I’m in the market for a short travel, full suss 29’er and I think I’ve narrowed it down to these two.

They’re both pretty much the same weight, they come with pretty much comparable gearing (Anthem is SLX/XT, the Epic X9/X7)

Both wheel sets are tubless comparable, both have fox rear shocks, the Anthem has a Fox F32 CTD front & the Epic a Reba RL.

I’ve looked at pretty much everything else available round here; the Whyte 109 is poorly specced IMHO and feels heavy, same with the Scott Spark.

Granted the Epic is £600 more, but I’ve negotiated a good deal on it.

Anything else to take into account that’s readily available?

Does anyone have actual ownership opinions of either of these bikes, if so let me know.

Cheers

One bikes a giant easy.

Well that helps

I’ve got the Anthem. It’s a great XC race bike, and really shines on all day enduros and fast flowy trails, but I find myself drifting back to my 26″ Trance for more technical, twisty/turny, jumpy/rocky type trails.

That’s not the fault of the Anthem – its a race bike, and a damn good’un, and not designed to be an all rounder. So, I guess it depends on what you’re going to use it for…

Haven’t tried the Epic so can’t compare.

Friends got a anthem and loves it, his only 29er but has other bikes and they haven’t been used for a few months. It is a size too small for me but very impressed with the way it handles. Stable but still quick steering, I would be happy to race xc on it with a few changes from standard spec. Depends what you want it for as it still only 100mm, for an all day bike I would be interested to see what it would be like with a 120 on the front.

Not ridden an epic but what about trek superfly ?

I demoed the anthem and the epic carbon elite (I think – its was the black and white bike with e horrible £4k price tag). both 2012 versions. I thought that they were both great and surprisingly good all-rounders. I enjoyed them more found downhill than both stumps and fuel EXs. Both really fast and awesome fun. But there was one clear difference which is possible explained by the £2k difference inthe price tag. Both great climbers but the epic felt like it had an engine attached. I have not demoed another bike that has made climbing so fast and effortless. The epic stood above any other type of bike in that respect but personally I cannot justify £4k on a MTB.

Not sure about the slightly lower epics but VFM would probably make me swing towards the Anthem. But both are great IMO

From what I can figure out the brain shock is the same in all (normal/non-Sworks) Epics (feel free to correct me if anyone knows any different) so in theory, bar wheel weight they should all possess the same climbing ability, obviously rider dependant.

There seems to be loads of Anthems about, but not that many Epics; price being the driving factor there?

Steve – don’t know about the first bit, but round me there are far more epics than anthems!!

I am about to make the same decision. Money no object I would take the Epic as it was the best bike I have ever demoed for the riding I want to do (and more). But I think Speshs are over-priced at the moment and so will buy the Anthem soon (or debating Trance 29er/XTC mix combo!!).

I know people ridicule mag reviews, but WMB consistently love the anthems and rate them much more than an XC race bike. I would agree with that too.