Thinking about down sizing from my orange 5. I’ve been looking at the Giant Anthem as they have got good reviews. Would like something light but still able to give it a good thrash on the downhills. Is there anything else I should be looking at?

Scott spark absolutely rips the descents.
I’ve been riding my race build carbon spark on 2.4 mountain king II’s for the last 2 seasons like its a 150mm travel bike and its lapped it up!

What year and spec please BearBack?

Any Anthem owners out there? Are they really that good?

2012 spark 10 frame
Fox float 120
DT Swiss tricon 1550
FSA afterburner 386 27/39
Xt 11-36 drive train
Magura 180/160 MT8
2.4 MK2 with 2.4 XK rear for race day
Gravity light CSI flat bars
Joplin4

some shots of the spark in its element

Amazing bike but sidelined by my new 27.5 genius for now 😉

The 2014 Whyte 129s is out next month, stonking value (£2100) for what you get.

Anthem would eat any xc-fs any day ask liam killen or adam craig… 😉

..so what year and size is your orange 5? 🙂

Whats the rear shock like? Bike radar didn’t rate it in there online review. Nice looking bike man!

Orange is a 2008 med. Was thinking of getting a xc frame and swapping over the bits I like and that fit to the new one and then selling whats left over.

Shock is good. works as its supposed to for all intents and purposes.
Old Nude (1) was pretty pop. I blew 3 in the BC Bike Race. Newest generation of nude (2) is far far better.
Even the nude on the Genius gets mediocre mag reviews, but to be honest I don’t find it bad or a hindrance at all.
I’ll be interested to see just how much better the Fox Nude will be on the Scott platform. The Spark/Genius is very good, and now Fox have the nod as oem supply.. its can only get better.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/for-sale-scott-spark-40-l-1

I know Toxicsoks well enough to know its been looked after too…..

Spark, Anthem, Epic, Superfly 100.

I personally don’t really like the Sparks, you have to use the Tracloc to get the most out of it IMO, and I can’t be bothered with that!

Anthem would eat any xc-fs any day ask liam killen or adam craig…

Except they don’t. Good bikes they are, but as with anything there’s no single best. Anthem’s never won a World Cup race, so the example’s a little flawed 🙂

Ok then suggest the s-works to the OP to have that world cup badge. 🙄

I have an Anthem 29er and was riding Ashton Court today and my mate commented on just how much faster up and down I am since getting it. I absolutely love it but to be honest I have not ridden any of it’s peers

Just looking at the Epic and they look pretty nice too. I know it sound silly but not a fan of the cable routing under the down tube, cant put a full length outer on, or can you?

Ok then suggest the s-works to the OP to have that world cup badge

Huh?

You said the Anthem “eats any FS bike” because it’s ridden in WCs. Well… virtually all XC FS bikes are ridden in WCs, but quite a few have actually won them, unlike the Anthem, so it’s a flawed analogy. Where in that did I tell the OP to get the S-Works Epic?

I know it sound silly but not a fan of the cable routing under the down tube, cant put a full length outer on, or can you?

My 2009 one had full length outer under the downtube, there’s never anything stopping you, they used to use clamped on guides, so it would be fine. Not studied the newest ones.

Test ride is a must. FWIW I tried a Spark, best climbing bike I have ever ridden by a long way but could not get on with it in the twisty stuff.
Warranty is also a factor I consider on new purchases. From my experiance Trek and Marin have been excellent, Yeti (since they changed inporters) and Pace much less so.

Just looking at the Epic and they look pretty nice too. I know it sound silly but not a fan of the cable routing under the down tube, cant put a full length outer on, or can you?

If you are happy to zip tie the frame you can route a full-length anywhere really.

For XC hard to beat epic – rides like it has a hidden engine – but IMO pricing is silly so Anthem is a good second choice and much better value. Unless there are good epic 2013 bargains around.

For XC hard to beat epic – rides like it has a hidden engine – but IMO pricing is silly so Anthem is a good second choice and much better value. Unless there are good epic 2013 bargains around.

Not that bad are they? £3200 for a Comp Carbon, Anthem X Advanced 1 is £3500, Spark 910 is £3700.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-giant-anthem-x1-frame-and-fox-float-forks 😉

Will be looking to buy full build or just frame and forks used so warranty and new deal don’t really matter to much. The more I look, the epic seems to be more appealing.

Worth riding one, because they do the whole locking out thing automatically you don’t really have much to do other than pedalling, IMO you’ll probably like either the Spark or the Epic.

What do you mean by automatically?

Anthems are spiffing, but none of these bikes will ride like a Five downhill, nowhere near close. I own a Five and an Anthem and they are very different beasts. You’d be better looking at 120mm bikes.

For my part, I chose the Anthem because it was better down than the Trek or Specialized equivalent. It is good fun. As with njee, I don’t like Sparks- inefficient suspension design masked by a remote lockout.

I realise that these won’t be as good as the five on the downs but the trails I seem to be riding most often these days would be alot more fun on some thing with less travel. Whats in the 120mm market?

I’ve got an Anthem X1 29’er and love it, it’s faster up & down than my Nicolai Helius CC, lighter too and a damn site better value to be honest

I’m with munrobiker, surely the trance 29er? Or how about the orange gyro?
Got an anthem and so has a mate, it’s an utter rocket ship…so much so he’s just broke his leg coming off of it cos it rolls so darn fast!
Garylake to the forum please

for a do it all i recomend a giant trance 26er iv had mine for a year and its all the bike il ever need the setup is superb i run with a 130 fork to slacken it a little but still climbs well and decends even better iv done a couple of 4-8h races and some allday welsh rides with no complaints atall if your near bristol i have a 16″ to swing your leg over

Ps what sort of dhiller are you, have taken the anthem down leckhampton dh and it just doesn’t want to leave the ground, but then that’s not what it’s for!

2014 Epics have internal cable routing, I hope I can persuade my insurance to spring for that instead of the 2013.

No levers to play with, there’s no manual intervention possible, it decides when to bounce.

Used to have a rather nice sc superlight but changed to an anthem! much nicer bike to ride which I tend to use for epics! but still my fav bike is my stumpy s works but that is a HT

Simple… If you want light then a Ghost AMR 29 carbon, awesome XC/trail bike that goes up and down ohhhhh and they trounce the competition on VFM so if light is a criteria you can not lose!

If your not bothered about carbon and wanting to save some pounds (£) and add some pounds (lbs) then the canyon nerve 29 is is king

http://www.ghost-bikes.com/za/bikes-2012/bike-details/amr-lector-2990/

Thanks for the offer rp16v but not in the bristol area. I did have a 2006 reign in 2007 and really enjoyed that until I got a Patriot. Been on the down sizing ride for a few years now ( kids, injuries and and age coming in to play ). Can’t help but think the trance is not much lighter than what I have now. Keeping an eye on some carbon epics on the bay just to see what they’re going for.

Nice bike xcstu What year/spec?

Whats the differences in the epic range Elite/comp/s-works? Is it just component spec?

S-Works is also a better frame, but basically yes.

Nice bike xcstu What year/spec?

Cheers Danno

Frames a 2010 slo advanced with fox rp23… I picked it up secondhand with SRAM xx on but changed to my preferred xtr groupset / brakes… Fox f series rlc forks. Thomson stem / seatpost.. Gobi carbon railed saddle.. Mavic crossmax slr wheel set.. Chris king headset & bottom bracket… Ergon grips/barends…. Schmolke carbon handlebars… Xt pedals… Racing Ralph tyres 🙂

What size is it xcstu? Watching one on ebay that is exactly the same. How tall are you and how does the frame fit?

Cheers

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/bikes/mountainbikes/full-suspension/product/review-giant-anthem-x-29er-1-13-47170