It\u2019s been over a year and a half since I purchased my Giant\nTrance. I\u2019ve had plenty of time to test\nevery aspect of this bike, in all kinds of conditions with over 550 miles of\ntrail riding. So, this will be a pretty\ncomprehensive review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Geometry: This was my\nfirst new bike in over ten years. Things have changed\u2026 A lot. The new style of lower and slacker\nisn\u2019t just a slight migration into the 2015\u2019s. \nIt\u2019s a huge jump. Coming from a\n2004 Litespeed Niota, the difference was difficult to get used to. The Trance was 4 full inches longer than the\nNiota, and nearly three quarters of an inch lower, even with the larger 27.5\nwheels. The headtube angle, at 67-degrees was another leap from my previous\n71-degree headtube. Everything about\nthis bike was different. Everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Handling: As you can\nimagine, from the changes in geometry, this bike was a complete departure from\nthe feel of my old bike. When I first\ngot on the bike it felt like a boat. \nSlow handling, too long, too big, and it felt like it just wanted to\nfall over in the corners. Yet oddly\nenough the cockpit felt good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sheer length of the bike forced me to make some major\nadjustments to my riding style and positioning. But after a few rides, I started\nto really appreciate the new trend in geometry. \nAnd it wasn\u2019t until I rode the bike up in the mountains, that I truly\nbecame a fan of the new Lower, Longer, Slacker movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climbing (which I hate) was smooth, and simple. Even on really steep sections. I don\u2019t contribute this, so much to the\ngeometry of the bike, rather more to its amazing suspension. The Meastro suspension was probably the most\namazing feature on this bike. I\u2019ve had a\nCannondale Super V, GT iDrive, and the Niota, all of which claimed the best\nclimbing ability. None of them can touch\nthe newer, more advanced capabilities of the Meastro. Which if we\u2019re being honest, is as it should\nbe. Very little bob, and I didn\u2019t feel like I was losing all my efforts to the\nsuspension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Descending (which I love) was even better than the\nclimbing. Again, advancements in\nsuspension design should, and do, make all the differences in the world. Control and a rather plush ride, for 140mm of\ntravel, was absolute when bombing some downhill sections. And for as soft as I ride it, it didn\u2019t feel sluggish\nover tabletops or too soft in the tight berms. Nor did I feel like I wanted\nmore travel. However, I make note that\nthe geometry did play a huge part in the downhill handling. The bike was incredibly stable at higher\nspeeds. It made quick work of rock gardens and felt surprisingly nimble in\ntight technical areas. A+ <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While pedal strikes really started to plague me, I soon\nrealized the pitfalls of \u201cLower, Longer, Slacker\u201d. And as much as I\u2019ve altered\nmy riding style, this one issue seems to linger. I\u2019m not really going to put\nthis in the \u201cCons\u201d category, because I think there\u2019s still room to change my\nhabits, but this one is definitely a pain in the ass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I did shorten up the stem a little bit with a 40mm. But I don\u2019t think it was completely\nnecessary. I also changed the grips to\nsome ODI Rogues\u2026 I\u2019m not a fan of the\npaper-thin grip. And I changed out the\nseat to a WTB Volt. Although the stock \u201cContact\u201d\nseat was actually not too bad, so again, none of these items can be added to\nthe \u201cCons\u201d list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Couple of Cons: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, the rear shock (RockShox Deluxe RT) never felt\nsmooth. From the time I got it, it felt\nlike it stuck at the top end, and then felt rough all the way through its\ncompression stroke. I never really gave it much thought until my wife got her\nIntrigue, with a Fox Float DPX2. WOW,\nwhat a difference. I\u2019m feelin\u2019 kinda\ngypped. Seriously. Either I got a busted\nshock, or it\u2019s a piece of shit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, the dropper post was bad. It worked great for the first few rides, then started acting real slow. This was my first dropper post, so I wanted to see if it was how I set it up. I went through a few ideas on the forums, reinstalled it, replaced the bent cable ferrules (from being jammed into the frame too far), and re-lubed the internals. No luck. So, I stopped using it so much. Once maybe per ride. It sucked. And by month 8, I had to stop using it completely. If I pressed the lever, it wouldn\u2019t stay down. Eventually it wouldn\u2019t stay up either. And yes, there was plenty of slack in the cable to allow for return. So, I replaced the internals. Now it works fine. Just a bad post, I guess. As a side note: The lever that came with this dropper is\u2026 well, it works, but it\u2019s not \u201cuser friendly\u201d as levers go. And it\u2019s kinda stabby during a crash (as I found out). I\u2019ll be replacing it soon with an aftermarket lever. Or the new OEM lever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall I\u2019d give this bike 4 out of 5 stars. Definitely worth the money. It\u2019s ride and handling are tight as hell once you get use to the size of the bike. And after riding it for a year, I\u2019m able to plant some solid opinions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been over a year and a half since I purchased my Giant Trance. I\u2019ve had plenty of time to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bikes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202,"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions\/202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dont-look.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}