I have a hardtail but am beginning to get a bit tired of my creaky bones being thrown all over the place. I’m looking at getting a new bike: short travel; light; 29er; fast. I’m not expecting it to be cheap. Your input would be much appreciated. Ta.

It’s a Giant Anthem you want.

Anthem, stupid quick

Yep, they’re right. Anthem.

Fast as a fast thing, and always feel like they’ve got a little more travel than they actually have!

Very much recommended.

These may be of interest:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OykysYk0c68[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-H4554wgI[/video]

Canyon Lux?

I’ve got my 29er Anthem set up quite ‘trailly’ – reverb and 120mm forks, biggish tyres, wide bars. It’s a beast. Far more capable than me.

Having had an Anthem SX for 3 weeks I have to agree with above 😀 Still love my Soul but on my local stuff – tight techy singletrack, very rooty, the Anthem is miles faster and a good deal smoother !

They weigh the same and the Anthem climbs a treat. It is very forgiving even though same travel upfront

Good to hear, Ian! 😀

Carbon Spearfish!

Love my anthem 29er.
You will never regret it

Specialized camber evo, short travel,29er fast

Epic if you want a light and fast Spesh, not Camber.

Superfly FS
Spark
Anthem

Try a few, buy the one you like. XX1 or M9000 group set, carbon wheels, light finishing kit. 20lbs or so on any of those if you spend enough.

Thanks… njee20 is closer to the mark ie lighter and with less travel. I very much like the S Works Epic; it’s a bit expensive tho 🙂

You could do worse than read the test of the anthem and spearfish in our host mag.

If you are contemplating expensive also look at the Turner Czar – seems to get very favourable comments, whereas the Sultan has been critised for its longer chainstays.

Plus the bushings on Turners are rock solid and very maintenance friendly.

I race xc on a Trek superfly sl full sus, very happy with it. However if wasn’t racing and wanted a fast cross country bike, and had the money, I would get a ibis ripley frame and pimp it. Took one for a test ride and loved it.

You could do worse than read the test of the anthem and spearfish in our host mag.

Say what? Where?

Tis an Anthem you seek btw. Lighter than a spearfish, very capable, very fast so I’m told despite the fact I have one…

Epic then Anthem IME

Thanks… njee20 is closer to the mark ie lighter and with less travel. I very much like the S Works Epic; it’s a bit expensive tho

So what is the budget? Your OP implied it wasn’t an issue.

Njee20 – the budget is £6k. I did the recent Scott Marathon and wished that I had a light FS bike hence a bit of soul-searching.

Buy the Epic Elite, sell bits you don’t want, buy new bits. I’d change wheels, cranks, bar, stem, seat post as a starting point.

Or look at other options where you could do that sort of thing.

I used to have an ali Anthem and rode regularly with a mate on carbon Epic. Epic was lighter though obviously not a like for like comparison. Epic was faster climbing and on flats, feeling very solid like a hard tail. I found the Anthem had too much pedal bob unless locked out. Anthem was probably the better of the two downhill and more suited to trail centres where you may want something a bit less racy. Also expect to see several Anthems every time you leave the house. A mate raves about his Spark, which I would say is getting to the ‘trail’ end of the spectrum.

Another vote for an anthem. You don’t even need a super expensive one to be fast. I had an unfashionable 26er for a couple of years. I didn’t have a problem with pedal bob, was very fast up and down. Only issue I had with it used to get through shock bushes relatively fast and I had to do a full rebuild on the shock twice. I reckon this was because I was riding downhill just as fast as on my 6″FS.

I’d get a cheaper one, then replace the bits when they wear out.

Another vote for an anthemany 100mm 29r XC bike. You don’t even need a super expensive one to be fast.

Fast comes from the rider 🙂 Coming from longer travel 26″ FS to 29″ XC bikes I noticed a nice pick up in pace.

I’m amazed someone got pedal bob they couldn’t cope with on an anthem. That’s a setup issue. And even with the shock setup soft the current CTD setting in T eliminates any bob for me, even when sprinting off a start.

£6k though gets you a lot of bike. If it’s a raw race bike go with NJEE’s advice. If – like me – you also want a trail bike stick with the Anthem IMO and keep the OEM wheels for training and playing on.

Giant Anthem advanced then £5500 – carbon & SID’s you’ll find your limit WAY before its limit

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/anthem.advanced.27.5.0.team/19236/77327/#features

As above though, get the one though thats feels right to ride, oh and matches the paint job on your (im guessing) Q7 or Toureg? 😆 (just joshing its your money spend it as you see fit!)

Imagine spending 5.5k and ending up with a Giant?. I’d be gutted!. 😆

especially as it doesn’t have proper XC wheels….

😳

gits! 😆

Mine does 🙂

Ive just bought a secondhand anthem 29, really like it.

For £5/6k id go for something more boutique/custom build, a carbon tallboy or czar or similar.

Carbon Tallboy or Carbon Spearfish.

If you can get over the looks, you’d have to try very hard to beat one of these:
http://www.icanbike.dk/shop/eng/pronghorn-pr7xc-carbon-552p.html
I’ve got one of their older 26″ carbon bikes and it still amazes me now how light and agile it is. The handling was a bit “razor’s edge” for my liking with the original DT Swiss 100mm fork so I stuck a 120mm on and it’s been tamed slightly, but still a total xc weapon.

On the cheap Anthem front, mine is the 27.5 SX model, which retails at 2K and can be had for a bit less. A capable and fast, light bike for the money, full SLX groupset

Rocky Mountain Element always get good reviews.

I was going to avoid the what I have thing but the element is a very nice bike and I’ve only got the 950 half/half

The Anthem is 27.5 and I deffo want a 29er. My riding is more XC-based than anything and the Anthem seems more trail-biased. Any thoughts on the Santa Cruz Tallboy (normal travel)? Thanks for the input so far.

Do they not make these any more then?

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/2014.giant.anthem.x.29er.1/14998/66602/

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/2013.giant.anthem.x.advanced.29er.1/11845/56847/

Fork is only 100mm too – makes it sound more XC to me at least.

You could do worse than read the test of the anthem and spearfish in our host mag.

Say what? Where?

Issue 89 – summary page 124.

Anthem fastest, Spearfish most popular with testers. I got my spearfish for long distance at which it’s sublime and it’s none too shabby on XC either.