Giant Faith Review

When the kids express a desire for a full-suspension mountain bike, it becomes challenging for the parents. Those who want to understand or even fulfill their children’s wishes quickly realize: there is a wide selection, it becomes expensive, and the differences between the options are often hard to grasp. Does the new Giant Faith stand out from the multitude of available children’s full-suspension bikes or not?

In many cases, a full-suspension bike for kids or teenagers is nonsense. To truly take advantage of a full-suspension bike, your child needs not only exceptional riding skills but also the appropriate trails.

On regular forest paths and easy trails, kids often handle better with a hardtail without rear suspension. These cost about half of a fully and are significantly lighter. And since kids weigh little themselves, the ratio of bike to rider weight is crucial for the fun factor.

Full-suspension bikes are really only worth it if your child is extensively riding trails and you regularly visit bike parks. In normal, everyday use, on easy trails or climbs, full-suspension bikes often diminish the fun with their higher weight. Moreover, kids learn much cleaner riding techniques with hardtails, which benefit them into adulthood.

In short: A full-suspension bike is only worth it if mom and dad want to intensely pursue their hobby with their kids, focusing on downhill rides, and the child is at least 120 cm tall (fitting a 24-inch bike). For occasional mountain biking, teenagers don’t need a full-suspension bike like the Giant Faith.

When you’ve determined that a full-suspension bike truly makes sense for your child and is the right choice, the Giant Faith clearly shows why this fun option can quickly become expensive. Dropper post, air suspension, disc brakes, tires with extra puncture protection…

Well-engineered kids’ full-suspension bikes have the same components as solid mountain bikes for adults. And even for adults, you can’t get a decent full-suspension for under 2000 €. Complicating matters, children’s bikes often require specialized parts due to their lighter weight.

The development costs and low production volume of specialized kids’ parts drive the price up. This is also evident with our test bike, the Giant Faith, when you take a look at the seat post or the suspension.

Both in terms of the suspension and the dropper post, it’s quickly clear: Giant’s new Faith is not just a flashy gimmick but a well-thought-out kids’ full-suspension bike. While many kids’ bikes don’t even have a dropper post, Giant impresses with a model that is particularly easy to push down.

The dropper post has a 10 cm travel. Combined with the installed saddle and the frame’s 35 cm long seat tube, a minimum seat height of 54 cm (measured from the center of the bottom bracket to the top of the saddle) can be adjusted. The saddle can be extended to a maximum seat height of 64 cm.

You can adjust the saddle height by 10 cm in the extended state. Thus, the adjustment range by the dropper post travel is significantly limited compared to fixed seat posts. This is a clear disadvantage when kids grow quickly. However, the Faith clearly focuses on riding fun, and a dropper post is a definite asset in this regard. It increases freedom of movement on the bike, providing more safety and riding enjoyment when going downhill.

The Giant suspension system, like the seatpost, is equipped with special damping cartridges. These work optimally even at low weights, making them specifically suitable for kids.

In bikes for adult riders, Giant holds its own against pure suspension manufacturers like Fox and Rock Shox in the entry-level segment with its forks. This impression is also evident with the suspension elements built into the Faith.

Both can be perfectly adjusted to the child’s body weight with the air chamber. A coherent air pressure chart even helps here. Both the fork and the shock respond sensitively. The fork, with its 34mm stanchions, shows little bushing play. With 140 mm of travel available at the front, kids can really hit it hard downhill.

The Crest suspension fork is comparable to the Manitou Machete or the X-Fusion Slant, which are often used on kids’ full-suspension bikes. These models stand out significantly from cheap forks due to their air spring and high-quality construction. Both the shock and the fork can be completely locked out.

With a price tag of over €2000, one might have expected a drivetrain and brakes from Shimano or Sram. Instead, Giant relies on products from less well-known manufacturers.

The Tektro brakes work with minimal lever travel and allow the brake lever to be positioned close to the handlebar. This makes them easy for kids to operate. The bite point is firm, and the power is sufficient for a body weight of around 40-50 kg. The small 160mm rotors still have some tuning potential if the power isn’t enough.

Even though Tektro is a manufacturer that produces high volumes and is known for the reliability of its brakes, other bike brands in this price range offer more prestigious braking systems. The same goes for the Microshift drivetrain.

The Microshift Advent X drivetrain features a 10-speed cassette. With the large 48-tooth cog, its range (difference between the largest and smallest gear) is slightly inferior to the latest 1×12 drivetrains from Sram and Shimano. At 436 percent, the range is somewhat limited. On steep climbs, it can be challenging for kids.

In terms of functionality, there’s nothing to criticize about the drivetrain. The shifter requires minimal hand strength, and the derailleur’s clutch keeps the chain reliably on the cassette even on rough descents. Here, the drivetrain matches the level of current Shimano groupsets.

We weighed the Giant Faith without pedals at 13.5 kg. Considering the downhill-oriented specs, this is still manageable. The hefty Maxxis tires, large suspension fork, and dropper post add to the weight.

For comparison, bikes like the Cube Stereo 240 or the Scott Ransom 600 weigh slightly more. Even though the Cube has smaller wheels and no dropper post, Giant doesn’t fall short here. However, compared to a hardtail, you quickly notice that 13.5 kg, in an absolute sense beyond the bubble of downhill-oriented kids’ full-suspension bikes, is not outstanding.

The lightest hardtails with 27.5-inch tires and suspension fork, like the Cube Elite C:62 SLX Rookie, weigh 10.4 kg. If the focus is more on touring and distance, 3 kg less can significantly amplify the fun factor. However, the intended use of these lightweight bikes is not comparable to that of the Giant Faith. Bike park trips, jumps, and tricks are not part of the design brief for such lightweight bikes.

Naturally, we put the Giant Faith through extensive real-world testing as well. Luca Horak spends every free minute on his mountain bike and has long dreamed of owning a full-suspension bike.

He jumps off stairs, loves when his dad takes him to Saalbach for biking, and dreams of a career as a professional biker, just like Fabio Wibmer. For that dream, he trains diligently and participates in local races whenever possible.

Thus, during our test, the Giant Faith even had the honor of experiencing racing spirit at the King of Kelheim, a dual slalom race in Luca’s hometown. His verdict on the Giant Faith is precise and very nuanced.

Luca definitely had fun with the Giant Faith, that’s for sure. The pictures speak volumes. And his detailed review leaves no room for criticism regarding the ride characteristics. On the contrary: “Brake lever is easy to operate,” “good tires,” and “travel is sufficient for high jumps” suggest that Luca didn’t hold back and was very satisfied with it. The lean angle the 10-year-old achieves during the dual slalom race also emphasizes the quality of his feedback. However, he does find some criticism in certain details.

Due to the high bottle cage position in the frame, there’s only room for a small water bottle. The rear linkage bolts loosened several times during the test period, and the chain can be heard noticeably hitting the frame in rough terrain.