“A Carnival on Wheels": New Faith Youth MTBs a Hit With Testers!

The new Faith range is a first for Giant. This collection of high-performance, full-suspension trail bikes is right on par with adult mountain bikes, but designed and engineered specifically for young riders. The range includes two models. The Faith features a new Giant TRA WheelSystem that combines the agile handling of the 26-inch rear wheel with the improved rollover capabilities of the 27.5-inch front, while the smaller Faith 24 is equipped with youth-specific 24-inch TRA wheels front and rear to reduce weight, improve handling, and make it easier for young riders to maneuver and ride with confidence.

Reviews have highlighted the Faith’s lightweight alloy frameset, youth-specific touch points, and the new Crest Lite suspension for lighter riders.

Australian outlet Revolution MTB wrote that the Faith 24 might just be "perfect," and describes it as “a proper high-end mountain bike designed from the ground up specifically for youth riders." The review also stated, “from front to rear, there isn’t one detail that’s been missed on this bike. It is exactly custom for kids, allowing them to tackle not just regular trails but the entire mountain, and really push their riding to the next level.”

Both models feature FlexPoint rear suspension systems with a linkage-driven, single-pivot Crest FloTrac Lite shock. The Faith offers 135mm of rear travel paired with a 140mm Crest SL FloTune Lite fork, both tuned specifically for riders weighing under 62kg (137 pounds). The Faith 24 offers 130mm of rear travel and is paired with a 140mm Crest TR Elite Lite Fork, both tuned for riders weighing under 46kg (101 pounds).

Flow Mountain Bike’s Dave Musgrove, whose sons spent the summer ripping around on the Faith 24, called the FlexPoint system “a suspension package that outperforms anything we’ve tested for riders of this weight,” adding, “we were so impressed with the overall performance that we didn’t feel the need to experiment with the air volume tokens to make the air spring more progressive.”

"What further sets the Crest Lite suspension apart is its unified setup guide,” Musgrove continued. “With recommendations for 25% sag at both the fork and rear shock, Giant provides a detailed chart on the fork leg that covers both the fork and rear shock, offering air pressure and rebound settings for different rider weights in 6kg increments. The chart even includes clear instructions on adjusting rebound. We followed these guidelines for our 26kg and 30kg testers, and the result was spot-on—you can confidently set and forget, knowing your child will have a great experience.”

All Faith models have youth-specific cranks and brake levers, along with new Contact Switch AT Lite dropper seatposts that help younger riders find their optimal climbing and descending positions with easy-to-use, handlebar-mounted levers. A high-performance ALUXX SL aluminum frameset with youth-specific trail geometry is combined with quality lightweight components to minimize weight, making it easier to maneuver on technical terrain.

In his five-star review, Vital MTB editor Shawn Spomer listed the many attributes that led to giving the Faith 24 the highest-possible rating. “The ALUXX SL frame is refined and svelte, the suspension is custom-tuned and developed for wee ones, the brakes use a 180mm front rotor and 160mm rear rotor, chainstay protection is robust, there's a chainguide and bashguard, the dropper height can be adjusted, the tire choice is proper, and the wheels with their 30mm rims, straight-pull Sapim Laser spokes and 72t boost rear hub. Should we go on? The spec of the Faith 24 is a beacon to attract the serious parental mountain biker who analyzes every detail of a bike."

For more, check out the links below for full reviews. And for all the details on the new Faith range, click here.

Flow Mountain Bike

Pinkbike

Revolution MTB

Vital MTB

Source:

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/global/news/a-carnival-on-wheels-new-faith-youth-mtbs-a-hit-with-testers/29347