Has anyone ridden the new Giant Trance bikes at all? I'm looking to get a cross country bike after not having one for a while and I've been so impressed with my Glory it seems like a good choice. Any thoughts, suggestions...?
Trance?
- Thread starter Li'l Dave
- Start date
"Its All About Blowin' Through The Big Ring"
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Huh? Whatchewtalkinbout Willis?
ahhh nutin, pick up a mtbbike magazine some day
someone has to get it right
someone has to get it right
my friend has a trance two and loves it. its too small for me but it is a sweet bike. its pretty good for xc and you can do almost anything on it too. we recently found this sweet 6ft wall drop almost to flat and the trance took it nicely. if youve got the cash i recomend it.
My roomate has a Trance 1. He likes the bike, but has a few complaints.Li'l Dave said:
-Some chainsuck issues (as with most 4-5" bikes).
-Very low bottom bracket. he thrashes his crankarms on rocks all the time.
-Mud/Leaves/Sticks/Rocks seem to collect in the bb/chainstay/shock linkage area due to space constraints......dont know if that makes sense, hard to explain.
Overall, he says the bike climbs very well, and for a large frame size, his bike is very light.
I got a 2005 Trance 2 and I like it very much. I ride mostly XC with a bit of tech stuff. Here is a video of me riding some logs with it on Saturday. As you can see from the video, I am neither a light nor graceful rider. The T2 does a great job of handling the $hit I throw it at.
I agree. I do whack the pedals on stuff all the time. Initially, I didn't have the shock setup right. The 2005 T2 should be set at 100% of rider weight. Once I did this the problem improved.GotMyGED said:
My buddy built a skid plate for me that is attached to the bottom bottle cage mounts. The picture does a good job of explaining it. It helps protect the area when I whack it on $hit and keeps the shock area clean too. The 2006 design is a bit different though.GotMyGED said:
I agree. It helps to set your seat way back and keep your a$$ in it too.GotMyGED said:
What's chainsuck?GotMyGED said:
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Dave, its good to hear your thinking about getting an XC bike.
JustJames and Taylor have had them and really like them. Personally I think 4" is skimping on travel for S.B. chunky trails, but the Reign is too much weight. Thought about a Stumpy FSR or did you completely jump on the Giant bandwagon?
JustJames and Taylor have had them and really like them. Personally I think 4" is skimping on travel for S.B. chunky trails, but the Reign is too much weight. Thought about a Stumpy FSR or did you completely jump on the Giant bandwagon?
Yeah, XC is sounding more and more fun. I don't always have time to be able to go hit up a DH run, and maybe I can get my sorry butt into some better shape. I'm still considering the Stumpy, but when the Giant pedals so much better than the Specialized its hard to compromise. I'm probably going to take out one of the Demo SJ's and see how I like it.
What about the Reign? I see it has about the same amount of travel as the Nomad, seems at least reasonably light... Any suggestions positive or negative?
Let me know when you want to hit up some XC dude. The Reign might be a good call, but I figure 6" is too close to your other bike
I've made the mistake of getting too much bike for XC too many times, but in SB with all the rocks, its tough to find a balance.
I've made the mistake of getting too much bike for XC too many times, but in SB with all the rocks, its tough to find a balance.
Loco had a Reign :nonono:Li'l Dave said:
What do you base this on? The Giant marketing hype?Li'l Dave said:
I rode lots of bikes (Rockys, Treks, Specialized, etc.) before picking out my Trance.
I liked the Trance the best, and it pedals great, but I found the Specialized and Treks particularly stiff, I would think these might be even more efficient.
I think the ride on the Trance is plush and predictable. Just not sure it is really a better pedaler than the Specialized.
All of the Maesto bikes that I've tried (including my Glory) pedal better than other bikes that I have tried. I've noticed this more with the DH bikes than anything, the Glory pedals waaaaayyyyyy better than my Demo.
I gotta say that I honestly love my 06' Trance 1. I rode a 5 Spot (FSR version) for 2 years, had a Sugar, I-Drive, older Giant DH comp, and also have a single pivot DH bike now and the Trance is by FAR the best pedaling Full Suspension bike i've owned to date. If they come out with a carbon version for 07' then I'm definitely getting one.Li'l Dave said:
My only complain is that leaves do get stuck in the lower linkage while riding. Just a pet peeve of mine hearing leaves rubbing against the tire.. ugh!! I've never had chain suck (use XTR cranks), and I haven't smacked my crank arms off rocks (yet!)...
I really like the Glory a lot too, that's why the trance sounds good to me. Pluse Giant's prices are really good. With the Trance 1 the only thing that I will need to change are the shifters, I already have a Sram rear derailieur. All of the other models I would want a different fork, wheels, brakes...etc. I think I have pretty much settled on the Trance 1, the only thing left is to go and figure out if they have them in stock in size Med.
Cool. Glad to hear you are making your own decision and not just believing the hype.Li'l Dave said:
I think you will be happy on the Trance for XC. It's stable for riding yet squishy enough to take some of the rough stuff out of the ride.
They had enough in stock... mine should be here in a matter of days. Especially nice being that the shock on my Glory is blown and Fox is having 2-3 week turn around times right now. If last bike order was any suggestion of how long the bike will take, it should be here on Friday, if so, ans SB monkeys wanna ride?
I love my Trance!!!
Mine came in today, I haven't had the chance to build it up, but hopefully late tonight I can build it up and ride tomorrow. The white looks really cool, and it comes with the silver Race Face cranks, looks even better
Finally got a ride (if you can call eilings park a ride) on the bike today and it was a lot of fun. I forgot what it is like riding a less squishy bike than my DH bike. I'll post a pic as soon as I get a camera, but the bike looks really good, especially with the silver Race Face cranks that came on it rather than the black :love:
Here is a picture of 'er. I just put the Maxxis Advantage tires on it a few minutes ago, I can't wait to ride Jesusita tomorrow and see how they work.
Looks dope man! Now you need silver bar/stem/post to really set the whole bike off. A kind of "anti-black" bike...
I love my Trance, one of the best bikes I've ever ridden...
I love my Trance, one of the best bikes I've ever ridden...
I'm gonna get a silver Thomson stem and seatpost for it. For now though I'm about to brave the heat and and hit Jesusita to check out the new tires.
Nice! That'll look dope. The new X4 stem, right? We'll need pics when they're on.Li'l Dave said:
I'm heading out on the road for a couple of hours, some new wheels I need to test out a bit. I was hoping for a ride along the coast for cooler temps, but it looks like we're heading inland, which doesn't bode well for our hero.
Oh well, at least I'll be out pedaling...
JJames
Jesusita was a blast, those tires are infinitely more confidence inspiring than the Hutchinson Bulldogs that were on there before. The bike would still probably climb better without me even on it, but I had fun in the hot hot heat. I couldn't imagine a road ride right now, that may be a little warm for me.
You still stoked on the bike dave? Sorry I never let you know, but Im down in OC now, working at CrankBros. Im looking to get a more all-mountainy bike than XC but im thinking on giants. Also the Ransom and the Nomad. Hope things are going well, its hot as hell down here also.
I had no idea you were even looking at Crank Bros, how is it? I haven't been able to ride my DH bike since I came back from Whistler (morons at Fox took a month to get my shock even shipped out of S.J.) My trance is awesome though, having a lot of fun on it. We rode 15 miles today in near 100 degree temps. Ransom is expensive, and I don't trust Santa Cruz, I'd go with the Giant 
do you think it'll handle some 4x racing/riding? i go trail riding, with the occasional bmx track riding
I don't see why it wouldn't handle it, Tara Llanes is riding one as her 4x bike. Like most XC bikes though it is a bit long in the cockpit which might have to be taken into consideration, but shorten up the stem, get some slightly burlier wheels and take 'er out. I'd at least try one out first even if it is set up as an XC bike to see if you think you could even manage it as a 4X type rig.
How's the bottom bracket height on those Trance bikes? Decent height or is it low compared to the competition?
The bottom bracket feels pretty good to me. I haven't had much to compare it to in a while, but I haven't felt like it was either too high or low.
As promised, silver Thomson X4 stem and silver Thomson Masterpiece seatpost. Oh yeah, and I got some Juicys, a new bar, and some "white carbon" headset spacers