Giant Trance X 29'er

First Impressions
We opted out of a half day of climbing in favor of the float plane shuttle to a high alpine lake. Even still, the Chilcotins offer a few sustained climbs as well as several quick technical ones. The whole point of Trance X 29 is to have a bike that handles evenly across the board, so of course it excels at climbing. 29" wheels have the ability to plow through roots, creek crossings, and sandy dust holes that leave a 26" bike at the mercy of it's pilot. The Trance X 29er was ideal for the dusty, swoopy singletrack with mixed rock chunder found in the Chilcotin Range. If ever a bike was designed for a specific trail, it seemed like this was a match made in heaven.

Although the seat tube angle appears quite drastic, the relative location of the stepped seat tube creates a normal seat angle. We never got that off-the-back feel from the bike, and didn't feel like we were reaching for the pedals on long climbs. We also didn't feel a need to activate the CTD shocks on our test ride. Maestro is best left to do it's thing, as it's plenty efficient even on standing climbs at maintaining rear tire traction.

When trail speed opens up a bit, Trance X 29 certainly seems more impressive than on paper. The bike is more stable than it's 69-degree head angle would dictate. 17.8" chainstays probably add to the stability. On the contrary, Trance X 29 has less of the on-top-of-the-bike feel than many 29ers, which allows the rider to feel more stable in corners. We did notice the long cockpit in tight switchbacks, as it leaves the rider a bit high-centered. Other than slow-speed maneuvering, the Trance X 29 feels very stable.