Not as racy as previous years?
More suitable as an all-day “out-there” tool?
Any concerns over pivot/bearing life?

Can’t coment on the Anthem X, but my ’07 carbon anthem frame is going as well as ever. Running with 100mm forks to take the edge off slightly. Superb bike with lovely sharp handling.

Original bearings are still going, but i do clean and regrease then every 6 months. They’re not full compliment so will be replaced in a couple of months (betd do the enduro bearing kit for about £40)

Anthem x1 did get the what mtb bike of the year in the latest issue (sub copy arrived sat)

Druidh- As you know, I’ve had mine for almost a year now and love it. It’s fast, comfortable and efficient. It still has a bit of a racy slant but it’s massively capable. Head angle is quite steep but when i run it with risers in the winter it’s capable of everything.

I’ve ridden it at long races, short local blasts and on epics and it is very good at it all- you get an awful lot out of riding it for a long time. It compensates for all your mistakes, and will be a much more nimble and easier going ride than the Meta, simply due to the weight (mine’s 24lbs with XT and SIDs).

I like it a LOT.

rolfy – what would you recommend. Buy a frame, or go for a full bike and sell the bits?

The frame is £900.

The X3 is £1100 with toras/SLX/Jucies. You’d probably save a bit splitting it- mabe about £150-200.

I did it with the frame because the bikes weren’t available at the time. Merkinman bought the 3 and stripped it.

What size would you need? We have a small X3 in the shop. The Medium is pretty long but I can’t really remember how tall you are.

Definitely into a Medium – 1.72m

Yeah, I’d say med. Want a shot on mine? It’s even got your “hot for ’09” flat bars on it.

Hmmm – I might pop up later in the week if you’re around.

Yeah, that’d be cool. Risers or flats? What length stem would you need, too? It’s got a 100mm on it at the minute.

I get the feeling it’s a lot more capable than giant would let on. I think about fitting my Thors and letting all hell break lose on it.

Ive been eyeing one of these up recently, X1/X2 and frames are pretty much sold out country wide so the X3 Split option is definatly the way forward.

Rode a standard spec x1 with a riser bar on it and was impressed but as mentioned above its a little steep, just as an experiment though i dropped some 120mm Reba maxle lite onto it and it totally transformed the bike. Tiny loss in the climbing ability but with the slacker HA its just so much more stable at speed on singletrack and decents. As a light fast trail centre ripper there isnt much that can compete with it at the price with this setup.

They’re not full compliment

odd, especially on a whippy carbon model, they are on my trance…..

Olly, maybe they thought to remove one ball bearing from each bearing to save a little weight 😀