The Best Downhill Mountain Bike?

20 December 2023

Reviews & Product News

Glory Advanced Bikeradar & Mountain Biking UK review: 4.5/5 “Its ride character is easy to get along with, and it balances supple traction-happy suspension with decent support for maximising speed.”

Mountain Biking UK & BikeRadar Tech Writer, Luke Marshall tested the downhill heritage of Giant, the Glory Advanced.

Marshall tested the Glory in the French Alps. Riding the mountain bike for 2 weeks, the conditions consisted of ‘bone-dry dust to sloppy mud and everything in-between.’

The tracks tested were proline bike park lines, steep off-piste trails fixed with tricky root spreads and deep compressions. Marshall also had the chance to showcase the Giant Glory on Mozine’s high-speed main line.

After spending time testing the Glory in a mixture of environments, Marshall praises how capable the Glory is at high speeds and technical terrain.

“While it's sure-footed and capable at speed, it still has an eagerness when riding slow, more technical trails. It suits riders who like to get creative on the trail.”

The Glory is designed to tackle downhill race tracks and technical trails. So, what did Marshall make of its descending performance?

Marshall highlights how effortless it is to pick up speed with the Glory. He compliments Giant, boasting how the mountain bike does “an impressive job of balancing comfort and precision.”

The Bikeradar writer goes into detail on the initial bike set-up. “The impressive shock tune, combined with the new kinematics, meant the bike had tons of grip on sketchy sections of trail.”

Discussing this point further, he praises how well the Glory soaks up obstacles to deliver smooth traction. Marshall writes “Small bumps were absorbed effortlessly, which smoothed out the trail, and helped the bike find traction in corners and through cambered sections.”

The Glory offers ample amounts of grip which gave Marshall the freedom to ride at high speeds whilst maintaining full control.

“There was enough support that I could pump and maintain speed on smoother trails, which also made the Glory fun to ride. I could place it on any part of the trail I wanted without hesitation.”

Although he didn’t write this summary in the Bikeradar article, his Mountain Biking UK feature places the Glory head to head with the Nukeproof Dissent and Propain’s Rage CF, where the Giant mountain bike was crowned the winner.

He summarises the Glory as follows: “It’s incredibly light-handling and easy to ride, with good support and a lively character. Yet, when things get rowdy, it has enough composure and stability to truck through the roughest trails without causing you to break a sweat. This is the bike we felt most confident on and could ride the fastest with the least input.”

Read the full Glory BikeRadar review

Learn more about the Glory Advanced 

Share