Reign Shock Link on Trance 29er

[FZBob]

I bought a Trance 29er X0 a few months ago. I had the bike shop upgrade the fork to a Fox 34 140, along with a few other changes.

I have been riding a Reign since 2008. The Reign has a Marzocchi 160 RC3 Ti fork and a Pushed 2.25” Monarch Plus shock with 6 5/8” rear travel, so I have been spoiled for suspension. The Trance rear suspension did not have the bottomless feel that my Reign has, as it has almost 2” less travel.

It turns out that a 2011 Reign rocker bolted right onto my XL Trance 29er.
The Reign rocker increases travel from about 120mm to about 143mm. The uncompressed ride height remains exactly the same, and all of the increased travel is at maximum compression. The linkages appear to be operating well within their proper ranges. The top of the shock comes within about 1mm or so of the seat tube at maximum extension.
The crossbar on the rear triangle comes within about 1.5mm of the seat tube at maximum compression with the shock deflated and my son sitting on the seat.
Note: Given normal manufacturing tolerances and the tight clearances, it would not be surprising to see interference on some bikes at the top of the shock or at the rear triangle crossbar to the seat tube.

I am 6’4” and 245lb. With the Trance linkage, I ran 250lb air in the shock for 30% sag. With the Reign link I added 6ml of float fluid to the shock air can, and went to 285 psi, which gives me 25% sag, and the identical loaded ride height. I closed the rebound damping down two clicks tighter.

I have been riding the Reign link for a month now, and I don’t think I will be changing back. I get a more plush, bottomless feeI, closer to my Reign. The bike pedals up hills the same as ever, thanks to the Maestro suspension. It is smoother over fast chop, and does not run out of travel over larger hits. I don’t catch big air, so I can’t address that. I think it is a nice match to the 140 fork. If I decide that I need a bit more damping, I will either get a Monarch, which I can tune, or send the Fox shock to Push. Overall, I am quite happy with the Reign link and a bit of shock tuning.

Disclaimer: This might void the warranty. I do not have the ability to test this modification under all conditions, so any number of bad things MIGHT happen… YMMV, ETC. I would not recommend trying this if you don’t have a pretty good understanding of how it works, and how to tune the shock. The Reign link will almost certainly require some level of shock tuning.

[SHIFTY1]

awesome...i would love to do this to mine...

[LordDRIFT]

You are brave. But this is boss. Pure win.

[LordDRIFT]

TreignX

[frango]

That is really cool mod Congrats!
However number of spacers under the stem and inverted seatpost is weird.

[SkaredShtles]

Out of curiosity... why not just continue to ride a Reign?

[FZBob]

That is really cool mod Congrats!
However number of spacers under the stem and inverted seatpost is weird.

Thanks, I had fun figuring out the mod. The stem is spaced up because of my height. I am 6'4, and the bars are 2" below the seat when it is up. Due to the very laid back angle of the seat tube, and my height, the seat ended up way back, so I rotated the seatpost. I really wish the bike came with a non-offset post...

[FZBob]

Out of curiosity... why not just continue to ride a Reign?

I still ride my Reign, it's a great bike.

I got the Trance for the 29 inch wheels. If Giant had offered a Reign 29er, I might have bought that. The Trance clocks out about 2-5% faster on the same loops as the Reign (~10 mile, 1000'), and I seem to be a bit less tired at the end of the ride. I like the steering feel a bit more, and the taller wheels do seem to roll over things a bit better (helps out with my mediocre bike handling skillz). My Reign still has more depth to the suspension. Surprisingly, the Trance frame seems just a bit stiffer than my '08 Reign. I didn't expect that.

Also, I just like to work on my bikes, and this was a fun little project.

[Haggis]

Nice work. I read somewhere that adding oil to the air chamber to reduce volume is a no-no, bad for the damper. One of those Fox clip-on volume reducers would do a better job. I can see the rationale behind the other mods, good to see people willing to experiment...

[Silentfoe]

Almost all of the Giant seatposts can be adjusted for setback. You can pull the rail mounts and swap them around. I don't remember the numbers but the change feels significant. I did this on my bike.

[FZBob]

Nice work. I read somewhere that adding oil to the air chamber to reduce volume is a no-no, bad for the damper. One of those Fox clip-on volume reducers would do a better job. I can see the rationale behind the other mods, good to see people willing to experiment...

Thanks for the reminder, I'll call Fox on Monday. It was obvious after the first ride that I needed to reduce the volume, and I wished that I had the Fox spacers on hand, but I wanted to try the reduced volume right away, so... well... you know...

[p_cycle]

trance x 26 gets a travel increase by swapping the 184mm shock to a 190mm one (standard size, can be found anywhere)
what is the eye2eye and stroke of the standard shock in trance 29?

super cool mod btw. TX29 just got back on my list. (have a reign 08 XL as well)

[FZBob]

trance x 26 gets a travel increase by swapping the 184mm shock to a 190mm one (standard size, can be found anywhere)
what is the eye2eye and stroke of the standard shock in trance 29?

super cool mod btw. TX29 just got back on my list. (have a reign 08 XL as well)

The stock shock is 7 1/4" (184mm) x 1.75", same as the 26". I was originally planning on trying a 7 1/2 x 2" shock on mine, and measurements indicate that that it should fit on a stock TX29. It will raise the back of the bike a bit. Nice match for a 140 fork...

I may try a long shock with the Reign link if I get some spare time. This should give about 157mm travel. Might be interesting with the 150mm travel fork spacer I have sitting on my desk.

If you like your Reign, you would probably love the TX29. I just got back from a ride down a fast (40 mph in places) bumpy, rutted up fireroad. The Trance was on rails, it really steers nice. Very confidence inspiring.