Kids aren’t just riding their mountain bikes around the cul-de-sac these days. With purpose-built bike parks popping up in ‘burbs all around the US, plus parents willing to drive to quality trails on the weekend, the all-new Giant Faith and Liv Faith mountain bikes, with 140/135mm of suspension travel front/rear, are bikes meant for today’s young rider. The Faith features suspension, wheels, and a dropper post that’s all designed specifically for smaller riders.
The Giant Faith utilizes a 27.5/26″ mixed-wheel setup and the bike is available in just one size that should generally fit riders 9-13 years old. For smaller riders as young as age five, the Giant Faith 24 matches 24″ wheels and features a slightly different build kit.
Giant Faith build details
The Giant Faith uses Crest-branded suspension that Giant designed for riders weighing under 62kg (about 130lb). The Crest SL Flotune Lite fork specced on the Faith delivers 140mm of air-sprung suspension travel and is capable of running pressures as low as 15psi. It’s tuneable via tokens and features an externally adjustable damper.
The Crest Flotrac Lite shock is similarly designed for lightweight riders and offers a two-position compression switch and eight clicks of rebound adjustment. The Faith uses a linkage-driven, single-pivot design that is said to be lighter than a traditional multi-link system while still delivering similar performance.
There’s also a Giant Contact Switch AT Lite dropper post, with 100mm of travel, that requires less force to drop than a standard, adult dropper post. Giant says the Faith features shorter crank arms and brake levers too.
Even the wheels are meant to be kid-friendly. The Giant TRA wheels are built around a 72-tooth hub and the 30mm-wide aluminum rims have 5mm sidewalls to reduce the chance of pinch flats. The mixed 27.5/26″ wheelset weighs about 1,750g, which is decent for a kids’ bike in this price range. Naturally, the wheels are tubeless-ready, and both the Faith and Faith 24 come with Maxxis Minion DHF and DHR II tires.
The Giant Faith features a 10-speed Microshift drivetrain with a 30t chainring and 11×48 cassette.
Overall, the Giant Faith appears to be more performance-oriented and kid-friendly than the brand’s existing Giant Trance 26 full suspension mountain bike.
Geometry and frame features
The Giant Faith (mixed wheel) has a 64.5° head tube angle and 77° seat tube angle. The reach is 410.1mm and the chainstays measure 425mm.
It appears there is a set of bottle mounts located inside the front triangle, though there is no word on other frame features like accessory mounts or in-frame storage. The bike does come with integrated frame protection on the drive-side chainstay and downtube, along with a clear protective material around the head tube area.
The Giant Faith is priced at $2,600 while the Faith 24 is $2,500. Get more information about both bikes online at the Giant website.
Liv Faith
The Liv Faith and Faith 24 are “designed for girls to reach their goals” and aside from the frame colors and decals, appear to be identical to the Giant Faith as
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