Giant Talon 1 (2027)

The Giant Talon 1 is the second-best Talon in the range. It's designed to take on local mountain bike trails, gravel and fire access roads and it's still perfectly good for family rides and leisurely weekend riding.

In Australia it's available in Dusty Blue or Silver/Black, in S to XL frame sizes on 29-inch wheels.

What is the Giant Talon 1?

It's the mountain bike in the Talon range for riders who've decided they actually want to ride trails.

So, if you're wanting to ride trails like:

• Lysterfield Park
• The You Yangs (Kurrajong end, not Stockyards)

And other easier, flow trails then the Talon 1 will feel at home.

The components are chosen for durability and to help deliver more control on rough ground. There are three key areas:

• An air-spring suspension fork that gets set up to your body weight. This means we can adjust it for a 60kg rider as easily as a 80kg rider.
• An 11-speed drivetrain with a 50-tooth climbing sprocket means wider a range perfectly suited to singletrack. And a special clutch built into the rear derailleur helps keep the chain on and quiet over bumpy trails.
• A stiff front end 32mm fork tubes and a 15mm Boost thru-axle.

Upgrades over the Giant Talon 2

This section answers what you get for an extra $300 (at RRP level). These are the following upgrades:

Suspension. The Giant Talon 1 uses air-spring suspension not coil. An air fork is not only lighter, it can be adjusted specifically to the rider's weight. A coil doesn't have this adjustability.

Gears. Talon 1 gets an 11-speed drivetrain compared to a 9-speed on the Talon 2.

Is that really a big deal?

Yes it is. Especially if you're riding steep pinches or mountain bike trails.

9-speed is perfectly fine for suburban bike paths and trails, but riders will notice an improvement in the smoothness and speed of gear shifts going to 11-speed.

This is noticeable when you need to change gears fast on terrain that's constantly changing.

Tubeless. The rims are setup tubeless on the Talon 1. So if you want to roll tubeless, it's easier to do. You only need to buy tubeless tyres, tubeless valves and sealant.

Tubeless is a setup you would consider using for off-road. Riding on loose surfaces requires less pressure; this delivers more traction. But it often comes with more chance of punctures. The tubeless sealant seals most punctures and allows you to keep riding.

Who is the Giant Talon 1 for?

Consider the Talon 1 if you're riding mountain bike trails regularly, or you want a bike that won't hold you back as you get better at it.

The handling is stable and calm rather than sharp and nervous, which is what you want when you're still building confidence on loose ground.

The massive frame updates we saw in last season's bike have carried over. To refresh:

• The steering angle was slackened to slow the steering response down. Over loose surfaces, this gives you much better handling.
• Giant also lowered the bike and made it longer to make it more stable at high speeds.
• And they added a much bigger rear axle (called a thru-axle) that clamps the rear wheel and frame better.

The key components

The fork: this is the reason to buy a Talon 1

The SXC32-2 RL is an air-spring fork. The Talon 2 and Talon 4 both use coil springs.

Here's why that matters:

A coil fork has a steel spring with a fixed stiffness, chosen by the manufacturer for an average rider. If you're lighter than that average, the fork barely moves and you use very little of the suspension.

If you're heavier, it blows through its travel and bottoms out.

An air fork uses compressed air as the spring.

You set the pressure with a shock pump to suit your body weight, so the fork actually uses its full 100mm of travel and stays supported when you push into it. Air springs are lighter too.

A stiff front end

There are two ways to increase front-end stiffness, and Giant did both.

The fork uses 32mm stanchion tubes rather than the 28mm tubes on the Talon 4. And the front axle steps up from a 9mm quick-release to a 15mm thru-axle, with the hub widening from 100mm to 110mm — known as Boost spacing.

A thru-axle passes right through the hub and clamps both fork legs together, so the front end behaves like one piece rather than two. It resists twisting and flexing over rocks, roots and uneven ground, which is what gives you a precise, predictable feel on the trail.

Gears: 11-speed with a proper climbing gear

The Talon 1 uses microSHIFT's Advent MX groupset, 11 gears on a single front chainring.

The cassette runs from 11 to 50 teeth, a 455% range, compared to the Talon 2's 418%.

That extra range is almost entirely at the climbing end. The 50-tooth sprocket is what lets you sit and spin up a steep pinch instead of standing and grinding.

The rear derailleur (the Advent MX Pro) has a clutch built into it.

The clutch holds tension in the chain over rough ground, so it doesn't bounce, slap the frame or fall off on descents.

It also makes the bike noticeably quieter. A clutch derailleur is usually not standard equipment at this price.

Brakes

Tektro HD M3121 hydraulic disc brakes, with a 180mm front rotor and 160mm rear.

Hydraulic brakes need less hand effort than cable brakes for the same stopping power. They control speed better on long descents, and they self-adjust as the pads wear. Meaning much less maintenance than mechanical disc brakes.

Tyres

Large volume 2.40-inch Maxxis Rekon Race tyres act like micro-suspension. As well as adding grip, the extra air volume takes the edge off bumps and harsh impacts.

What about a dropper post?

The 2027 Talon 1 comes with a fixed seatpost. The 2025 model had a dropper, and for 2027 Giant has moved the dropper up to the Talon 0.

If a dropper matters to you then you have two options:

Step up to the Talon 0, which comes with a stepless dropper as standard (not the old 2 position).

Or fit one to the Talon 1 later.

The seatpost is a common 30.9mm diameter, and the current Talon frame was designed with short seat tubes specifically so riders can run long-travel dropper posts.