Hi All New here,and just read this whole thread start to finish. I've recently started riding again, and the weapon of choice was the Giant Trance. I rode the Anthem 29er and the feel of the Trance was more to my style of riding. I ended up getting a 2015 blue and black one in a large frame. I am 1.76m tall, and borderline med/large apparently... After a few years of not doing any riding, I'm impressed how easy I got the hang of the bike. Im not a racing snake by any means, I do the uphills, so I can go down them again. The bike climbs great, and loves everything I throw at it downhill. Now that I've put a few hours in on the saddle, I have started to pick up on a couple of weaknesses. Firstly, the stock Nobby nic tyres.... They are rubbish. The front permanently feels loose and does not inspire much confidence when pushing it. I can tell that being a noob, so the experts out there would have sussed it instantly. I have gone tubeless with a Racing Ralph on the back and a Spez purgatory on the front. The difference is substantial. Tubeless has saved me a few times with all those devil thorns at Bloemendal. The other thing I seem to have issues with is the braking power on the front. I really seem to have to exert more power than I feel should be needed to get the front to slow down. Maybe its setup wrong, I don't know. They feel firm and bite in the right place, you just have to pull really hard. I'm going full xtr on the brakes with a 203mm disk upfront. I was thinking of the Hope E3's, but Ive just bought a downhill bike, and they would be much better going on that. Plus I'm trying to shed a little weight off the bike. Thanks for the great thread!
