xc race bike

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mr chicken legs

Likes Bikes
just raced my first 6hr solo at forrest. crashed & broke my ribs on lap 5. was good fun up till then.i ride a trance xo 2009 am thinking of buying anthem x sl1 to do more racing.how much better would it be or should i stick to my trance. crash was through front tyre slowly going flat faulty valve core i run tubeless with sealant.
 
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Nerf Herder

Nerf Herder

Wheel size expert
Gotta think why did you crash ... if it was because of fatigue inducing loss of control ... I would have thought riding on a dedicated XC race rig would make it worse.

The benefit of an enduro versus a race rig is supposed to be a little more travel at the expense of weight ... this means it can adsorb a little more when your tired ... giving you more room for error.

presuming your there for distance ... I'd stick with the Trance
 
M

morganb4

Likes Bikes
Got an anthem x1. Not tried a trance.

Its difficulty for me to imagine a more comfortable ridding position. Not ridden it for 6 hours though.
 
quiggs

quiggs

Likes Dirt
Bike wouldn't have made alot of difference if the front tyre was going down, in a crash.

I have a Trance 0 (4inch version) and a anthem X. They best way to describe it is comparing a lounge chair verses a racing car chair the ride in the lounge (trance) is going to be more forgiving, i.e. slacker geometry, slightly longer wheel base. Verses the Anthem where the build and geometry is specced for quicker response through cornering, changing directions etc.

In summing up the trance is going to be more forgiving to rider error, while the Anthem is built to be ridden hard and you will love every moment of it.
 
Slowman

Slowman

Likes Dirt
I just bought myself a Santa Cruz XC Blur Carbon, it has the best of all worlds. Quick and precise steering but also very stable 69.5 degrees. I don't know how but is steers better than my Epic which was a 70.5 deg head angle.

It's only 4 inches of travel but I've always found that to be more than enough and with VPP2 suspension it is the quality of the travel too that is so much better than Specialized FSR (Hoerst Link) . A friend just bought an Anthem (the carbon one) and it has some kind of variation of the VPP with that maestro link so it acts similarly I'd expect, but don't really know as we haven't swapped bikes. I just know he goes a lot better on it than his previous Scott Genius.

Anyway the the SC VPP2 suspension action is plush without pedal bob or movement induced by rider weight shifts. So it is possible to get the best of both worlds: suspension that resists other forces than bumps without being harsh. If you can get suspension that works like this 4" travel is plenty IMHO and there's no loss of comfort.

So I reckon you can get a dedicated XC bike that is still quite comfortable for every day trail riding too, it's really a matter of doing your homework. I should be completely honest though I am more into enduro events and don't race shortcourse XC but I ridden plenty of such courses.
 
Slowman

Slowman

Likes Dirt
I just bought myself a Santa Cruz XC Blur Carbon, it has the best of all worlds. Quick and precise steering but also very stable 69.5 degrees. I don't know how but is steers better than my Epic which was a 70.5 deg head angle.

It's only 4 inches of travel but I've always found that to be more than enough and with VPP2 suspension it is the quality of the travel too that is so much better than Specialized FSR (Hoerst Link) . A friend just bought an Anthem (the carbon one) and it has some kind of variation of the VPP with that maestro link so it acts similarly I'd expect, but don't really know as we haven't swapped bikes. I just know he goes a lot better on it than his previous Scott Genius.

Anyway the the SC VPP2 suspension action is plush without pedal bob or movement induced by rider weight shifts. So it is possible to get the best of both worlds: suspension that resists other forces than bumps without being harsh. If you can get suspension that works like this 4" travel is plenty IMHO and there's no loss of comfort.

So I reckon you can get a dedicated XC bike that is still quite comfortable for every day trail riding too, it's really a matter of doing your homework. I should be completely honest though I am more into enduro events and don't race shortcourse XC but I ridden plenty of such courses.
 
M

morganb4

Likes Bikes
quiggs said:
Bike wouldn't have made alot of difference if the front tyre was going down, in a crash.

I have a Trance 0 (4inch version) and a anthem X. They best way to describe it is comparing a lounge chair verses a racing car chair the ride in the lounge (trance) is going to be more forgiving, i.e. slacker geometry, slightly longer wheel base. Verses the Anthem where the build and geometry is specced for quicker response through cornering, changing directions etc.

In summing up the trance is going to be more forgiving to rider error, while the Anthem is built to be ridden hard and you will love every moment of it.
Click to expand...

This is about as accurate as you are going to get I reckon. Its hard to go slow on an Anthem because it wants to be thrashed, its geometry kind of makes you want to go fast.
 
carpetrunner

carpetrunner

Likes Dirt
How to know when to change up? (or is it down?)

Hi All, I have a similar question... and I'm looking for opinions/options

Using mid-life crisis as a justification I purchased my first MTB a couple of years back,
an '09 Spec Enduro Comp lounge chair.

I'm a cycle-commuter/roadie, so the pedaling bit is known.
I used to do some motocross (32 years ago) so dirt theory is also covered.
- the dirt practical was a steep learning curve.

I certainly agree that the lounge chair has enabled me to avoid many face/dirt interactions.

Lately I have been doing some "events";
Last year in the fling, going up halfway hill, just before the top, a yougin' said to me;
"bet you're glad you have 6 inches of travel now" - I was passing him so a reply wasn't needed :)
then
I couldn't help notice I had the heaviest bike at the start of the husky100,
and then
I read the thread Hurts my eyes and noticed I have my riser bars on an inverted stem with all the spacers on the top :(

How do I know when it is time to move on from my 13.5kg loungechair to a 9kg carbon 29er hardtail?

- carpetrunner
 
colesy01

colesy01

Likes Bikes
Sounds to me like you have answered your own question. If you need us to validate this decision then I think its a great idea, go get one. I like the look of the Silverbacks.
 
kv1973

kv1973

Likes Dirt
Slowman said:
It's only 4 inches of travel but I've always found that to be more than enough and with VPP2 suspension it is the quality of the travel too that is so much better than Specialized FSR (Hoerst Link) . A friend just bought an Anthem (the carbon one) and it has some kind of variation of the VPP with that maestro link so it acts similarly I'd expect, but don't really know as we haven't swapped bikes. I just know he goes a lot better on it than his previous Scott Genius.

Anyway the the SC VPP2 suspension action is plush without pedal bob or movement induced by rider weight shifts. So it is possible to get the best of both worlds: suspension that resists other forces than bumps without being harsh. If you can get suspension that works like this 4" travel is plenty IMHO and there's no loss of comfort.

So I reckon you can get a dedicated XC bike that is still quite comfortable for every day trail riding too, it's really a matter of doing your homework. I should be completely honest though I am more into enduro events and don't race shortcourse XC but I ridden plenty of such courses.
Click to expand...
I think most people who have been riding awhile and have more than 1 bike have been through this dilemma before. In the quest to go faster you want to go lighter - simple as that. Lighter to a certain point though then it becomes ridiculous and the value for money equation goes out the window. However I think going from Trance to Anthem is worthwhile. In general the XC duallies these days with 4inch travel can cover 90% of the terrain that's out there.

Reading the above post by slowman sounds like a advertisment for SC. You might blame me for being envious but really I can get the above from santra cruz themselves :) Firstly I have never found a bike that has zero bob such a bike does not exist to date. Open to be proven wrong though. There are duallies out there that have suspension designs that work better than others. Both the Anthem and SC have pretty good suspension designs I think. Don't want to start a debate on that.....it has been widely discuss.

What I like to hear from someone that owns a bike is there 'real' world impressions. Although I encourage that anyone buying a bike test rides one beforehand.
 
mittagongmtb

mittagongmtb

Likes Dirt
I too started out on an Trance X1 and now ride an Anthem 29er. For a 6hr race its the ants pants. Much better climbing ability than a trance and those big wheels eat up small rocks and roots which give you the proverbially in the backside. Even for shorter course races its pretty handy. The only thing that pulls it up are tight switchbacks, otherwise go 29er... (I rarely ride my trance now but have it as a spare if firends don;t have a bike available when going for a ride....)
 
muvro

muvro

Likes Dirt
I ride a carbon Rush, I know it's not available new anymore, but they can be found on fleabay etc for dirt cheap! Ive spec'd mine with new SLRs and full XTR. I do a number of 4hr enduros and the like. With pro pedal on the hardest setting it's as close to a hardtail as a 110mm travel bike can get. It's acceleration and responsiveness is unmatched by anything else except for my 4x dually. With pro pedal set at 2, it's a great compromise for general enduro XC riding. If you pedal correctly there is no bob, but if you start mashing at the pedals, yes of course it will move. In Pos 2, the down hill sections and traction aren't compromised as much. With Pp off, it's a DH machine! The grip is awesome!!

On the XC Blur, I've ridden the carbon version a couple of times. I have to pretty much agree with the comments above. It is an awesome machine!!! I was thinging a while ago about what I'd replace my rush with, should it get stolen or broken. After riding a few different XC bikes, the Carbon XC Blur was the winner for me. It performed as close to the Rush from the bikes I rode. The only thing indid notice was the Rush was a bit better over the techy rock and tree root sections which is probably due to the 120mm forks vs the 100mm forks.
 
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