I demoed both a reign and a trance amongst other bikes (Five, Nomad, Enduro). The reign was very good downhill, but was just too much for general trail riding.
The giants are much better value than the competition, yet there are no compromises at all, quality, geometry, weight are all very good.

I’ve built up a Trance frameset, very impressed with the build quality and also how light it turned out. Internal cable routing is a doddle and the sealing gromets are very good.

I have a 2014 Trance 2, looks to be the same really as the 2015. It’s a nice bike, goes up, goes down, have even done a bikepacking trip on it (my other bike is a Fargo btw).

The MBR review is interesting, but it wouldn’t put me off getting one if I was in the market today, in my case I think the rear shock and suspension performance is spot on, it’s the Fox Float fork that’s a bit shit (coming from Rockshox Revelations).

Giant Trance 2

I’d say the spec was very good given the £1900 price tag. Giant dropper is £130 as is excellent value for money and the bar width and stem length is personal preference.

The Trance I currently ride is ageing now, but will more than likely replace it with a 2015 one. I bought mine as a low rent Tora forked model, the frame being superbly built and I’ve only had to change bearings once and shock bush twice in about 6000 miles of off-road riding , with gloopy mud locally most winters and it’s had some much harder times on the odd uplift day at Antur and bigger rides over harsher terrain in the lakes and in the Scotland.
A revelation fork and decent wheelset were at the heart of its upgrades and other than a wider bar / shorter stem combo it’s served me very well.
My lbs have offered me a decent deal on a Trance 1 , but with a pike 160mm fork in place of the revelation as I would wanted 2×10 Shimano as opposed to 1×11 sram as on the sx, mostly because of our local patch being a destroyer of drivetrains in winter , and I’ m not paying for 11 speed cassettes ! And I fancy trying carbon rims.
If you are prepared to upgrade as you go Giant frames are well made and well warranted.
Both myself and g/f are on trances upgraded up to suit us, as money has allowed .
Don’t forget, mag tests are what they are and despite what they may tell you. You are the one who would know what you’d prefer it to gel like, or might even be quite happy with it as is after some tweaking.
EDIT: other minor point, just for once I’m going to have money to buy what I want bike wise. Even with this in mind I’m not likely to go ‘ boutique’ simply because I’ve been very pleased with my current Giant.

That review is doing what so many do at the moment, criticise minor stuff like stem length, bar width etc and manage to completely miss the point!….the frame only option has 142 x 12 back end, bars are a personal choice FFS and the frame only version comes with a Rockshox shock and gets completely different reviews.

That review may as well have just said ‘I didn’t like the Fox CTD shock’….as that was the only useful thing he wrote.

Even when Dirt criticise a bike they have the good grace to go back to it with components of their choice and reappraise the bike once done out with shock/fork of their choice, wide bars etc.
All anybody needs to know is that is was good enough for the factory Giant Enduro team in the EWS up until this year when the new Reign came out.

Ive got one and so far its mixed reviews from but this is maybe down to the fact that my previous bike felt very different.

I do find the rear suspension a bit wallowy in descend mode compared to my five spot but I did have a home made volume reducer in the 5 spot which made it nice and progressive.I am a proper fat bugger though at 18.5 stone so having to put quite a bit of air in it !!

Trail mode stiffens it up and climb is almost a lockout.

The kit on the Trance 27.5 2 is fantastic for the money, you even get a mrp chain guide thing!

Steering again feels very different to me but my old bike had quite a steep head angle at 69 degrees compared to the Trance at 67 degrees.

The frame is very stiff compared to my old bike, there is very little in the way of flex, it can also be turned into a 142 x 12 rear end with different drop outs.

Ive decided that it isnt the bike for me and am slightly regretting selling my old bike so this one will be going up for sale shortly!!

At least nobody can accuse you of rushing into it!
😀

As above, Renton before you spend/lose money changing bikes send the shock off to TFtuned, tell them what you’re looking for and the bike it’s going back on and pay the £100 or so they’ll want….if the bike still doesn’t feel right for your 18 stone then at least you tried pretty much everything.

Yep. I’m not going to rush into selling it. Would rather cover all avenues first before doing that as I do actually like the bike.

The shock on my 5 spot wasnt custom tuned I just fitted a diy volume reducer to make it more progressive and it certainly did.

The fox ctd shock needs a proper set of reducers @£35.

I commented on the Hans dampf as that’s what’s on the front of mine.

I run 260psi in the shock.

What are the high rollers like Mikey??