I have a 2012 and absolutely love it.

Kind of assume that a newer one will be even betterer.

Was toying with the idea of a Trance but as yet I’ve not run out of bike so another Anthem should do.

Did you fit a dropper and how did you do it?

Anyway, inspire me with your pictures.

Hmmmm.

I have an Advanced 29er 2018. It is an absolute rocket on certain terrain. I did a 35km circular road ride at just over 17.1mph measured. ( And I’m not fast)
Done three metric centuries on it recently including Lord of the Loops in the peak. I absolutely love it for fast swoppy flowy stuff.

BUT

it is not good at gnarr. I walked most of cavedale. I walked bits of Cadair idris. I walked the hard bit of the borrowdale bash.

It wouldn’t be so bad if the **** thing had a normal seat collar but for some inexcusable reason they have fitted it with some awful fiddly wedge clamp thing which takes minutes to undo and do up. So dropping the seat for descents is a no go.

I am thinking of upping the travel on mine to 120mm and fitting a dropper…..but then I won’t have a sub 12kg rocket machine any more.

No idea what the 2012 anthem you have is like but be careful. My son’s anthem 27.5 is a totally different beast. Completely fine on gnarr and loves the Alps.

There are loads of other threads about this BTW, where I said pretty much the same as I said here. See if you can find them.

I’d get the trance if I were you. In fact I probably will when I find someone to buy this Anthem 😈

I had a 2018 model, only sold as too small for me. Rocket-ship on technical xc terrain, but it is only 90mm travel/100m fork.

90mm of gnar. I must be the only person to buy one as my Alps bike 🙂

Uplift-tastic. Normal seatpost clamp, 27.2 dropper.

which wheel size and year is that Mick?

/zooms in on picture…..29

you’re insane 🙂

Not insane – I’d normally take a home made steel frame…… Cheap end of line / local ex-demo 2018 because the new bike had only made it this far before holiday.

And the kids were riding enduro stuff on carbon xc hardtails 🙂

Tbh the back end worked amazingly well and it was only the fork that was a bit battering. My normal X-fusion 120mm would have been great.

I’d get the trance if I were you. In fact I probably will when I find someone to buy this Anthem 😈

What size mister?!

I have the same bike as mick_r, agree with the others that it is a rocket ship but I’m a fan of short travel, fast handling 29’ers

If you are buying secondhand I can highly recommend the 2017 Anthem 2, has 120mm up front with 110 out back. Also comes with a dropper post as standard. The only thing that might put you off is the 27.5 wheels. I have fitted a shorter stem and wider bars to fit my ape arms 😁 . They also did an Sx version with 130mm travel.

Size Large

It’s this one

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/anthem-advanced-29er-1-2018

The only thing that would put me off buying an Anthem 29 is the daft skinny seatpost and the aforementioned seat clamp. Apart from that I’d be tempted by one for an all day XC bike.

(I have a 2017 27.5 Anthem set up as an XC/trail bike with 130mm fork for the record and love it, very very fast and light and extremely capable).

Im with Integra, as, whilst Im sure the 29er is good, its only now after they stopped doing the 27.5 that I realised that I reckon a 27.5 anthem would be superb for a mix of XC & trail riding around my local area (Surrey Hills). Plus I thought the 2018 Anthem Advanced looked spot on…

I miss my 27.5 Anthem. Regret selling it.

I’ve also got an SX1 27.5 and I think I prefer my 29.

You are making me doubt myself!

I had one of the very first 26 anthems and loved it, I keep drooling over lad at works advanced 29er , very nice indeed

This thread makes me miss my old Anthem 29er (circa 2012 I think). Put a dropper and 120mm forks on it and it was an absolute weapon up and down. 460mm chainstays if I remember correctly!

I’ve got a Anthem X29er… I’m still not sure about it, not sure why but I’ve just not clicked with it.

@devash did you go from 120 to 130? And if so how did it compare, any compromises?

Bought for the winter, loving in the summer.

Sold my 29er anthem a few months ago and bought a specialized epic. So far so good and enjoying it.
But the anthem was a great do it all bike. Done loads on it over the years from 24 hr races to bikepacking.
That reminds me I have a wildcat frame bag custom made for a medium frame if anyone is looking for one.

What bars/stem are people running on their anthems?

Been riding my 2012 x1 29er a lot more since lockdown and I keep thinking I should change the stock 690mm bars and 100mm stem. Always felt I had too much pressure on my wrists and would prefer something more upright. Thinking of maybe an 80mm stem with 760 bars with a bit more rise.

Any suggestions?

I’ve got el guapo 780s from On One. Every year I go wider. Think I’m done now. 65 mm stem

Mud muncher where is your picture?!

Mud muncher where is your picture?!

Old pic, shortly after I bought it

Edit:- can’t manage to embed a pic

@zippykona where did you get your stem? Doesn’t look like a giant one, but struggling to find one with the giant non standard 1-1/4” steerer

The 2018 bikes are a regular taper steerer fork (1 1/8″ at the top) and a shim inside the 1 1/4″ Giant stem (so regular stems are fine). Not sure how far back this goes.

My 2012 had a conventional size stem.

My 2012 had a conventional size stem.

Think they used the overdrive 2 on 2012-2014, could yours be a 2011 model?

@devash did you go from 120 to 130? And if so how did it compare, any compromises?

I have the alloy 2017 Anthem 1 27.5 which came with 120mm forks so yes, I had to change the air spring to bump up to 130mm. Only the SX models came with 130mm forks in 2017. 2018+ they got rid of the SX line and started to ship all 27.5 models with 130mm forks so if you buy second hand its worth checking the year.

130mm slackens the head angle from 68 to 67.5 which isn’t a huge difference but I run less air tokens and it makes the small bump sensitivity feel very smooth. It raises the stack height by around 5mm which doesn’t seem like much but it is noticeable as the bike has a lower stack height compared to the 29er, despite the extra travel. The only compromise is that you lose a bit of reach. I run a 70mm stem just because I like a stretched, racey position but the 2018 models came with 50mm stems.

Cheers for the info @devash, much appreciated. Mine is a alloy 2017 2, am running it with a 50mm stem and 780mm carbon bars. Interesting what you say about the fork, only running one token in mine too. Think next time I get the fork serviced I’ll up the travel, should save me from buying another bike 🤔

My riding buddy was bike less for a week so was able to lend him my 27.5 while I took my 29.This meant I could do a side by side comparison. Quite surprising how bikes are in reality to what you think you remember.
The 27.5 was so much more confident on the downhills. That led to me getting this.A 2018 , the last of the 27.5s with the 130 mm front end.
Proper ride at the weekend but my ride home tonight was very nice indeed.

That’s one way to keep customers at a distance.

90mm of gnar. I must be the only person to buy one as my Alps bike

Amatuer. Full Alp’s on steel HT for the win.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/284wDnj]Sanderson Breath Les Gets[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

I had a 2012 anthem x2 26″ wheels 100m fox front forks and rear shock.

Like the above comments, they are absolute rocket ships, climb like mountain goats aswell, perfect tool for big xc and trail centres.

I got rid of mine after a day of off piste in the forest of Dean where it felt quickly out of its depth, mainly due to the head angle on the near vertical downhills.

Replaced it with a trance and have had trance and reigns ever since (currently have a 2017 trance 1, 2019 trance advanced 1 and a 2015 reign 2 all 27.5) and the difference is night and day.

Trance is so much more capable on the downs and perfectly at home riding xc and trail centres.

Doesn’t climb aswell as an anthem but not much does and still pretty damn good, well compared to my reign, that thing is a handful on steep tech xc climbs! But an absolute missile down

Weighed my “new” bike today and was somewhat shocked that it weighed more than my fatty! 32 lb
Went tubeless and swapped the rear tyre for a nobby nic and saved 2 lb. Once I get my boost adaptors I should lose another 1.5 lb with my Dt wheels.