Posted by: rideitall
Posted by: Kthorpe
Posted by: rideitall
Posted by: Kthorpe
Posted by: JBV
'best descending trail bike'. shouldn't you be looking at the new Remedy, Troy, and Bronson? and maybe about 5 others?
If only I could afford a Bronson, but I'm looking for the best value in a good do it al trail bike. I don't think I'd be disappointed with the new trance!
Haven't been on the new Trance, but had a Trance SX a rode for a couple of years. Great bike, I had the aluminum version with upgraded suspension bits. Worked well for everything I ride on the shore, solid technical climber, really digs in for traction if you stay seated and spin up the climbs.
I think the new version will be a little stiffer, which is something I really never noticed until I got time on my new bike a Bronson with carbon frame. The Bronson is much stiffer than the alu version of the 2014-2016 Trance. I know not a straight up comparison. Part of the reason Giant went to the new mount was to make the bike stiffer. Both bikes are around the 29-30lb mark, so no really lightweight components. The new Trance will be much lighter as noted at 27.5lbs.
Can't really go wrong these days with so many really good bikes out there. Find one that fits well and you should be good to go.
Thanks for the insight. Im thinking if i go with the trance, ill run a more aggressive cockpit, 2.6 tires and eventually put the yari up to 160mm.
The only thing that put me off of the new Trance was the use of boost with the given fork, and the metric trunnion mount shock.
Have been using Fox 36 RC2 forks for a number of years and iterations and quite like them. Having the Fox 34 CTD (or equivalent didn't thrill me), with the boost wheelset, very nice wheelset I might add, finding a fork I would like Float 36 160 RC2 or Talas 36 160 RC2 would have been very pricey. For the rear shock, given the use of new "standards" means a limited selection of shocks for the next little while.
Have had enough Fox Float RP2, RP3, RP23, CTD ... to know I don't like them. I did have a Monarch Plus RC3 on a Reign that worked better, but was not great. So what other options are there on the rear shock with a metric size and trunnion mount.
I might have been happy with the 34 Fit4 fork and the Float rear shock while I waited for other reasonably priced options to catch up, instead I kept looking at other bikes, Knolly Warden, Devinci Troy / Spartan, Transition Patrol ... Somewhere along the way the Bronson popped onto my radar and after searching for a while I found a good price on a Bronson. Ironically, it has the Monarch Plus RC3 Debonair, I am still tweaking with it and will add some bands to see if I can get more out of it, but overall am thrilled about the fit and ride of the Bronson.
To throw you in a totally different direction, if going 27.5 or 29 is not 100% required, there seem to be some smoking deals on 1 -2 year old very well spec'd 26" bikes.
Its not required to go 27.5 or 29, But im current on a Giant AC from 04, so you can see how often i get the chance to buy a new bike. This will be my bike for probably the next 5 years so I do want to get most of the new standards/features. Im not one that will change the suspension a ton...ive heard decent things about the rear shock and I can always put a charger damper in the Yari if I find some money to upgrade the bike. I wont be looking to upgrade the shock any time soon so the fact that its a trunnion mount doesnt bother me.
Ive been looking at other bikes like the Stumpjumper, Trek Remedy, Bronson (but got driven away from the price..havent found any good deals), RM Altitude, Scott Genius, etc. But I keep coming back to the value of the Giant.