I have a giant anthem x which is in some ways great but a little boringly good, sort of miss the kick from the hardtail and had a sc blur xc before that had a bit more ‘character’.

As I said in away it’s great bike but I just want it to have a little more kick/life to it, not sure if possible or a simple case of playing with shock pressures, or changing wheel/tyres. I am using conti 2.2 race kings supersonic with tubes on a hope/717 wheels. Wondered if thiner rear tyre tubeless might hel or even just more pressure in the tyre.

Or am trying to achieve something thats not possible, I know that the feel of the bike is inherent in the suspension design and in a ideal world i would maybe look at something else but can’t really afford to do that, other than a hardtail. Which is quite tempting but am worried about getting too beaten up in 10 hour races, would a carbon hardtail be stupid for 10 races?

So summery of all the above (I wrote too much :roll:):
1. Would shock pressures help? Other Anthem x owners what presures are you running? (I am just under 12 stone)
2. Would change of wheels/tyres/tubeless help?
3. or am I trying to change a bike’s inherent character?
4. Would a hardtail be stupid for endurance races?

Thanks in advance

shorter stem, less sag ?

As you say – you’re falling victim to the efficiency of the suspension design.

Keep adding air in 5psi increments to the rear shock until it feels how you want. If it’s fully locked out at that point get a hardtail.

The reason I got the Anthem was because of what hardtails did to my back at 10 under. I’d not go back- the time wasted stretching out my back on the fireroad sections and nursing my sore body around far outweighed the benefits of extra efficiency.

If you want more zip, get lighter wheels than the beefy combo you’ve got.

Or try skinnier tyres (I’ve never put anything wider than 2.1 on mine).

Or, do what I’ve done- flip the stem and get some 22″ flats on there. Makes it feel fast as owt and does take a fair bit of bike handling skill to get through the gnar.

Put more air in if you want, mine has some air in. Approximately enough to prop me up, maybe not quite enough. I’m not too sure.

sag should be 20-25% for a nippy trail bike but don’t take that to be the same percentage at the shock, depends what the shock rate curve looks like.

try taking off some rebound, should give it a bit more pop and float.
or try riding faster 😛