Trance X of Blur LT?

I was interested in peoples opinions of the Trance X versus the older Blur LT. I have been offered a second hand Blur frame but like the look of the Trance X. I don’t do trail centres much, mostly all natural trails and 3 hour rides.

I posted a detailed review of my TranceX but it’s only in the old forum which hasn’t been imported yet. Sorry

In Summary: It’s a trail bike works best going at warp speed with agility, up or down. 5" of quality suspension soaks up the bumps to give awesome traction. The front is light so unlike my hardcore HT, it doesn’t suit blundering through and rewards agressive manoeuvring. The same high traction aids climbing with zero pedal bob. The low weight and low BB means it rails corners but suffers when rolling lips, so plan to replace the big ring with a bash if you wanna get rough with it. The TT is relatively short and you feel a bit too racy with the long stock stem. The seat tube is interrupted which makes seat dropping awkward. I chopped the post down but it cant run full-up to full-down. In the end I got a second post chopped right-down with another saddle for freeride days and used the stock longer-one for XC days. The Nevegal tyres are uber grippy but awful for punctures until I ghetto tublessed them. The anodized frame is still looking great after 6 month hard riding with just a few tiny chips from crashed, but no rub marks.

I’m very happy with it now.

Also. have a look at the Bikeradar review.

Not exactly what you are after, but I tested a Reign 0 back to back on consecutive days against a BLT1, so may give you some pointers.

The Reign was very good: good small bump absorbtion, good pedalling efficiency, taught handling, well built and well specced. Downsides were riding position (very upright), horrible grabby Hayes brakes and for some reason not totally confidence inspiring on technical descents.

It seems very subjective but the BLT1 was just seemed a little better at everything and a less clinical feeling which translated into putting more of a grin on your face and to go looking for hops and drops, plus more planted on the technical descents. Golf GTi vs Golf tdi.

I ended up buying a BLT2 even though it was a fair amount more expensive than the Giant

The reign and TranceX frames are almost identical so captains comments apply.
I can see where Captain is coming from: The short TT does give an upright riding position which is why they put long stems on. But this makes getting off the back more difficult so you’ll end up putting a short stem on anyway. Moving the saddle back worsens the problem because the front is already light and pops too easily.In the end, you get used to the short TT; at least it makes manoeuvring very easy which is why I say is "agile" rather than "blunderproof"

Bear in mind that the head angle is not slack which I think is why it’s not so confidence boosting on steeps/roughs as say a Meta/Blur. The TranceX is most definitely trail/XC oriented rather than freeridy. I’m great with this because I’m 80% XC, but it may not suit you.

I would deffo try both bikes before deciding what suites your style. If you do try the TranceX, make sure you cane some pedally XC singletrack – you’ll be amazed how fast you end up going.

BTW brakes. I found the stock Hayes Stroker Trails to be excellent, almost as controlled as my favourites: Shimano XT. I’ve tried Hayes Stroker Rides and found them as wooden as some of the earlier Hayes brakes..