Giant Rincon Disc (2016) : ChooseMyBicycle.com Expert Review

Giant's ALUXX grade aluminium frame has never failed to impress. It is the same case with the Rincon Disc 2016 in which the frame holds a major reason for its strength and durability. The unique tube shaping tech might be difficult to notice but the smooth welds near the headset has made sure that the material used is no more than what is required, without compensating on the strength of the frame. The bottom tube alone has internal cable routing going through, making it look less messy on the outlook.

The front suspension fork on the Rincon Disc is the Suntour XCT HLO. The 100mm travel makes this MTB functional on harder trails with ease. Suntour's XCT HLO forks might be contributing a lot to the Rincon's overall weight but that isn't a setback to be worried about at all.

The Giant Rincon Disc 2016 which we test rode came in a full black primary colour with visible orange accents. The quality of the gloss paint job was top notch and clearly speaks volumes of the brand which wants to instill the best in every department of this bicycle. Like the Rincon LTD 2016, even in this hardtail MTB, Giant's name has been pasted a little too many times than necessary. This bicycle also comes in a White/Green colour variant.

In the gearing department, Giant decided to equip a mix of Shimano gears with Shimano Tourney and Shimano Acera at the front and rear. The never ending debate on the groupset mixing has always ended with respect to the usage of the bicycle. With the Rincon Disc 2016, the ever so important front derailleurs had quite a few instances of evident lag during the test ride. This brings down the contribution that Acera brings to this bicycle's performance on a trail. The SL-M310 shifters from Shimano were smaller in hand reach, but felt sturdy and reacted quickly to fast interval gear shifts.¾

If in case you are one of those trying to wrap your head around the price tag on this bicycle, a major chunk of it goes towards the Tektro Hydraulic disc brakes. The Tektro HDM290 brakes come with 160mm disc rotors at the front and back. Tektro speaks for itself when it comes to quality and performance of its braking components and that was evident during the test ride when fast and quick interval braking on even wet conditions was handled really well by these brakes.

The Giant alloy handlebar didn't actually look and feel like an MTB handlebar with the rise a little more than what it usually seen on hardtail MTB's. A straighter handlebar would have given more stability on fast and bumpy downhill trails. Nevertheless, this handlebar was no less on quality and this 31.8mm bar felt comfortable on flatter terrains.

The Kenda branded K1104 26'' x 1.95'' tires are the same pair of rubber which is found on the Rincon LTD 2016. So not quite the upgrade I expected in this division. These tires weren't the best on wet and harder trails but the bigger treads clearly showed its dominance on flatter and bumpy terrains. The Giant sport saddle was a good fit to the sit bones and was comfortable during bumps and faster pedaling. The over-all ride quality was above average on rough trails and good on flatter terrains.