Half thinking about a ‘bike to work’ bike, and with £1k been the limit, spotted the Trance X5. Spec seems OK for the money to me, only worry is the Giant branded rear shock?

Anybody have any experience of this compared to a say Fox shock? Thinking it might be difficult to get spares/serviced? And im assuming it will be standard length, so if it was to be a POS i could replace it with an aftermarket shock?

Ta

Are you just using the bike for getting to work, If you are than I would consider a road bike. but if you are going to use it for off road aswell than its a good starting point, here is my trance but it’s got some serous upgrades

Of course i will using it to ride to work…..(COUGH) 😉

Just an idea at the moment, most of the full suss bikes around £1k seem a bit compromised in terms of the spec, but the Trance seems pretty good out the box apart from the rear shock.

Yes I know your going to use it for work!! but is it for work ONLY or are you doing off road aswell, I would go for the bike, see how the shock is and maybe up grade it later. on mine it change my fork from 140mm to 100mm and its made a big different in speed etc

I think there is a review on Bikeradar.com

they seem to think the shock was fine

my 2007 trance has a float r on it – no platform etc

seems fine

Check the shock length first, if you think you might want to replace it…

I have an ’08 Trance X1 and the OEM Fox shock is a funky length. From memory it wasn’t one that was easy/possible to get hold of elsewhere. I suspect that the Giant shock on this year’s X5 might be the same lenght.

will the trance take the studded snow tyres you’ll need for 10 months of the year round by us?

Good point, maybe a 5″ bike may not be enough for the extreme alpine trails we get to ride once the snow has thawed….

Its reviewed as part of a £1k full susser group test in MBR this month and wins the test. Tester comments on how well the Giant shock works – possibly better than Fox on same platform.
I have an ’08 X2 and love it – takes everything in its stride.