What spec are you running – stem length in particular? How tall are you – what size frame?

Originally a 640mm bars and 100mm stem, then a 75mmm stem (above), now a 65mm stem and 685mm bars

5' 11"
Medium 18"

The bike is close to the limit of being too small because it seems to have a compact TT, but is OK. I sat on a Large size but it felt too big. I'm hoping to procure a chunkier 140mm fork and put the Fox F120 on my HT.

BTW. The bike is mentally fast and agile – not a blunder tank. The rear suspension out peforms the Fox fork for responsiveness which is going some. It's a grippy climber which responds to aggressive pedalling, and at 28lb it's ridable for enduros. It's probably at its fastest on rough pedally trails where you can sit into the suspension and attack the pedals, leaving all the HT riders in your dust. The Fox F120 QR fork is the main weak point IMO – it's too light and XC for the kind of knarly high-speed riding you end up doing on this thing. I absolutely love it.

Just completed building up a 2009 medium Trance X frame with bits added. 18" medium frame plus 90 mm stem plus 100 – 140 mm adj fork. OK, I know its a Marzocchi fork but for the price I'm taking a chance. Judging by reviews the 44 ATA rather than the 44 micro seems to be OK. I used to have a medium Trance and the sizing was right at the bottom of the range for a 5'11.5" sized fat bloke. However I tried a Trance X large and it just seemed too big so I stuck with the medium. With a 1" layback post it seems OK but to be fair I winch myself to the top of the hill and ride back down again, so top tube length is secondary. In a purely shallow way, I'm impressed with the way it looks, but it's early days, more riding is necessary…….

By the away – the drive's a shambles, but if it looked too tidy the local scabbards would get the impression it's worth breaking in to my house…….

Im this <> close to buying one. good to hear the medium is suited the the 5.11 rider as i cant find one to try out

its here if you want to see it….Trance X

Looking handsome on Beacon Hill, Qs

Click for more

6'3ish, Large frame, 80mm stem. The stock stem that came with it was a bit long for my liking. It's a great bike, far more capable than I am.

I'm 6'2'' and mines a large with a 100mm zero rise stem and a layback post to give a little more stretch. Love it.

you must have mahoosive legs

weight and shock psi also would be good

medium 90mm stem, (saddle not at uphill pedaling height)
6ft 1 10.5 stone 150psi
revs at 140 so flipped stem and no spacers, will be fitting lo-rise bars soon.
FYI 2.2 rubber queens are a tight fit.

so if i fit 140mm forks and drop the spacers below the stem (15mm of spacer) and set the sag at 25mm i will have the same ride position?

"FYI 2.2 rubber queens are a tight fit. "

This is worth bearing in mind before to shell out ££££. They come with 2.1 Nevs which are large for the size, 2.1 Maxxis ADv fit well too. 2.35 Maxxis HR just about fits in the rear. The tight point is the Y shaped brace in the rear triangle which makes it nice and stiff. If you want to run a balloon tyre on the rear, it could be a problem. But IMO, the rear sus is soooo good, you wont need a big soggy rear tyre!

Another limitation you should consider is the seatpost. Because of the neat pivot placing on the seat-tube, saddle droppage is limited. You can mostly solve this by carefully measuring and cutting your seatpost so that at your maximum height, you have the minimum of 4" of post in the tube. On a medium, that allows a useful 4" of droppage, but you wont be able to slam-it all the way down. [full droppage is one of the only real advantages of single-pivot designs, IMO – I'm prepared to be shot-down over that opinion!]

Some people complain that the headtube is long and with the supplied spacers, it makes the bars a little too free-ridey high. Most people end up either putting spacers on top of the stem to lower them a bit. Some chop the steerer down too. I see that MrSmith has flipped his stem – good idea.

And lets not forget the unfashionably long stock stems; I assume they fit these to deal with the short top-tube.

AFAIK, these oddities are what put people, including bike journos, off the bike. Wise old Steve Worland was the only journo who really "got" it – ridden slow, the bike is docile and friendly. But if you cane the pedals, it's completely mental. Somehow, the sum of all its oddities is a really great, versatile bike.

Hmm… I wouldn't say that 2.2 RQ's are a 'tight fit'; I've been running them on Flow rims and there is sufficient clearance – way more than there was on my old Titus Motolite.

Shock setting – no idea. The suspension is a little sensitive to sag. At 25%, pedalling is sharpest but I never get through the travel. For me it works best with 30% sag, although you start to get a little soggyness in the pedalling.

One other thing – when sagged, the BB is pretty low which some people don't like because you have to think about pedalling. But I reckon it's one reason why the bike feels so fast.

well the little rubber pointy bits on the new tyre make a nice buzzing noise on the frame and i guess there is about 3-4mm gap.
to my way of thinking that is not a lot of mudroom. i have a SS hardtail for mud though.

My thinking is that if you were really concerned about mud clearance then you'd put on a smaller and more mud specific tyre. I'm not saying there's heaps of clearance; but it is way better than others – and the Rubber Queen is in my experience a big tyre!

my thinking is that if you were given a pair of tyres for free and all your other tyres were not recommended to work with stans you would fit them and ride a more suitable bike if it was muddy 🙂

i'll probably stick something else on the back like a jones acx when i can be bothered

Mines a Trance X0

I'm 6'2" and it's a Large. Recommended height range on the frame is 5'10" to 6'1" but it feels right to me and I reckon someone 5'10"-5'11" would feel a bit lost on it. I have a 90mm hope stem and I want to try a layback seatpost to maybe get a bit more stretch and see if I like it.

Swapped the Fox F120s off and fitted 20mm Revs (wound to 130). Also removed the stock Crossmax ST wheels and fitted my venerable hope bulb/XM321s (because although the Mavic wheels are light and lovely, they would quickly end up getting trashed and that would be a shame). Also changed the Race Face Deus crankset for Shimano SLX. Fizik Gobi XM saddle.

Not sure what fork/shock pressure I'm running.

Just back from 2 days doing Afan, loving it.

Hi. Sorry I don't have a pic of my Giant X5 (Large). Well I do but I haven't got them on a hosting site yet. I'm 6' 2" and it feels like a good fit to me. First thing I did was shorten the stem from 100mm to 80mm. I found the Giant stem a bit too long (and slightly flexy) for downhill and the 80mm stem (Travativ Team) hardly compromises uphill performance. I changed the saddle for a comfier one too. I also run mine at 30% sag @buzzlightyear (Giant shock). I find that it still climbs very well like this and is more supple. I'm going to enjoy upgrading it over time. A few people have been putting 140mm forks on theirs with good results so that might be my next upgrade.

I haven't ridden that many full suspension bikes but I would highly recommend the Trance X. It climbs very well and is so much fun going downhill where it can cope with some very technical stuff.

One feature of this bike is that it has a low bottom bracket. So if you're into riding down deep ruts and in between huge boulders this could be a problem. You soon get used to it though and it just means it's incredibly stable and good in the corners.

Mr Smith/Biscuit Powered, How do you find the 130/140mm Revs compare to the stock F0x 120 fork? Do they make a big difference?

mine was a frame only so never had fox's but i did run 120 recons for a bit.
it's much better with the maxle and the slacker angle is not as slack as some other bikes (you can see in the pics it doesn't look like a chopper)

Tbh I couldn't fault the Fox fork, was very plush and light and so on, but I did want a 20mm front axle. If the F120 had been 20mm I probably wouldnt have bothered swapping it off.

That said, the Revelation does give the welcome option of that little bit more travel, easily adjustable. Plus bar mounted lockout. I do prefer it.

I think the new ones come with 15mm axle Fox fork anyway?

Does anyones lower link catch on the front mech cable clamp bolt?

Mine is doing ever so slightly

how do people find these bikes? are they worth the money>?? or would you of wished to get something else?

This si my second trance (had a trance 4 when they first came out and blinged it up!) – this one is as good plus some more – now it has travel adjust forks on it 🙂 WIth static 120mm Fox F120s it felt under forked and nervy down hill – the 140s down hill are far more relaxed, and then 120 for normal riding and 100mm for super steep ascents.
And weighs in around 28lb with nowt fancy hanging off it (inc crudguards and bottle cage) plus a joplin!

Got mine 2nd hand so well worth the cash

the 140s down hill are far more relaxed

Bit of an update on my recent fork upgrade. Got Pike coil u turns on it now. It's made a huge difference. A heavier fork but adjustability and extra plushness makes the bike climb and descend a lot faster. Even more fun to ride now.

At last some pics!

Here is my bike before I did any upgrades to it.

Here it is as it looks today. Upgrades include Pikes, Funn Rippa Stem, SDG saddle, High Rise Bars and High Rollers. I’ll try and figure out how to make the pics bigger for next time.

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

ok.if you must. 😉