would I be disappointed?

YES!

Did you not read the Giant PR about wheels!

Apparent last year they were lying, 29ers are sh!te, 27.5 is THE answer!

Despite winning loads of acalade from riders and press!

I’d say you’d be more likely to be disappointed with the Whyte. Giants are superb bikes and pretty much unbeatable for the money.

EDIT
Whyte bike frames have a poor 2 year warranty, extendable to 4 years if you register the bike. Giants have a lifetime warranty. I know which I’d choose.

Aye, but that means you end up with a farkin pig-ugly bike for ages…. 😀

Debating the same thing…geometry is spot on IMO on the whyte particularly those short chainstays compared with the trance. Given trance x is 5″ or 127mm now wondering if the Codeine with 130mm is a better option

Owners of Whytes will say yes, owners of Giants will say no, but only you can decide. They are both just bikes at the end of the day and in the grand scheme of bikes (from DH bikes to road bikes) they are pretty much indistinguishable to most normal folk. Just go for whichever one floats your boat and enjoy it. Personally I’d rather have a bike than not.

Think I would choose the Giant over the Whyte in the first place. What about the Whyte made you decide on it?

Will you feel like you’ve got 2nd best by going for the Giant?

If the answer is yes then don’t buy it. Otherwise do.

I’ve spend too much of my serial bike swapping career thinking ‘if only I’d got X’. I just buy X in the first place now.

I’ve had 2 Anthems and now got Trance 29er X0….in my opinion they have been well sorted bikes from the get go…..if I’ve sold on to replace I’ve ways got good money and rapid sale…Giant’s aftersales (plus my awesome LBS ) has been brilliant……I rode the Trance last night and we did a mixed bag of gnar, it just ate it up in a similar fashion to my Tallboy….my opinion, I know but hopefully helpful…Giant, great VFM and backup!!!! Obviously can’t comment on Whyte.

I’d be disappointed if I couldn’t get the bike I wanted, none of the bikes I’ve bought have been due to the warranty, warranty is a bonus not ‘the’ reason to buy a bike to me.

I’m just umming and arring, I’ve fancied a Whyte since they got such great reviews, and I think it looks great.

However they are hard to get hold of, whereas the Giant isn’t and I prefer the LBS that sells Giants.

Some good points above, plus of course a useful dose of subjectivity.

Got a test ride lined up in January for both the Trance 27.5 and the Anthem 27.5 (again Giant customer service great, still waiting for Whyte dealer to let me know if/when a test ride might be possible), but as I’ve already got a 29er (Fargo) it would make sense in terms of tyre swapping etc to stick with that wheel size.

Anyway, most of the fun is in the chase isn’t it?

Apparent last year they were lying, 29ers are sh!te, 27.5 is THE answer!

I know that is the forum interpretation, but it’s not the view I seem be getting from Giant – no more 26ers, 29ers for as long as the demand is there.

Vain I know but I don’t think I could allow a Trance 29er in my garage. It’d be like having a ginger child.

The Whyte should be a good buy now, they’ve gone through the essential “sell a bunch and have them break” phase that Whyte seem to depend on for prototyping, changed the design a bit, sorted.

I went to look at a spesh camber evo the other day and the whytes look better and were better VFM. Can’t understand the haters? Last year, I though the Trance 29er 1 was a great bike to ride, looked better in the flesh than on photos, and great colours. The Giant told me they were crap and left this years model in ridiculous colours!!!!! Still the black, stealth anthem 29 er looks better than last years colours!!!

On the idea of demand or not enough of it. Last two years, Giant have sold out of the bike I wanted by early summer!!!!! So put off purchase, then they make my choice obsolete (!!) or hideous colours.

I know that is the forum interpretation, but it’s not the view I seem be getting from Giant – no more 26ers, 29ers for as long as the demand is there.

This is true, and actually the case for 90% of other Bike manufactures too.

Not sure I can stomach the frame shape of the Giant Trance X29, it just looks too short and as though it has been involved in some sort of front end collision.

The Whyte is easier on the eye and is like a Specilaized but better specced for the money.

Have you ridden either bike – I haven’t? I’m only going on reviews in amgs and that doesn’t really mean a lot, but both are well thought of and I don’t think you’d go wrong with either.

Not ridden either no – not sure I’m going to be able to – which means I might end up with an Anthem or Trance 27.5, which I will be test riding in Jan…

Whyte demo’s specifically the T-129, seem to be reliant on your LBS requesting the demo fleet to attend. Which if your LBS has the interest/numbers is great, not so easy for one off individuals.
The joys of a having a model in great demand, they sell too well for a demo to be kept/necessary.

Whyte are posting demo’s days on there FB page, as LBS’s request them, but you might need to travel & get in quick to reserve the model you want to try.

can i also suggest you try a whyte m109. Ive had mine for about 6 months and its a lot of fun to ride. i did cwncarne on it in my fastest time the only bike ive been able to get up the whole climb with ease and had the most fun ever coming down. for a 29er it is really easy to move around even the switchbacks were not a big issue.

its worth a test

There are some bargain Trance X29s about

Pauls Cycles have a X0 Trance 29er for £2,199 – £1,300 under RRP if you take a medium or large Trance X0 linky

Or an X2 for £1125

You won’t see a Whyte being discounted like that. The Trance X0 is pretty much full XT drivetrain and brakes (sneaky SLX cassette aside) and comes with a dropper post.

Quite fancy one of these, think its well specced and perfect colours….

I really like the new range of 27.5 trance, but the 29 still had great reviews – there are a few owner reviews on mtbr.

http://www.mtbr.com/cat/bikes/29er-fullsuspension/giant/trance-x-29er-0/prd_501404_7787crx.aspx

Giant definitely make the best frames, i know there will be loads of people on here that will disagree, but the ALUXX SL frames are sublime, really light and just the right amount of flex to be comfortable.

I am slightly Giant biased (you can probably tell) but for good reason i think. 🙂

Yeah the Trance 27.5s look nice, not sure I’d pay double the price of the 27.5 2 for the Advance 1 though, especially given they look almost identical!

Ive pre ordered an anthem 1 27.5 cant wait 🙂

Luckily I don’t pay full price 8)

😈

I like the Anthem and Trance 27.5.

Think is, I’d want an Anthem for racing, and a Trance for fun. Which one to replace an ASR5 with :-/

kryton – i am in exactly the a same boat. Last summer I demoed both for a few days – did the same combination of 3-4 hr XC rides and mucking about on singletrack/steeper stuff. So which was the bigger compromise? The anthem just, although this could have been Racing Ralphs v Nobby Nics as i was sliding all over wet roots on the anthem!!

On the last day of the demo, I took the Trance for a long XC ride and expected to notice a difference between this and the Anthem. But is was so marginal and the Trance was so nice on a long ride (29er v my current old 26 HT??) that I felt the Trance would be better. Then they sold out of both!!

Hence the M109 v T129 debate with the whytes and the ? over the spesh camber evo!!!

choices, choices!!!

See I had an old anthem and then a turner five spot. Anthem was great as was turner. Anthem went up better than turner but turner came down better

If I did lots of trail centers id go trance but as I prefer natural trails in the dales and moors I think anthem is the better for me

Less travel but less weight to lug around

i dont think there much to chose between the weight of an anthem and a trance, is there?

About 3 pounds im told

My 2012 Anthem X29er 1 weight 1 pound less than my 2013 Trance X29er 0…….better kit on Trance but you can always upgrade bits later

teamhurtmore – Member

choices, choices!!!

Indeed. Then again I already know I have a great trail bike in the ASR5. I’m off to Wales in January and intend to pump the shock up “race hard” on one of the 4 days I’ll ride and see how it fairs. A couple of hundred quid lightening it up might be the compromise if I want to use a FS for a race.

i dont think there much to chose between the weight of an anthem and a trance, is there?

Certainly when looking at frame weight, there’s not much in it…anthem x 29er: 5lb 8oz, Trance X 29er: 6lb. Pretty damn good weight imo…my Turner DW Flux was 6lb

It would appear you can change spacers to increase the Reba – the fork on the Anthem advanced 27.5 2 – to 120 mm.

If that’s the case I may be pretty well sold on that bike

I was looking at trance and anthem other day both the 650 3 models both medium. The trance felt significantly heavier

Kryton – it’s not a spacer anymore, its the entire spring assembly that needs swapping out, see here on page 10 of the service manual.

Not sure how much this costs, I’ve heard £35-£70….available here for $85….

As you can probably tell, I have been having similar thoughts to you..,

I have a whyte it’s a very good bike. Keep trying to find one its worth in my view

Nick – Member
Kryton – it’s not a spacer anymore, its the entire spring assembly that needs swapping out, see here on page 10 of the service manual.

Not sure how much this costs, I’ve heard £35-£70….available here for $85….

As you can probably tell, I have been having similar thoughts to you..,

Ah. That looks complicated to a mechanical idiot like me. Hmmm. I guess it’d be a case of riding it first and then only changing it if I felt a bit more was needed.