[Closed] Giant anthem x 29er owners

I demoed one and thought it was excellent but went for a Trek Fuel 29er in the end. Giant are pulling the plug on it in favour of 650b so you might be able to get a bargain when the new ones come out.

I think mine is great but have not ridden any of its peers so cant really comment much on how it compares.

It does feel fast, compared to my 26" hard tail
It climbs superbly, espcially on the loose
It goes where I point it without too much fuss
I dont feel any need for more travel for where I ride SW England and South Wales mostly
It feels long and does take some practice to get it round tight switchbacks
It does feel a bit cumbersome on slow tight fiddly techy stuff (maybe I should just go faster!)
I am not having much luck getting the front wheel to leave the ground voluntarily

Most importantly my cycling mates find it difficult to keep up 🙂 but then I generally choose where we ride and probally am playing to its strengths

very happy owner

Had my X2 29er now for 8 months, really good all rounder. Only thing to watch for is the sizing, it is a big bike and with a long wheelbase feels big on tight technical trails.Ive always had medium with Giant bikes,but the Anthem is the first bike where the small size may have been a better option in hinesight. So a test ride is a must.
Reliability wise no problems.

p.s the Anthem X 29er isnt being discontinued its being sold next year alongside the 27.5 for 2014

Thanks for reviews guys.

it is a big bike

wish it had been... I had to replace the 375 post with a 400 on my XL X 29er...

great bike btw. so easy to setup (set and forget) and nice to ride

i also had to replace 350mm seat post with a 400mm on my XTC 29er

I've had mine since March this year, it's an X1.

The bike has been faultless in the 1500km it's covered so far. Handles great, rides & climbs very well.
It is long, but I think that makes it good on the downs, you can get rear wheel slippage if you get too for forwards / out of the saddle when climbing, but that's not a massive issue as it clims so well when seated / hovering above the saddle.

I don't find the rear an issues on twisty single track as that's what I ride a lot of round here.

Sometimes it has a dropper on it for more gnar, others it has the normal post on it.

I've raced XC, done XC marathons like the Dyfi on it and done whole day epics in Wales and the peaks clocking up 100+ km on it with no complaints or stiffness etc from the riding.

Highly recommend if you can get one

As always, the answer is "depends what you want to do with it".

IMHO its an awesome cross country race bike, uber fast on the flowy stuff.

However, when the going gets technical, I still leave the Anthem at home, and ride my 26" Trance, which I find much better for tight and twisty stuff, jumps, and rocky/rooty sections.

Have you thought about the new 27.5 Anthem? May be a bit closer to a do-it-all bike if that's what you're after... [url= http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/bikes/model/anthem.27.5.3/14824/66144/ ]2014 Anthem 27.5[/url]

I demoed one in 2012 and thought it was awesome. Not quite up to spesh epic standards but at 1/2 the price close enough! On first dem ride I took it down the steepest stuff I can manage and was surprised at how versatile it was on tricker runs. But it was the singletrack munching capability that really sold the bike to me. The only complication was when the trance 29er came out. That was a really tough call and on balance I favoured the Trance. Too many pedal strikes on the anthem and trance was surprisingly good as a 4 hour blast bike.

Then of course along comes giant claiming that 29ers don't really work on their bikes!!!!!! Bllx!!!!

(just been offered a trance with big discount. Need to decide if giant are correct about the wheel size!?!?)

The Anthem Advanced in the news section looks very 'right' I'd be saving for one of those.......... 8)

Minimal downsides.....bit close to the ground for rocky ground.....fork pings you about a bit......had to swap the 24T chainring for a 22T because my knees were suffering on really steep climbs.

Upsides......everything else.....it's a nice bike and very capable, most folk will like it....I'm old and I'm covering ground way faster than I have in a good while.

I haz ridded mine in Wales today and smashed stravas all over the shopz