So, I decided to make my Anthem more Trail than Race, now that I have a carbon HT for the latter. A cup of tea and time in the shed with a new 120mm instead of evening telly last night et voila:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/McoysL]Untitled[/url]

Althought, its made the bike “big”, but shorter in the TT, with the extra 20mm of travel and 20mm a2c. I’ve had to lower the saddle 2cm below my optimum 109% to get my toes on the floor.

Fells great in the garden, much more raked out than the standatd 100mm FOX, can’t wait for the weekend to give it a bash.

Looks nice. Did you have to change the fork or did you want to do it anyhow? I have a 100mm rev on mine which I think you can lengthen with a new airspring, so was mulling it over.

“Dro-pper!!! Dro-pper!!!”

😉

Textured paving with blocks, bricks and yellow topping stones? You need to rationalise the look of your hard surfaces there sunshine. But fair play on the weeding.

Window frame needs tidying up, too.

Garry, I wanted to do it. The OEM fork wasn’t the best although for racing over comfort it was fine, and I was putting of playing for a service (I changed the seals/lube myself though).

What sealed the deal is that I bought a Carbon HT for short XC races, which although 100mm (also a reba) has a 68.5 HA. With the handling and “shape” of the new bike, I knew thats what I wanted for this. So it was a purchase of new Anthem 650b SX, or this which of course is cheaper. I didn’t want rid of this bike, and its superb for the SE single track so adding the fork which by my calcs gets me to a 69HA (inc a2c increases) gives me greater capability, changes the HA as I wanted and leaves me on 29er throughout my stock, win win.

Fair play on the garden / shed. 4 years in and we havent quite changed everything from “old person” content. Getting there elsewhere though!

PS if anyone wants a cheap Fox CTD I have the OEM cups etc for it to go in a 44mm HT including stem too, despite the fact its OD2.

🙂

I’ve had to lower the saddle 2cm below my optimum 109% to get my toes on the floor.

i’d set it up to riding height rather than ability to touch the floor height.

might be worth thinking about a shorter stem – looks like you’re still in xc barge tiller mode rather than traily 😉

What carbon hardtail did you get with 68.5 ha?

Vitus Rapide 29. http://vitusbikes.com/products/rapide-2017/#geometry

2016 build though on discount, X1 & reba, same frame/geo.

might be worth thinking about a shorter stem – looks like you’re still in xc barge tiller mode rather than traily

It’ll still be raced for durations 6hrs +. 🙂

+1 on dropper. Lower it to get on and off!

You have almost got a camber evo now !!!

Enjoy – giant should swallow their pride and make an SX in 29 to compete with spesh

I’ve had to lower the saddle 2cm below my optimum 109% to get my toes on the floor.

i’d set it up to riding height rather than ability to touch the floor height. [/quote]

For more technical trails (29er hardtail without dropper, and probably not that technical…), I actually prefer to have the saddle a couple of cm below perfect pedalling height to move around a bit more instead of being smacked in the arse all the time. I might think differently if I were to ride for more than a few hours though.

BTW, very disappointed at the missed opportunity to describe your bike as “SXed up”.

Would be interested in hearing your feedback from your first ride. I had the same bike and did the same thing, which I raced at Epic Cymru last year, for which it was great, but after tweaked it further to lower the BB height a little more.

I should be on it at the weekend, and will report back.

So I promised some feedback…

Wowsers. I’ve never had a single component change a bike so much. Its change the bike in several ways. I’m more upright but at the same time more able to get over the front off the fork without my back so stretched, so the height has condensed the cockpit slightly.

But on the trail the bike has taken the form of what I can only describe as a “long legged Jack Russell”. To add a few cliche’s, its got so much more “pop” about it, yet carry a lot of speed in a forward direction. It actually feels faster than before, but specifically is so much calmer on the steering and noticeably more confident on sweeping single track corners. On descents, its so much more controlled and just wants to be “sent” downwards. It eats small roots with contempt.

Its so much more fun, I’ve managed PB’s today on flat twisty sections, downhills and it hasn’t affected climbing either as I’ve moved from 4th to 3rd overall (strava) on an uphill section. I was pushing so hard I found the limits of the front tyre several times forcing some air removal, and have actually worn myself out in 2.5hrs of riding.

For me in the SE this is now the perfect bike – the maestro back-end as support and working away “invisibly” as usual, the front end confidently encouraging pushing on within down hill single track and providing much better support with the bike leant over in swoopy bends.

The only issue I had was with the fork over a 50m section of downhill rooty “steps” I hit pretty hard – not dangerous but I could feel the flutter in the fork as it tried to keep up, but what would you expect from a fairly light trail fork.

I know there’s many that have done this and reaped the rewards, but for anyone else thinking about it, don’t hesitate to run an Anthem 29 at 120mm, its an amazing difference.

Well done, I like that.

A play bike ! Yay.

I’m not a traily you know that, but even I would consider shortening the stem by 10-20 even 30mm.

Now, well you can just go have some fun.

Brilliant.

As above, a shorter stem would finish it off a treat now, that long one looks, err too long.

Never understood why giant introduced the SX with little wheels. The anthem 29 was always a great bike and v common to add 120 forks. And the first SX colour scheme was nasty!

Glad you enjoying the new ride!!