The Giant Trance Advanced Pro 29 1 is reviewed in Issue 142 Bike Test – The Big Short. The Trance has been in the Giant line-up for a long time now and the Trance Advanced Pro 29er is the most recent incarnation. Designed as a do-everything trail bike, the Advanced Pro 29 has seen its rear travel grow by 5mm from the previous version to 120mm. For such a seemingly straight-laced brand, Giant’s bike range can sometimes be tricky to navigate. The Trance range is perhaps the potentially most confusing at first glance. Once you realise that anything with an ‘X’ suffix has longer travel and radder geometry and ‘Advanced Pro’ is Giant’s code word for carbon, things get a bit easier to fathom. The Trance Advanced Pro is available in three different builds; we’ve thrashed this middle-child £5,999 Trance Advanced Pro 29 1. The Bike At the heart of the new Trance Advanced Pro 29 1 is a full carbon frame that features the updated twin-link Maestro suspension system. It’s claimed to have increased climbing ability and pedalling efficiency, yet without sacrificing any descending chops. Giant now does flip chips for adjusting the geometry. Sitting inside the main rocker, this new addition lets you change between a ‘high’ and ‘low’ position. The high position raises the BB, and steepens both the seat and head angles for supposedly “faster handling and increased climbing performance”. The low position sounds more appealing: stable at speed and confident descending. Headline geometry numbers for...