Giant released their aluminum Trance X six weeks ago, and now you get to see the Trance X Advanced Pro 29, otherwise known as the fancy carbon fiber version that weighs less and costs more. It's 135mm of travel is paired with a 150mm fork, and Giant describes it as "
One trail bike to do it all."
While
the alloy versions start off as low as $2,300 USD, the three-model Advanced range begins at $4,300 USD for the Pro 2. The top-of-the-line version is the $8,500 USD Pro 0, pictured here, that comes with Giant's own carbon wheels, an XT drivetrain, and Fox's battery-powered Live Valve suspension.
Trance X Advanced Pro Details• Travel: 135mm rear / 150mm front
• Wheel size: 29"
• Adjustable geometry
• New carbon fiber frame
• Maestro suspension system
• ISCG-05 chain guide tabs
• Weight: 30lb 5oz
• MSRP: $4,300 to $8,500 USD
•
www.giant-bicycles.com Frame DetailsGiant has been manufacturing their own (and many other brands) frames since forever, and their newest offering is carbon from headtube to dropout, including its forged carbon rocker arm. It all adds up to less, with the Advanced Pro frame said to weigh 2,100-grams or 600-grams lighter than its aluminum brother.
Like many brands, there are a bunch of Transformer-sounding names to describe some of the Advanced Pro's features: OVERDRIVE, MEGADRIVE, and POWERCORE! It's all about creating a torsionally rigid frame, especially the 92mm wide bottom bracket shell and the surrounding area. That's also where you'll find a set of ISCG-05 tabs for a guide or guard, as well as enough room for a 29" x 2.5" rear tire.
Maestro SuspensionGiant's Maestro suspension system supplies 135mm of rear-wheel-travel, 20mm more than the non-X Trance, with the two links rotating clockwise to compress the Trunnion-mounted shock. Giant also has the lower link's main pivot doing double duty as the shock mount, a weight-saving trick they've been at for years, and has incorporated adjustable geometry on a production bike for the first time ever. Like everyone else, it's a flip-chip that you, er, flip. Unlike almost everyone else, it offers a relatively large adjustment range; 0.7-degrees of head angle and 10 millimeters of bottom bracket drop tuning.
We should probably also talk about the Fox Live Valve that comes on my high-end Advanced Pro 29 0. The idea is to let the computer figure out the ideal compression settings for your shock and fork so you can get the most out of the bike without thinking about levers and buttons. The system uses two accelerometers, one in the fork arch, and another near the rear axle, that sense and measure the velocity of vertical movement to register impacts. That info is sent through wires to Live Valve's microprocessor, which also knows whether you're climbing, on level ground, descending, or in the air, and it adjusts automatically in around three milliseconds - that's one hundred times faster than the blink of an eye. The future is now! Maybe, anyway.
Giant's new Trance X Advanced Pro 29 is here for our upcoming Field Test trail bike video review series, so stay tuned for that.
This one actually looks pretty hot. Sparkles=speed.
This is the kind of top-tier engineering content that I depend on from pinkbike comment section. No one is talking about it, but the people know it's true.
Also, "XTR" on the derailleur and "XT" everywhere else. Giant used to be good about having the full groupset on a bike. Now they've joined the rest of the mainstream with the up-specced derailleur to pretend they have better components than they actually do.
@cerealkilla I've had no issues with the many giants I've had, but I've seen lots of very fast rock chipping on older models, especially '17-'19. Multi-layer paint for the masked-off two tone looks they were doing that just didn't seem to stick together at all. If you're getting a carbon frame, might as well pony up the $100 and day of headaches to put some ridewrap on it. No chips, scuffs, swirl marks, whatever. Replacement sections are pretty cheap as well if you manage to bust something up.
Personally, I run extra pieces from the all mountain style frame kits on some high-wear areas - one on the downtube for where my rack hooks onto the frame, one on the left chainstay, etc.
Maybe you just got a lemon of a paintjob, as the 3 2020 giants I've been running all year haven't had any paint issues, and they've seen plenty of use with the covid shutdowns! I didn't get complaints about the newest lineup from customers either, whereas I got plenty from the older models. No clue what'd make it chip and flake off like you're describing, that sucks. Give me a beater, grey anodized aluminum frame like my old '08 reign for a high-wear bike.
Man, crazy that we’re having such different experiences. My 2020 reign adv pro 1 is getting near its first birthday and it’s paint job is probably the best paint I’ve ever had. Sorry you’re getting the short end of the stick
Best paint job I've seen on ANY bike in the market right now.
Agree on the hub. Total nonsense for a bike a this price point.
+1 also on the XTR/XT Groupset. Giant was always really good at being the real McCoy on groupsets.
www.giant-bicycles.com/us/trx-0-29-composite-mtb-wheel-2019
To address what they said on the website...it's somewhat misleading. The internals, insofar as the drive system (rings, spacers, freehub body, etc), are OEM DT swiss. While I have no direct knowledge of whether the hubshells themselves were manufactured by DT swiss, the spoke insertion areas are a very different style from what DT swiss has available to the aftermarket, and in fact instead mirrors the DBL, or dynamic balanced lacing style of giant's lower-end straight-pull hubs, and the center section is a slightly different shape as well. I've had many, many bikes with giant's 360-based hubs, 2 with the 240s, had 'normal' dt 240's on several other wheelsets at the same time, and the hubshell between the giant and the standard DT certainly appear different, take a different tension and build.
In giant's technical/service manuals, they'll often say that the "hub technology is
*equivalent* to the ___ DT Swiss hubs" as well. Older models, maybe around the 2013 timeframe, had standard aftermarket-style DT hubs with giant stickers on them.
I could be wildly off-base here, as this wasn't something with the factory or a rep. However, it certainly looks, from the outside and inside, that there's either a different OEM spec (DT) or a giant-derived hubshell with DT parts.
At the very best, they're not branded as standard, DT 240's, nor are they the same "normal" shape.
They certainly work well, the DBL or offset tension is a good philosophy, as are the thick, hookless rim beds and reinforced nipples. With all the trees and storms up here, the rear wheel has chewed through some sticks here and there and the spokes haven't flinched yet either. They're just...not a $2000 wheelset. Still good. This wouldn't be the first time a manufacturer has misleading parts, spec, or geo.
Playstation yawn
-every clown in this thread
The more practical approach is what Scott does with relatively active suspension and their fancy remote lockouts.
Not sure the market is ready for that.
That is some seriously nasty cable routing. And the battery? Couldn't just a little bit of integration have occurred? There's a nice big hollow space inside the seat mast, or by the headtube, or under the rocker pivot... surely it doesn't need to dangle about like an odd bollock. It looks more like a hastily installed data acquisition system than a top-drawer build.
As Mike says - it’s a beautiful looking bike and a massive improvement over predecessors. It’d just be good to go the extra mile and sweat the details. The frameset price is €3600, without the electronics; that puts it in some super premium territory, and people can expect ‘both/and’ - great engineering and excellent aesthetics.
No question.
Granted, I'm no engineer.
I always figured the 2k trance 29er w/ foxzocchi and deore, and the new reign advanced, would have gotten more traction on here.
For the end user who doesn't have access to shop tools, "just having" to buy half a new hub and install those parts gets expensive, quickly. Isn't super cheap for the LBS to do either, not to mention that the TRX0 doesn't come with a 54t driver ring stock either. Small, but expensive changes for the customer. I'm sure you have a know what those parts cost at list, not to mention the tools or labor. Not saying that it wouldn't be worth a couple hundred bucks to someone who keeps on blowing up the pawl-driven hubs, but it's something that could be taken care of at the original spec.
The trance 29er had a complete carbon build for $3300 last year, with the frame only at $3000, for instance. The builds around 5k are always a stand-out value as well.
I would hardly call that clever, as this has been done by many other companies for quite some time already.
Effective? definitely. Intelligent? very much so. But clever? Not so much.
I know the best would be to find a bike shop where I could actually sit on it and take it for a test ride.
It must also change the kinematics, too. That's a pretty decent sized translation of that pivot point with the flip chip, and it will also move the lower rear pivot as well. That must have a noticeable impact on leverage and anti-squat, if not more.
One question - why doesn't everyone have in frame storage? I love the Specialized implementation (only from demoing) and it looks like Trek was able to implement it so patents might not preclude others.
Give me space for a tool, a tube and some munchies...
Im curious, which other brands?
If not then why buy this over a Liv? ;-)
Bike looks pretty good! I hope the non live valve models are still fun to ride
Medium is too small.
I believe @roma258 is talking about the sizing for the 2021 Trance X Advanced in the article above these comments, not the sizing for some other Trance/Giant.
So that's what the threaded holes are _really_ for... Can you run a sensor and a mudguard?
Can you test the 2500$ Al . Version ?
Please.
(her) eyes
RideWrap for any carbon frame seems like a no-brainer though. Hundred bucks to keep the paint (and carbon) protected from scuffs and tossed up rocks? Well worth it.
The rims are pretty dang stiff, and have a reasonably chubby bead. They are quite a bit more durable than their previous carbon rims. For people hard on wheels they're great. For people who want a lot of compliance to smooth chatter, they are too stiff. But if you want compliance, you usually have to accept that you will damage and need to replace them more often. The previous giant rims were getting beat up too much, so they beefed them up.
We've all seen the messed up aftermarket carbon wheels of all kinds of brands, so what makes you worry about the wheel quality from the world's largest bike manufacturer? These rims are hookless, 30mm internal, 37mm external, with tons of internal spoke reinforcement to boot. Rim quality is great. If for some unknown reason giant put enve's on here, y'all would be complaining about how the wheels would be guaranteed to grenade the second you take it down a trail.
'While the bottom link is aluminum, the rocker link is a forged carbon unit.'
Been used in other industries for awhile.
I went through 3 2016 Anthem frames before they offered me a 2019 Trance as a full replacement.
That model of Anthems all cracked vertically on the seat tube between the pivot and the BB.
An ex Giant rep explained to me it was just a crack in the cosmetic layer which was wrapped differently to the rest and not structured.
I like my Trance 29 way better than my Anthem.
Giant rep said they all were “unexplainable frame failures”.
None were from crashes.
Damn that's disheartening. I remember when the new Reign 29 dropped that the media outlets liked the bike but at least a couple reported the rubbing from the rear end that was hard to identify. Maybe a stiffness issue?
This one looks good though. Hey were you cracking their alu or carbon frames?
Trust me where they failed was not due to bike stand or over torquing. Clamping a carbon frame in a stand is an all day face palm, as I know someone who cracked a brand new frame doing just that.
www.pinkbike.com/news/giant-announces-an-updated-trance-x-29-with-more-travel.html