Tell me about the trance and the anthem. More than likely buying a 26″ full suss but struggling to decide between the two and the weight diff seems pretty minimally at X1 level. Stock trance or anthem with 120mm forks hmmm….

What sort of riding do you do?

General trail riding really

Ive got an x1 with 100-130 forks on it. Works brillinatly. Far far better than the Trance.
Which to be fair, I havn’t ridden…
I’d like a go on one though, just to see if there was a real differance, I suspect I’d want to go to 140/160 ish before I really noticed a speed increase due to the additional travel, but I also think it’d be slower point to point due to the great climbing of the Anthem.

The trancex is trail bike whereas the anthemx is more XC/Marathon. I’ve had a trancex since 2008. It’s a good bike, but benefits from a sturdier fork.

I ride an anthem. And I can’t fault it. I use it for day to day trail riding.

Depends where you ride. If you go to the easier trail centres like Glentress/Ae/Mabie/Llandegla/Coed Y etc or ride anywhere southwest of Cannock Chase then you will have more fun on the Anthem.

Which are the harder trail centres so I can qualify whether I bought the wrong bike.

I live in Yorkshire and ride my Anthem on trails, erm XC trails in the Lakes, Dales, Peaks etc etc….have I got the wrong bike??

I was in a Giant shop today looking at both Yossarian. I want a bike that does everything (XC racing, XTT tri’s general XC trainging, trails, the odd drop, the Lakes etc….everything bar DH/Alps) Of course, the ideal bike doesn’t exist!! So its make a compromise or buy two 🙁

I am going to demo both on combination of steep hills and the XC trainging loops I do. But even sitting on them in the shop, you could feel the very different set up immediately. I thought that the trance would be a compromise between anthem and reigns but its not that simple.

Quite a difficult call, but hopefully the demo will help.

easy

trances are great, anthems are for nancies

😉 (ish)

Teamhurtmore – i do that stuff on an Anthem without any problems, in fact it just it better than the 130mm bike it replaced

Like my anthem a lot, also have a nomad. Nomad gets a couple of outings a year and a week in morzine. Anthem is used every week. I find it a bit nervy on steep descents when I have the saddle at race height, otherwise its awesome. 160 0odd travel is overkill on most tracks in the UK.

I’ve got an Anthem x1 – 2011 with XT running gear – and I love it for general trail riding. I tried a trance and a fuel ex9, but the both felt a little ‘soft’ compared to my Indian Fire Trail. I used Giant at rutland water where you can hire for a day and then reclaim the fee from a purchase – first couple of miles told me that the Anthem was for me.

I’ve just come back from the Lakes, and for the relatively easy trails there (eg up to Black Sail or top end of Longsleddale or down to Howtown) it’s great fun.

It also spends a good deal of time on the road and its fine there too

Dunc, I am aware that you can ride the raddest, sickest stuff on yours.

Personally, I’d not enjoy my Anthem X round Laggan Black compared to a bike with more progressive geometry, though that’s not to say it’s slow on tech stuff (hell, mine’ve been on the podium of just about every endurance race in Scotland and they’re on some rather exciting trails). Most people will enjoy the extra cushion and easier going geometry of the Trance.

By the way great deals on 2011 bikes at Pedalon. Better spec than 2012 too

FD – cheers for the feedback. I am leaning that way myself.

But I am really ill-equipped to make any comments on here about kit. I have ridden the same old basic trek HT with 100mm basic forks for many years and know no different. Ignorance is bliss.

To explain how stupid I am, today was the first day I have ever sat on a FS!!! I tried the Trance first. When I sat on it my immediate reaction was **** he hasn’t tightened the seat post….its slipped. What a weird feeling. Obviously I didn’t admit that to the guy in the shop!!!

I then went out on my old trusty steed for an 20mile XC blast (with a couple of techy bits) and realised that is also has quite a pronounced XC set up very similar to an Anthem. I really have to hang off the back which I guess would be quite different on a FS Trance. Can’t wait to demo both!

FD – what advice would you give (a numpty!!) on the different specs across the range. The demos are both X2s.

(If I won the lottery) I still guess that they are too close together to buy both (money no object)?

(hell, mine’ve been on the podium of just about every endurance race in Scotland and they’re on some rather exciting trails). Most people will enjoy the extra cushion and easier going geometry of the Trance

has GW been banned & come back a tiny bit more subtle ?

Yossarian
I’ve ridden my mates 2011 trance x2 for a month whilst he was offshore (gt , Laggan , local woods)
Also demo’d a 2012 x1

Anthem was FAST loved the 2×10 very capable for a xc/ marathon type bike
Trance is light, capable and almost as quick , suspension feels nice

I ride to work, xc hacks , trail, all on 2007 spesh fsr 120
And the giant is looking like being its replacement

Also giants offer great vfm , lots of dealers , good warranty
Take a serious look at what you do most of the time and buy for that
Nothing worse than heafing a big bike about when a do it all 120-130 bike
Can do 80-90 % of what you need in style

Hire a big bike for those dh days

Hth 🙂

To be honest I’ve not looked at Trance specs at all. Anthem – I went for a 2011 X2 because its pretty much all XT and I didn’t think the the extra kit was worth it on the X1, others didn’t too when I asked the Q, besides IMO the X2 looks better. You don’t get an RP23 shock on the X2, but you don’t need it.

Its a while since I looked at the 2012 spec bikes but im sure the X1 2012 spec is very similar to the 2011 X2 spec.

Thanks again – I can dream about a new bike tonight then!!!

The trance x2 is an unusual colour for Giant. No blue or white in sight anywhere!!

Sorry for the hijack Yossarian.

Anthem x is a great bike head angle is pretty steep so techy descents can be lets say exciting!! one thing that really impressed me on the bike was the balance, it just feels so planted on the trail and corners like its on rails… in fact i was starting to think it may be the best xc bike full stop…and then i bought an epic which to be frank leaves it standing, but you cant go too far wrong with an anthem they are brill value for money

hi just replaced an 07 trance which i loved to a 011 anthem x2 all i swapped was the frame, it is lighter not sure by how much but you can tell, it rides twicher than trance and feels faster, rode the trance to death as i loved it, rode several different bikes but always preferred the trance, only run 100m suspention as never felt like i needed any more,
in my opinion you will be happy with either they both ride ace,
if the weight is important get the anthem if not get a trance.

hope that helps

pete

No problem THM. Interesting opinions and I reckon I’m going to need to test ride a couple to properly make my mind up. Extra travel vs better climbing and lower weight. The eternal question eh? 🙂

Cheers all

I’ve just built up an Anthem and it sure is fast. It can really hustle on flowing single track. I rode some fairly sketchy steep rocky stuff and it was less calm than on my Pitch but not scary and still fun.

It needs a little bit more tinkering gonna try again tonight and see if I’ve got the shock set up a bit better.

I think the principal difference between the two bikes comes down to geometry, travel and weight. Knowing what you need is always difficult and far harder than what you want

Tomaso, you have an interesting combo in a pitch and an anthem. There do seem to be the odd discounted pitches still around.