GIANT TRANCE X 1
£3,999 The new 650b-wheeled Trance X promises fun and thrills, but can it deliver when the tyres hit the dirt?
While the Trance X 29 models that launched just over a year ago were designed as ultimate do-it-all trail machines, Giant’s new Trance X is about fun, pure and simple.
THE FRAME
The Trance X rolls on 650b wheels and delivers 145mm of rear wheel travel via Giant’s twin-link Maestro suspension design. It’s made from the Taiwanese brand’s ALUXX SL aluminium, with no carbon fibre frame option, yet. However, it does sport a composite upper rocker link, said to be stiffer, lighter and stronger than the alloy equivalent. Just like the 29er version, the Trance X has a flip-chip at the seatstay/rocker-link pivot. Rotating this oval insert adjusts the head and seat tube angles by 0.7 degrees (0.8 degrees on the small size), plus alters the bottom bracket height by a substantial 10mm.
Despite being billed as a ‘trail’ bike, in its lowest setting we measured the Trance X to have a super-slack head angle of 63.8 degrees, a reasonably steep 76.5-degree seat tube angle and a hefty 30mm of BB drop. Chainstay length remains the same across all four frame sizes, at 433mm (430mm in the ‘high’ setting). Our medium test bike had a reach of 447mm (455mm in ‘high’), which is reasonable rather than radical. Giant have included mounts under the top tube to fix your spares, along with plenty of frame protection to prevent damage from rock strikes and chain slap.
THE KIT
At £3,999, the Trance X 1 you see here is the priciest in the line-up and comes with some great kit for the cash. The 160mm-travel Fox 36 fork is a Performance Elite unit, so you get the same highly-adjustable GRIP2 damper found in the top Factory version, but forgo the slippery Kashima stanchion coating. Our 68kg tester had to run all the adjusters wide open to get the fork to perform as they wanted. The Float X shock is also a Performance Elite number and has external low-speed compression and rebound damping adjustment, along with a lever to firm things up when you need to pedal.
SRAM supply their wide-range GX Eagle gearing along with their punchy Code brakes, while Giant provide their own bar, stem, saddle and wheels, which in this case are wrapped in 2.6in Maxxis rubber. The TranzX seatpost offers an adjustable amount of drop, which varies depending on frame size. The post on our medium bike could be easily switched between 140 and 170mm at the trailside.
THE RIDE
Giant promise “a party on wheels” and the Trance X certainly delivers the fun factor. But before we get stuck into just why that is, it’s worth noting that it’ll happily go up and along the trail too. While it isn’t the sprightliest trail bike when pointed
uphill, the seated position is really comfortable and the wide 10-52t gear range enabled us to claw our way up every incline we tackled. There’s some bob from the rear suspension under power, so on smooth, long drags flicking the shock’s low-speed compression lever made the going a little easier. On really steep pitches we found ourselves on the nose of the saddle, leaning forward to keep the front wheel from lifting, but these occasions were few and far between.
At the rear, the suspension is supple and sensitive, which helps keep the wheel tracking the contours of the ground accurately. There’s ample support, too, when you push the Trance X and gravity kicks in – plough into the turns fast and you’re rewarded with surefooted confidence. That’s partly down to the easy-to-set-up, predictable nature of the back end, but also thanks to the Giant’s 329mm BB height (in the ‘low’ setting) and Maxxis tyre combo. That said, tyre pressure with the 2.6in rubber is important, and if we went too low we could feel the front end squirming through hardpack turns. The Trance X definitely feels more like an enduro bike than a cover-the-ground-quickly trail bike, but that’s no bad thing and is part of its charm.
It’s a solid descender and on rougher terrain it feels like there’s more than 145mm of travel on tap, yet it offers a more playful ride than many enduro machines and is great to chuck around on the trail or get sideways over jumps. The raked-out front end, punchy brakes and grippy tyres make it a formidable weapon in steep technical terrain, too. Would it be even more capable with a 29in front wheel? It’s hard to say, but we’d love to see Giant give customers the option. Still, there’s no denying that this bike is a blast to ride, especially if you favour fun over racking up the trail miles. Rob Weaver www.giant-bicycles.com
A fun, seriously capable bike that straddles the line between trail and enduro machine