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Scott Vs Giant


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flag afish3r
Posted: Jan 1, 2015 at 11:29 Quote
Been looking into gettin either a 2015 Scott genius 710 or 2015 giant trance 1.

I am coming off an SB-66. Love the bike but I live in Florida and just don't need quite as much of a bike as the yeti is. However I still would like to have some fun on some moderate size jumps and hucks.

Anyone have experience with newer genius models? Giant seems to have better suspension for big hits but how does the genius handle jumps/drops? A bike stocked with 150mm of travel and a dropper post must be intended for some pretty aggressive riding?
flag ddfc
Posted: Jan 2, 2015 at 6:26 Quote
I've never ridden a genius but I have rode the 2015 Trance 1. It's a really supportive bike, and the frame is warrentied up to a 160mm fork so you could put pikes or 36s on it if you wanted something stiffer than the revelation that comes on it. The wheels are superb too, with carbon rims on dt swiss (rebranded as giant) hubs. The dropper post is reliable too, used it since September in the muddy British winter and it's doing just grand.

If you are planning to do some wild stuff, it is worth considering that giant frames have a lifetime warranty, whereas scott bikes only have a limited warranty, with it only being 3 years for most people.

Both sound like solid bikes though, not a bad situation to be in.
flag afish3r
Posted: Jan 2, 2015 at 7:33 Quote
Good point on the warranty. However is that because giant makes much better frames? Or because they're such a large company at this point that lifetime warranty costs them next to nothing. Hmm.

My biggest dilemma is I live in Tallahassee. I agree with you on the giant seeming sturdier however the Scott's 67.9-68.4 adjustable head angle seems more suited to those long hauls. FL does have some pretty technical stuff between santos, alafia, Tallahassee, and a few other places but it seems like the geometry of the Scott is more suited to the 90% of riding here that wouldn't require a bigger bike.

What are your thoughts on suspension? How do you like the maestro vs a single pivot design?
flag ddfc
Posted: Jan 2, 2015 at 7:51 Quote
Giant end up making a lot of other brands frames, (including trek and specialized), so I get the feeling that their a lot more confident in their manufacturing process. You're right about the scale of the company, since if you type 'largest bike manufacturer' into google giant comes up.

An option if you're worried about head angle is to get dual position or TALAS forks,since that would affect the feel of the bike in a huge way.

An option that giant does is the Trance SX, comes with a monarch plus, pikes and X1, it uses the same frame as the other trances,(literally the exact same frame, linkage and all) just a different build kit, with the carbon wheels being swapped out for some other kit. So, you bought a trance 1 you could put a monarch plus on it, or buy an SX and put some lighter wheels on it.

Having ridden a few giants, (trance and anthem SX), and a few single pivot bikes, (orange five and boardman team fs), I gotta say the the giant feel a lot less linear and supportive, since the linkage builds up resistance at the end of the stroke, not just relying on the tune of the shock to do so. It is also a lot more reactive when braking, so you don't end up with all the brake jack you tend to get with a single pivot frame, so any braking you do would be a lot more efficient, since the back wheel would be constantly in contact with the ground. There's a great video showing the difference between the linkages that manufactures use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R22aYVKaWnk&channel=Sprintbicycle

Have a look at it, it helps visualise what's actually going on when you ride.
flag afish3r
Posted: Jan 2, 2015 at 16:55 Quote
Awesome video. I have to say that I have always loved the way Giants suspension feels.

So if giant is calling out single pivot designs as being inefficient, why does Scott advertise so heavily on how well their bikes pedal? Or is giant just saying that their bikes do it in suspension alone in comparison to the way Scott has their Twinloc system, in turn making the shock (and/or rider) do most of the work.

Also I did look into the sx and honestly if it had a carbon version this year I'd prob go with it. Unfortunately it's just too heavy for the current aluminum build offered.

I am currently working in a bike shop so I suppose that I could always try both out. If I get the Scott and don't like it I could sell it for enough to buy a trance through EP so it's not too high risk testing out new waters.
flag ddfc
Posted: Jan 2, 2015 at 17:06 Quote
Basically, the kinematics of a Giant frame are for most people better than that of a Scott frame, so in order to compensate for the frame design, the shock used in a Scott would have to have a lot done to it to make up for the basic suspension linkage, therefore they base a lot if publicity around the whole twinloc system.

With a Maestro linkage, the bike is still very efficient when the shock is fully open, (I never feel that I have to change any low speed compression on my shock on a ride), so you have the pedalling efficiancy of a shorter travel bike, but the bike is still very plush. The scott has to have that twinloc feature on shocks to make up for the linkage being detrimental to the pedalling feel and efficancy of the bike.

With an SX, the wheels are fairly heavy, do if you replace those, you could easily get it under 30lbs, which is never condisered to be heavy for a long travel trail bike, and getting some carbon into the cockpit would help too.
Whatever bike you get tho, enjoy it Smile
flag Giladgu
O+
Posted: Jan 2, 2015 at 18:01 Quote
If you can get yeti bikes have you thought of the sb5c? Ik it's not one of the bikes you mentioned but it's an amazing bike. And from those 2 bikes I personally really like the feel of maestro so I would go with the giant.
flag afish3r
Posted: Jan 2, 2015 at 19:12 Quote
Yea absolutely the 5c looks amazing but we don't stock them Frown

Also trance can be dropped to 120 from 140 which would make it close to 68 head angle anyway so I could just run that on the flat hauls and climbs.

Seems like a more fun bike. Suspension feels great in jumps drops and especially g outs
flag Giladgu
O+
Posted: Jan 2, 2015 at 20:03 Quote
afish3r wrote:
Yea absolutely the 5c looks amazing but we don't stock them Frown

Also trance can be dropped to 120 from 140 which would make it close to 68 head angle anyway so I could just run that on the flat hauls and climbs.

Seems like a more fun bike. Suspension feels great in jumps drops and especially g outs
yah it's a great bike. I wouldn't drop the fork because that would lower the bb a lot which would result In a lot of pedal strikes. Another option is the trance sx Where you cou drop the fork to i think 140 on the ups and then bring it to 160 on the downs. And couldn't you order the 5c? Or maybe also the sb95c
flag afish3r
Posted: Jan 3, 2015 at 9:21 Quote
Definitely not looking into a 29er. Just not as fun as 26/650 feel. And I could probably order a yeti but not at the EP I can get through giant or Scott since we sell them. And they cost way more to begin with.

As far as the SX yes it is an awesome bike but my current rig is 29.1 lb and the trance is close but more. Not "heavy" but if I'm going to be buying a rig for FL better suited than the SB66 I'm going to put my time and money into something lighter. I believe both the genius 710 and trance advanced 1 weigh in around the 26lb range.

For riding in FL you kind of have to think of it less in terms of "ups and downs" and more of like roll-y with some fun features and hits here and there that have been built. A total 20-30 mi ride here usually ends me with at or less than 1000ft of climbing
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