First Look: Giant Updates the Entry-Level Full-Suspension Stance
Giant has released a new version of the entry-level full-suspension bike, the Stance. The bike rolls on either 27.5" or 29" tires and has more aggressive geometry than the old version. The head angle has slackened two degrees to 65.5°, and the seat tube angle was bumped up to 76.6°. This modernized version also gets a bit more travel than its forebearer, up to 125 mm, and the whole range is paired with Giant's own 140 mm Crest or STL fork.
Pricing and availability have not yet been announced, but we expect a budget-friendly price tag.
Pricing and availability have not yet been announced, but we expect a budget-friendly price tag.
Stance Details
• Aluminum frame
• 27.5" or 29" wheels
• 140mm fork
• 65.5° head angle
• 76.5° seat angle
• 415-500 mm reach
• 440 mm chainstays
• Pricing and availability not yet announced
• giant-bicycles.com
• Aluminum frame
• 27.5" or 29" wheels
• 140mm fork
• 65.5° head angle
• 76.5° seat angle
• 415-500 mm reach
• 440 mm chainstays
• Pricing and availability not yet announced
• giant-bicycles.com
This bike appears refreshingly simple in an industry that too often feels more convoluted than it needs to be. I appreciate the very streamlined decision-making around this bike, its colors, and its build kit, plus the relative accessibility that I'm expecting to see once prices are announced.
Clean and effective.
Geometry
The geometry seems to have been given just the update it has needed. The old version of the Stance looked a bit behind the times with a relatively steep head tube angle, slack seat tube angle, and short reach. All of that has changed. Now, the bike looks to be in solid all-around shape.
Flexpoint, ready for FlexAction.
Lots of Giant goodies on here.
Nice and clean.
One thing that made me smile is that Giant describes the bike as having "external storage space," which as I understand it is in contrast to the now-trendy in-frame storage. Out-of-frame-storage feels much like, well, almost everything else ever in the world, and I love it. To this bike's very real credit, generous bottle cage space and other storage spots - including under the top tube - for tools, etc., are exactly what we want to see.
Build Kits
The Stance range is relatively straightforward: two wheel sizes and two build kits for each. In addition to the Giant Crest fork, the build kits all also use the Suntour Raidon shock and lots more in-house Giant products: a stem, handlebars, wheels, saddle, and Contact Switch AT dropper post, which is frame-size-specific up to 170 mm.
As for US pricing and availability, that hasn't been announced. (I know, those might be the biggest questions you have. Sorry.) The older version of the Stance 1 retailed for $2,100, with the Stance 2 listed at $1,700, so hopefully the new version hasn't strayed too far from those more wallet-friendly numbers.
Update: We just got word that Giant Canada does have prices - $2,899 CAD for the Stance 1 and $2,299 CAD for the Stance 2. Those Canadian currencies are almost exactly the same as the old USD numbers, so that's another point in favor of the pricing looking familiar when these bikes hit the market.
Stance 29 1
The Stance 28 1 is the slightly pricier 29er model, available in the single color of 'Metallic Black.' That comes with the higher-end Crest fork, a SRAM SX drivetrain, Shimano MT420 brakes, and just a few other extremely subtle details, but the two models are much more similar than they are different.
Stance 29 2
The Stance 29 2 is the entry-level option, and that's almost exactly the same as the Stance, but, as the name suggests, the Stance non-descriptors-added comes with smaller wheels. The Stance / Stance 2 comes with Giant's entry-level fork, a Shimano Cues groupset, and the color options of 'Black Diamond' and 'Misty Forest.'
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It was pretty shitty of them to wait this long.
Made little difference. Unlike at the time it came out the Giant Reign/Trance and Santa Cruz line up were coming with boost forks and 142 rear hubs. Which was a far worse situation for a customer.
- Alighnemt. QR isn't the best or easiest to align correctly with disc brakes
It's funny how product managers spec models sometimes. Like this, the NX (hot garbage!) is a 'higher' spec than the impressive Cues groupset. I'll take LinkGlyde over SRAM any day.
For mechanical I'd probably put my preference as:
SX=>NX=>Microshift=>Cues=>Deore=>SLX=>GX=>X01=>XT=>XTR
Yes, 12 is a bigger number than 10. What really matter is range. The widest Cues cassette is 11-48T vs 11-50 SX/NX cassette. Pretty similar range. The 10speed shimano isn't going to force the owner to buy and learn how to use a DAG though. Eagle is notoriously picky, and the NX derailleur isn't as precise as the GX. I bought a DAG just because of my GX drivetrain.
12 >10 spd was meant to make fun of the reality the they have to spec bottom of the barrel 12 spd drivetrain over half decent 10 speed with effectively the same range just because 12 speed is current and 10 is not. Also there is not a hint of NX, all SX on the 29 1.
I might be wrong tho if they release price and it's like 3k lol
Hey, I am selling 2022 Trek Fuel EX 7 Gen 5 for 2700 CAD if you are interested. Much better bike than this hot garbage
I am also a fan of budget bikes…there’s a lot to be had at low- to mid-price these days.
I would say it's more of a replaceable starter fork than something you'd want to use long term.
It my ride better than a cheap RS or Marz, but still.... at $2100......
That means that regardless of how lightly it’s used, the strength will eventually decrease to the point it will fail.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_limit
Look at it, it's pretty beefy. Probably just some marketing name for the shock layout.
Merida trust it to offer their lifetime warranty on it, The shop i asked about havnt seen any failures over the past 12 months and they said theyve sold a sh1t load of 500 & 700 versions.
I'm gonna spare you the technical details but from an engineering and material science point of view, there's absolutely nothing to worry about here. Flex pivots on aluminium frames are completely fine.
Material fatigue in such an application isn't even nearly as much of a factor as you make it out to be. These frames don't have to carry a heavy load, there aren't any huge forces in effect relative to the amount of material used and these mechanisms typically don't bend that much. As a result the stress is fairly low and fatigue is absolutely minimal. You could ride this (or any alloy-frame bike) every day for years and wouldn't notice a meaningful decline in frame stiffnes by the end.
Again, this is completely fine. Provided the engineers at Giant did their math correctly, there's absolutely nothing to worry about.
This was not a press release, but a piece of PB generated content about a new product with editorial comments included, and the flex stay could have been put into context. Missed opportunity, I'd say.
Nothing fancy, always late to the party but reliable and dependable.
Don’t think they would release snap-ity stays.
I have a '89 4x4 that is still running strong on the original manual tranny/motor approaching 300k miles, I bought it for $5000 24 years ago. That's like a Giant.
Have you seen what a new Tacoma goes for these days!
Local shop has sold so many 500 models to kids and no issues.
Go watch a slomo video of an aggressive rider cornering with an alloy bike with conventional pivot chain/seat stays and see how much they flex all over the place.
Then, right after, watch a videos of a flexstay frame cycling through suspension travel and take not of how much flex is needed for that.
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