over just buying the El Guapo?

Cookeh

benchallinor wrote:

Cookeh wrote:

Pikes are indeed better forks. But for the £300 difference, given thats about the only difference, you could get the Reign, and use the £300+sale of the Revelation to buy a Pike.

Yeah I was thinking that, but what would be the benefit over just buying the El Guapo?

Honestly? Aside from the dropper, none. Just throwing another option into the mix.

Dropper may swing it for you, I dunno - never used one so cant comment on the impact they have (I do know they're pretty costly for a decent branded one, though).

rockmonkeysc

The Reign is an excellent bike. It pedals a lot better than the Titus. My mates El Guapo bobs like a ba5tard. The Giants rear suspension feels bottomless, its light enough for all day rides and the frame is absolutely bombproof.
There's nothing wrong with the Revelation, its lighter than a Pike. It does flex a little when really hammering a rock garden but not half as bad as some forks (Fox 32 Float 150mm).
The Pike is a very good fork but it has got a little over hyped recently and as mentioned above, you could sell the rev and get a Pike with that plus the £300 you saved.

KevChallis

I love my reign 2, only had it a week, but still love it, I haven't ridden many other bikes, I would go for the reign though, as it's £300 cheaper and I'm a cheapskate lol

But seriously, it feels like it doesn't weigh that much at all, feels nice to ride (once the horrible giant grips are changed), minimal bob uphill, and flies down hill, could do with wider bars and a brake upgrade, but at the end of the day, where do you stop lol

poah

the weight of the El Guapo seems a bit low :?

KevChallis

POAH wrote:

the weight of the El Guapo seems a bit low :?

It does, that's lower than some of the lighter HT's, frame only weight possibly?

poah

get the reign, sell the revs and get the pikes - I just bought a set of pikes from bike-discount for £500 (150mm) the 160's are only £10 more.

rockmonkeysc

I wish I bought a Reign instead of my old Reign X. Strangely the smaller, lighter Reign is stronger than the supposedly more burly Reign X and the way to fix the Reign X's weakness is to fit a standard Reign bottom link.

benchallinor

Nice to hear some first hand shouts for the Reign, leaning this way now.

The El Guapo is a nice looking bike though...

angry_bird

You'll be suprised how light the El Guapo is, doubt it's quite as light as they say there but mine is lighter than my brother's Cube Acid. I don't find it bobs badly at all, then again I've got it set up for me, I love it, rides brilliantly and I feel really bad that I don't get to ride it enough. The spec they're selling it with though it isn't that brilliant though, aside from the pikes and the RT3 (vs the RL of the Giant) it's not great.

If it were me though, as much as I love my EG I'd be reluctant to spend that much money with on-one again or actively encourage anyone to do so. I'm fairly fed up of them as a company, the bikes are great value but the customer support is very hit and miss and my past few experiences with them have been dreadful. It's even put me off getting one of their road bikes, I'd happily buy one of their cheap HT frames but when it comes to proper money I'd rather spend more and get a different brand from a more local shop.

Also, like someone has already mentioned, if you bought the reign, flogged the revs you'd be able to pick up some pikes for it for the price of the EG.

hainman

+1 for the Reign 2,I love mine,Its a superb bike,only thing's i changed was the sh** avid brakes for my XT's, and the Nobby nics for Rubber queens Black chilli,it climb remarkably well and comes back down like a demon,

KevChallis

hainman wrote:

+1 for the Reign 2,I love mine,Its a superb bike,only thing's i changed was the sh** avid brakes for my XT's, and the Nobby nics for Rubber queens Black chilli,it climb remarkably well and comes back down like a demon,

This will be my 2nd change I think, after the grips that have already gone lol

rockmonkeysc

I like Giant grips! Wider bars, better tyres and better brakes would be the first upgrades for me.

KevChallis

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I like Giant grips! Wider bars, better tyres and better brakes would be the first upgrades for me.

definitely personal preference lol, every time I went over a jump it felt like the bars were twisting, turned out it was the grips haha

Kowalski675

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I like Giant grips!

I liked mine, but they didn't last long - started falling to bits after a couple of rides.

Cookeh

KevChallis wrote:

hainman wrote:

+1 for the Reign 2,I love mine,Its a superb bike,only thing's i changed was the sh** avid brakes for my XT's, and the Nobby nics for Rubber queens Black chilli,it climb remarkably well and comes back down like a demon,

This will be my 2nd change I think, after the grips that have already gone lol

Had absolutely zero issues with my Elixir 1s. Been faultless, aside from a bleed when I bought the bike (2nd hand, guy I bought it off had never done any maintenance) I havent had to touch them at all and can endo with a single finger haha.

KevChallis

I just don't like the feel of the plastic levers, that's all, seem plenty powerful

97th choice

No point swapping the avids for the sake of it, just wait until they give bother.

Giant lock on grips got 10/10 in an mbr test, and less than a tenner to buy, only thing I find is that they wear at the thumb contact point.

Cookeh

KevChallis wrote:

I just don't like the feel of the plastic levers, that's all, seem plenty powerful

Plastics? Mine are metal. That's interesting.

KevChallis

Cookeh wrote:

KevChallis wrote:

I just don't like the feel of the plastic levers, that's all, seem plenty powerful

Plastics? Mine are metal. That's interesting.

I wouldn't have a problem if they were metal, but yeah, the plastic doesn't make me feel safe when I grab a load of brake lol

97th choice

I don't think they're plastic, I think it's just the finish makes them feel that way.

benchallinor

Well I ordered the Giant last night. Hopefully it'll be with me in time for the weekend! Cheers for all the comments and votes. I think I've made the sensible choice and gone with my head not my heart! Just need to look for some decent pedals now (and possibly new bars, grips, brakes, tyres...!)

KevChallis

97th choice wrote:

I don't think they're plastic, I think it's just the finish makes them feel that way.

Maybe you are right, but they do for an awful lot

KevChallis

benchallinor wrote:

Well I ordered the Giant last night. Hopefully it'll be with me in time for the weekend! Cheers for all the comments and votes. I think I've made the sensible choice and gone with my head not my heart! Just need to look for some decent pedals now (and possibly new bars, grips, brakes, tyres...!)

I can vouch for Superstar delta pedals, incredible feel, and no foot slippage on 4 solid hours of riding, everything else I would leave and try first

benchallinor

KevChallis wrote:

benchallinor wrote:

Well I ordered the Giant last night. Hopefully it'll be with me in time for the weekend! Cheers for all the comments and votes. I think I've made the sensible choice and gone with my head not my heart! Just need to look for some decent pedals now (and possibly new bars, grips, brakes, tyres...!)

I can vouch for Superstar delta pedals, incredible feel, and no foot slippage on 4 solid hours of riding, everything else I would leave and try first

Cheers Kev. What colour did you go for?! Not sure what goes best with green and grey.

KevChallis

I went for black, although the green when it arrives is a little more pale so the green pedals may look good

Cookeh

Wellgo MG1s are worth a look as well, as are their versions of the DMR V8/12

rockmonkeysc

The Welgo MG1's are the worst pedals I have bought.
Shimano Saints are available for around £35
Or get some XT spd pedals