2020 Trance 1 29er

SummitFever

Eats Squid


Bike is almost stock. Specs are the usual Giant crap which leaves a lot to be desired for the money. This is the first complete bike I've bought in 10 years and to date is the most expensive and lowest spec, but then walking into a bike store and laying down the cash always seems to suck compared to speccing it out yourself.

Good stuff: XT 4 pot brakes at both ends, XT shifter and XT rear derailler. What's also good is that it comes setup tubeless from the get go.
OK stuff:
  • Shimano 12 speed SLX cassette - it does what it says on the box. Works without fuss but is no better than the 11spd XTR I run on my other bikes.
  • The Fox 34 fork with Grip damper combined with the Fox DPS rear shock is not bad. It's been a while since I've had a Fox rear shock and an even longer while since I've had a Fox fork and they are both much better than I remember.
  • Giant dropper - works, lever is actually good.
What's crap:
- the wheels: some sort of Giant rim with 25mm ID mated to SLX hubs. Rear points of engagement feels low and two rides in the rear rim already has a wobble. Typical machine built crap. Boost of course, but with 28 spokes so it completely negates all of the boost stiffness BS by using fewer spokes.

Mods: I'm a long way from home with very little in the way of tools so all I've managed to do is some little things:
  • swapped the brake lines over without needing to bleed them (bloody euros and their brake levers on the wrong way);
  • cut the bars down to my preferred 680mm;
  • replaced the Maxxis boat anchors with some tyres that actually roll X-King 2.4 front and Racing Ralph 2.25 rear (I did like the Minion DHR/DHF II combo but the good riding is about 25km away and I'm also doing a daily commute of around 40km so I need some better rolling tyres)
Post mods:

The ride: rides good. Feels well planted on the downs and rails high speed berms like a champ but is still a really playful bike to ride. Haven't had a chance to hit the Alps yet but I've done all of the local DH tracks and I've been shocked by how capable it is on the downs. The big wheels and the maestro suspension really make it feel like its got much more travel. The 66.5 deg head angle and 44mm offset fork supposedly give the bike heaps of trail but it doesn't feel like a slow steering plough machine. I was worried it may be less fun on tight twisty single track but it is good on that too. I will say this though, it did feel a lot more sluggish until I cut the bars down.

My only criticism would be that on really steep rooty technical climbs the rear feels like it gets hung up more than my older Trance 29er. This might be something to do with the re-engineered rear suspension or it could be something fixable through a shock revalve.

Finally, when I bought the bike I was happy that it was black and wouldn't attract too much attention from thieves because I often have to leave it chained up as I go about my business. Unfortunately, once you get it out in the sun it looks like a rainbow unicorn at mardi gras. It's quite the paintjob...

 
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beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
I rode a mate's one of these, it's a nice riding bike. I wondered if a bigger volume spacer in the rear shock would give that bit more progression to avoid the hard(ish) bottom out in sharp chunky bits. Surprised me how floaty but not wallowly if felt at sag, was a fun rig to trail ride.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
Oh Summit - 680 bars? Why???
I like the width. Fits easier between trees, faster steering for less input and allows me to get my weight further back when I need it.

Rode it for a couple of days with 780mm bars and it made my wrists ache. It also made it feel too "moto" for me. I have 800mm on my mxer, enduro and trials motos.

As an aside, I wonder why bar width is such a variable thing with the mtb crowd but for offroad moto there is only one bar width (800mm)? Indeed its such a universal thing that I didn't even know what width the bars were until I measured them out of interest.
 

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I don't mind the colour
I've got a set of Stan's Flow S1 29 on DT350 boost off my Optic if you are looking for an upgrade
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
Where are you living @SummitFever ? Why no tools with you?
I'm just south of Munich, Germany looking after my aunty who's suffering from failing health issues. Only temporary but I'll probably be back and forth a bit depending on how things go. Had to head off on 4 days notice, so traveled light. I don't even have any riding gear with me. Today's 25km round trip to the hospital will be through fresh snow.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
Paint job looks very nice and un giant like.
Yeah, not only is the paint job very un-Giant-like but the welding (which is normally good) is simply amazing. Welds are very neat, so much so that I hope they haven't resorted to the Crack'n'fail trick of filling and sanding the welds down.
 

Chriso_29er

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Great looking bike and nice write-up. I have never heard a bad thing about these bikes.
Was it better value buying over there?
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
We've now had a couple of days of snow but the trails are still rideable. Cold days mean the ground is no longer muddy but frozen solid. Very "interesting" riding.

The shorter chainstays on this thing makes thr backend feel a bit more steerable with the feet. It's very easy on tight slippery turns to push the rear into the turn and get it to hook up.

So much fun riding some different stuff.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
I continue to be impressed by how good this bike is on the downs. Did some proper DH tracks yesterday and as luck would have it I was able to follow some guys down that knew the track. I certainly would not have done the big gaps and jumps without someone to follow and they got a laugh too when I was still with them at the bottom. My riding attire comprises my XC helmet, polar fleece top, long hiking pants and goretex hiking boots. I've been getting a number of WTF looks out on the trails. I certainly look like the "new guy".

All is, however, not rainbows and unicorns. The bike feels unbelievable up to the point when you run out of suspension travel and then it becomes all too believable that you're running at least 50mm less travel than everyone else. The 29" wheels saved me a couple of times on the lip of some landers. A proper hard case on this thing would be scary. My wrists hurt just thinking about it.

Another strange thing is the 170mm length cranks on a large frame. Only noticeable on really steep climbs but this may be the reason I don't think it climbs as well as my older Trance 29er.
 

nzhumpy

Googlemeister who likes bikes and scandal
All is, however, not rainbows and unicorns. The bike feels unbelievable up to the point when you run out of suspension travel and then it becomes all too believable that you're running at least 50mm less travel than everyone else.
If it was all unicorn rainbow farts we'd all be buying one and Giant wouldn't be able to make them quick enough...you still running the XC tyres as well or swap back to the Maxxis for the DH?

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when a bloke in above mentioned attire nails a proper DH section when the groms are standing there umming and ahing about line choice.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
No still got the XC tyres on. It's 20km each way to the trail head. The 2.4 X-King on the front feels almost as grippy as the Minion. The Racing Ralph on the rear not so much...

I'm not sure whether any tyre is going to grip much on autumn leaf litter over semi-frozen ground. The local DH tracks have plenty of ruts and berms pushed up on the outsides of corners that are now hard like concrete.

To get a bit more grip on the downs I've;
  • upped the fork pressures a bit (about 20% sag);
  • dropped the shock pressure slightly (almost 30% sag);
  • faster than normal rebound on the rear;
  • bit lower rear tyre pressure.

The local DH tracks have no real rocks to speak of so the only sharp edge hits are from the many roots. They seem to love crazy steep chutes with sketchy tight turns at the bottom of them so my tuning has been focused on making the bike work best in those situations.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
do we not get the trance 1 2020 29er in oz, i don’t see any alloy models on bikeex, or giant website
That would be a bummer if Giant didn't bring them into Australia. Giant have been playing silly buggers over the last few years with the models they have in Australia (and the prices).
 
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