New Giant Glory pays tribute to Rob Warner, Myles Rockwell and Danny Hart with Legends paint scheme

Giant revamps its Glory downhill bike with updated kinematics, more adjustability and a lighter composite frame

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By Luke Marshall

Published: June 6, 2023 at 5:00 pm

Giant has unveiled the latest iteration of its Glory downhill bike for 2023.

The new Glory downhill bike still uses the brand's Maestro suspension platform, but it features updated kinematics for improved suppleness and progression.

The bike should need no introduction. Think of Danny Hart winning the 2011 downhill world championships in Champéry Switzerland and you’ll have a clear picture of what the Giant Glory has always been about.

New for 2023 is a carbon frame and increased adjustability. There are three flip chips, with bottom bracket and head tube adjustment, and reach and chainstay length adjustments.

The new lighter-weight frame is compatible with 650b and 29in rear wheels. It comes as standard with a mixed-wheel setup.

There is one model available, the Glory Advanced at £7,500/$8,000/AU$11,499, with European pricing to be confirmed. The Glory Advanced Legends Edition frameset with a Fox fork and shock costs £6,000/$6,200/AU$8,999.

This is the fifth-generation Glory. The 2023 bike has been redesigned and for the first time in its history, there's a fully carbon frame available for purchase.

Refined over the last two years, Giant says the frame uses its Advanced grade carbon fibre, constructed in its own carbon production factory. Giant claims this has enabled it to build a lighter, stiffer and quicker Glory than ever before. An S/M frame size is claimed to weigh in at 3.2kg.

The new carbon frame features Giant's MegaDrive box-section down tube. This oversized rectangular down tube profile is said to increase lateral and torsional stiffness to improve steering precision and pedalling efficiency.

The new frame upper rocker also benefits from a high-pressure moulding process used to produce the hybrid aluminium and carbon fibre link, which Giant claims is lighter, stiffer and stronger than aluminium alone.

The frame uses a downhill 12x157mm rear-hub standard. Giant also states the frame isn't compatible with a 2023 or earlier RockShox Boxxer Ultimate or Select fork. This is likely because in some geometry settings, the fork crown doesn't have enough space to clear the head tube.

Along with the new carbon fibre frame, the biggest update is the Glory's new adjustability. Through changeable headset cups, you can fine-tune the reach and front-centre lengths by –5mm, standard, and +5mm, giving you three positions to choose from.

This is similar to the design on the Canyon Sender CFR. This could be useful in setting up the bike for individual tracks, or to perfect your position on the bike if the stock setting isn't quite perfect for you.

The chainstay flip chip alters the length of the rear centre by 10mm. In the short setting, this is intended to liven up the ride and give quicker, more agile handling. In the long setting, the bike should have better stability for high-speed, open courses.

There's also a third flip chip in the main rocker. This features a three-position chip that slackens the head tube angle in 0.4-degree increments. It also lowers the bottom bracket in 5mm drops, from the bike's high setting.

These variations result in 18 possible geometry charts, enabling riders to find what works best for them. That's without mentioning all the charts for the compatible 29in rear wheel.

Let's not bore you with 18 geometry charts. For the stock 27.5in rear-wheel bike, here are the key figures of the new Glory and how the flip chip settings change these.

There are three sizes available: S/M, M/L and L/XL. Most dimensions look contemporary without being overly aggressive, all except a very slack head tube angle even for downhill bikes.

Reach values start at 445mm for the S/M bike. These will end up 4mm shorter or longer once the headset cups are fitted, so range from 441mm to 449mm.

For the M/L, these figures are 461/465/469mm, and on the L/XL increase to 482/485/489mm, respectively.

Seat tube lengths are 430mm on the S/M bike and 450mm on the M/L and L/XL, so riders should be able to choose between sizes if they want to.

For the S/M frame, head tube angles are changeable between a slack 61.6 degrees, 61.9 degrees, and 62.3 degrees in the frame's low, middle and high rocker link flip-chip settings.

These are 61.7 degrees, 62 degrees and 62.3 degrees in the low, mid and high settings respectively for the M/L and L/XL bike sizes.

The bottom bracket drop is 3mm in the high setting, 8mm in the middle and 13mm in the low position for all frames.

Chainstay lengths for all bike sizes are shortest in the high frame setting at 445mm. This increases to 447mm in middle setting and 448mm in the low frame setting. You can add 10mm to these rear-centre lengths by putting the chainstay flip chip in the long setting.

The stack heights are the same across the three frame sizes and decrease from a moderate 635mm in the low setting to 632mm and 629mm in the middle and low settings, respectively.

Here's a quick look at the bikes if you decide on a 29in rear wheel.

Reach values range from 451-455-459mm on the S/M frame, from 471-475-479mm on the M/L frame, and 491-495-499mm on the L/XL frame.

Head tube angles range from 62.5-62.8-63.2-degrees on all frame sizes in the low, middle and high frame flip-chip settings.

Bottom bracket drops change between 10, 15 and 20mm in the high, middle, and low settings, respectively.

Overall, the bike looks very capable and ready to tackle the steepest, most demanding courses.

The Maestro suspension isn't new on the Glory, but it has been updated to help keep the bike current, while still dishing out its 200mm of rear-wheel travel.

The leverage rate has changed slightly to increase overall progressivity. It's slightly more supple in the beginning stroke and more progressive through the end stroke to help add bottom-out resistance.

The axle path has been changed and now has a slight rearward path during the first part of travel to help the rear suspension move out of the way over bumps. It then moves forwards deeper in the travel.

Anti-squat is around 80 per cent sag, so the bike should be supple at soaking up all the small trail chatter and mid-sized square-edge hits.

The anti-rise sits between 70 and 60 per cent throughout the 200mm of travel, meaning the suspension should remain active under braking, but the chassis might pitch more than the bikes with high anti-rise vales such as on high-pivot downhill bikes.

There's only one bike and a frameset available in the new Glory line. The Glory Advanced is fitted with a Fox 40 Factory fork and Fox DHX2 Factory shock.

It gets SRAM GX DH 1×7 gearing and Truvativ Descendant cranks. The bike is fitted with Shimano Saint M-820 brakes, with 203mm rotors.

Giant supplies the rims and hubs, alongside Maxxis Assegai and Minion DHR II DH tyres. Giant-branded parts are also specced for the handlebars, saddle and seatpost. This full-build bike comes in at £7,500/$8,000/AU$11,499/€TBC.

The Giant Glory Legends Edition frameset celebrates Giant's heritage in downhill racing. It features some of the legends who have flown the flag for the brand, including Rob Warner, Myles Rockwell and Danny Hart. The frameset sports a vintage Giant colourway.

The frameset includes a Fox 40 Factory fork and Fox DHX2 Factory shock, and costs £6,000/$6,200/AU$8,999/€TBD.

We’ve got a bike on order for review, so check back to see how it stacks up after a summer of testing.

Technical writer

Luke Marshall is a technical writer for BikeRadar and MBUK magazine. He's been working for both titles since 2018 and has over 20 years of mountain biking experience. Luke is a gravity-focused rider with a history of racing downhill, previously competing in the UCI Downhill World Cup. Educated to a degree level in engineering and with a penchant for full-throttle speed, Luke is more than qualified to put every bike and product through its paces to bring you informative and independent reviews. You'll most likely find him on a trail, enduro or downhill bike riding the off-piste tracks around south Wales and the south west of England. He often makes an appearance on BikeRadar's podcast and YouTube channel.

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