The attractively-specced Giant Fathom 2 seems like a warm price tag on paper, ticking almost all of the must-have packing containers. It’s were given a dropper publish, a 1x Shimano drivetrain, large disc rotors, and a 120mm journey fork. The reality that it additionally appears the part certainly is the icing on the cake.
The motorbike’s 650b wheels are clad in 2.4in-extensive trail rubber that comes set up tubeless from the manufacturing facility – bridging the space among plus- and fashionable-length tires. Because the bike isn’t lacking any key components, I had excessive hopes for its on-path overall performance.
Giant Fathom frame
The Fathom is built around Giant’s very own ALUXX SL aluminum tubing.
There’s provision for a front mech at the motorcycle if you’d like to add greater gears, and the cables are routed internally via the down tube, exiting just above the lowest bracket. Here, they continue their journey along the underside of the chainstays to the mech and brake caliper.
Unusually, the motorbike’s seatstays be a part of the seat tube lower than the pinnacle tube, which Giant claims allow to increase the bike’s bump-absorbing capacity and make the back-end feel smoother on rough terrain.
The rear wheel is connected with the Boost QR 141 axle, which replaces a standard 12mm Boost axle favoring a short-release system.
There are bottle cage mounts inside the front triangle — however, the stock dropper submission on my huge take a look at motorcycle fouled the seat tube bottle cage mount — stopping it from being completely inserted.
There’s also a popular, tapered head tube and a tapered fork.
Crunch the numbers, and it’s clear that Giant’s intentions are a touch mixed. Giant states that the motorbike’s geometry is trail-pleasant, but some measurements amazed me.
For the size massive, a 444mm reach is slightly at the conservative facet, as is the 1,153mm wheelbase. Likewise, the 425mm chainstays advocate that the bike is designed to be extra playful than Giant to start with allowing on.
Surprisingly, Giant has settled on a sixty-seven-diploma head angle and a 45mm bottom bracket drop (with an off-the-floor top of 315mm), figures that I’d normally expect to be followed by way of longer attain and wheelbase numbers.
Giant Fathom 2 kit
The Fathom’s party piece has to be its headline spec.
The Maxxis Ardent tires are set up tubeless from the manufacturing unit and are wrapped around 30mm inner-width Giant AM 650b rims.
The motorcycle has a 145mm journey Giant-branded dropper post, a 1×10 Shimano Deore drivetrain, and a Suntour SF19-Raidon 32 fork with 120mm of travel.
Stopping is looked after using Tektro HDM discs that run a 180mm front rotor and a 160mm rear.
Turning to Suntour for suspension obligations probably saves Giant some cash over Fox or RockShox options, but, on paper as a minimum, the fork doesn’t cringe on functions compared to what the huge brands can provide.
Giant Fathom 2 journey impressions
Excited with the spec’s aid and the motorbike’s usual look, I hopped onto the Giant with lofty expectancies.
The Fathom’s beefy construction made itself apparent fairly early on at some stage in the testing technique. While the taut frame approaches, you feel like you’re getting nearly every watt of electricity you put in transferred to the rear wheel — and it speeds up swiftly while you actually get on the gas — the stiff lower back-cease can beat you up while things get bumpy.
Pedal right into a rough segment of trail — whether going up, down, or along the flat – and the Fathom struggles to keep its ahead momentum, now not absorbing the chatter or rolling over bumps as without difficulty or as easily as a number of the alternative bikes would possibly.
That way, greater rider fatigue ultimately whilst you’re seeking to preserve a first-rate tempo that is much less than perfect on long path rides.
