- [Mike] First field test shot.
- [Cameraman] Rolling.
- [Mike] Kicking it off.
(energetic music)
- Hey everyone, My name is Sarah Moore
and we're here on the Sunshine Coast
for the Value Bikes field trip.
And we're testing full suspension bikes
between two and $3,000.
At 2,500 US dollars,
we had to include the Giant Trance X.
We recently tested
the most expensive version of this bike
with FOX live valve and fancy carbon frame.
And so we were curious to see how the
budget bike stacked up.
The Trance X has 135 millimeters of rear travel
paired with 150 millimeter fork.
It comes in four sizes,
small through extra large.
What does the X stand for,
you may ask?
Well, the Giant Trance X has 20 millimeters
more travel front and rear
over the regular trance.
It also has adjustable geometry,
which makes it the only bike that we're testing
that has that feature.
The aluminum frame has room for a water bottle,
it fits up to 2.5 inch tires
and it has boost spacing.
Other details include internally routed cables,
a press fit BB
and protection on the down tube
and on the chainstay.
To achieve that adjustable geometry,
like many other brands,
Giant uses a flip chip.
So you can either set the bike in a high
or a low position.
And that means we've got twice as many numbers
for this geometry section.
The change that flip chip makes
is actually quite substantial
at 0.7 degrees
and 10 millimeters at the bottom bracket.
In the low setting
the head tube angle is 65.5 degrees
and it can steepen up to 66.2 degrees.
On our size medium test bike,
the reach sits at 456 millimeters in the low position
or 464 millimeters in the high position.
The Trance X's 135 millimeters of rear suspension
are controlled by
Giant's Maestro dual-links suspension design
that creates a virtual floating pivot.
Giant says it's independent of both pedaling
and breaking inputs.
But they would say that wouldn't they?
One cool thing that giant does to save weight
is they use the same bolt
for the main pivot
and the lower shock Mount.
Our test spec here is the Giant Trans X 29 3
and it retails for $2,500.
It comes with 150 millimeter RockShox 35 Gold Fork
and Fox Float rear shock.
It comes with Srams 12 speed SX drive train,
Dior four piston hydraulic brakes
and a Giant Contact Switch Dropper Post.
It has a Maxxis Minion DHF front tire
and a Dissector rear tire.
All in all it weighs 33 pounds and two ounces.
And there you have it.
That's all the details on the Giant Trance X.
Let's talk about what you really want to hear,
how it rides out on the trail.
(calm music)
- So we set up the suspension according to
the manufacturer's suggested settings,
of course, and then,
we don't have control tires for these bikes,
so we set up the tires that came with the bike to 21,
23 PSI,
to have an even playing field across all the bikes.
And then we put the bike in the low geometry setting.
- We know that's what you guys are gonna do out there.
Straight to the low Slack setting.
And then also to be fair though
our test trails pretty fast and rough.
And that's the setting
that you would want to run the bike in.
- [Sarah] Exactly, yeah,
so that's why we chose the low setting for this test.
- Right.
We're going to talk about how it performed
on the way up
and let's start with pedaling performance.
Sarah, where did you think?
- Yeah, so the Giant Trance X,
it's got that 135 millimeter of rear travel
and it's quite an active rear travel.
- [Mike] Yeah, it is.
- [Sarah] And so when you're climbing
it's not going to feel like get up and go
like that IVIS Ripley or, you know,
even the Marshall has a more firm pedaling position.
So it's not as efficient.
You're going to lose a little bit of energy
to the trail.
It's a very comfortable feeling.
There's a lot of traction,
but it's not like that super
get up and go,
like all the power I'm putting down
is helping me go forward on the trail.
- [Mike] Right, when I was riding the Trance X,
it never felt all that sporty to me.
And then I would look down while I was pedaling
and I could just see that rocker link going.
(swaying noise)
Now we did just a while back test a Trance X
with live valve suspension.
And I remember saying something like, you know,
I don't think this bike needs the live valve.
Pedals fine without it.
Well...
- [Sarah] You didn't have this bike
to compare it to, right?
To be fair.
- [Mike] Yeah that really underlines
how important back to back testing is.
So the Giant is a very active bike
and Sarah I think you agree with me
that you were reaching down to hit that
pedal assist switch all the time.
- [Sarah] Yeah, definitely a bike
that would be well suited to live valve.
Obviously you're not going to get that on a $2,500 bike.
And I think that's probably what live valve costs, you know.
We'll double the cost of the bike
by adding live valve,
but there is a lockout
and a climb position.
And so, yeah,
I definitely found myself reaching for that on,
you know, some of those climbs,
the smoother longer climbs and yeah.
Definitely an active bike.
We actually ended up riding this bike with less sag
- Yeah, firmer suspension setup
and that definitely does help,
but the bike is still noticeably active,
you know, even at 25% sag and a little bit less,
the bike is still moving around
a little bit too much for our liking.
(slow music)
All right, Sarah, so we got to the top of the Hill,
we've unlocked the suspension,
the bike is back in party mode.
It's time to go down.
Let's talk about the Giant's strengths,
where it shines on the descents first.
- [Sarah] Yes, so it's a super forgiving bike.
So if you're in a lot of rougher terrain
you can just kind of let the Giant go.
- [Mike] Do the work for you, right?
- [Sarah] Do the work for you
and it has that active suspension.
So it's going to just absorb all those bumps for you
and it's not going to be as tiring.
- [Mike] So I think another thing
that we should mention too,
is that active, deep feeling suspension,
definitely steals some of the bikes pop,
and I know that you could add more air
and run less sag.
And that works,
we did that.
But the bike,
it definitely doesn't feel
like it has as much,
what's the word,
life to it as the other bikes
(calming music)
This is a loud bike.
Some of that noise comes from the front end,
but there's also some chain slap as well
that's a little bit too loud for our liking.
- And that dropper post as well.
- [Mike] The dropper post rattles as well
which is kind of annoying.
Just, you're coming down the hill
and you just hear like constantly like.
(Mike tapping)
- [Sarah] Yeah, it's definitely like
you're coming down the hill
and you're like,
people are gonna hear me coming
and they're going to move out of the way.
So it's kind of a safety feature
- But there are a couple of the things to mention Sarah.
- Yeah. So it comes with a Sram SX drive train.
So that 12 speed drive train, good range,
but it has poor ergonomics at the shifter.
So it's really hard to reach.
- [Mike] Bit of a reach.
- [Sarah] Bit of a reach, yeah.
- All right, Sarah, the last component
that I want to ask you about
are the brakes.
It has those empty 401s,
and I liked them on the Growler.
The Rocky Growler has the same breaks on it.
The one thing is,
I just wished that didn't have those resin pads.
- [Sarah] The breaks on the Giant work well.
They're, you know,
you can stop with them.
So that's always nice.
- [Mike] That's great,
- [Sarah] So yeah,
I'd say that's a component that
I was a fan of on this bike.
- All right, Sarah,
what other components
stood out to you on this Giant.
- And it came with great rubber.
It had that Maxxis Minion front tire
and then the dissector rear tire.
Really well suited to this bike's intended use.
You're not going to have to upgrade those.
- [Mike] Yeah, that's kind of a do everything combo,
isn't it?
It's got a predictable front tire
and then a rear tire out of the back
that rolls reasonably fast,
but still provides lots of traction.
(calm music)
Okay,
it's time to talk pros and cons, Sarah,
let's start with the pros.
What did you like?
- I thought that, on the climbs,
that active suspension,
while it might not have been as efficient as other bikes,
it is really comfortable
and it doesn't beat you up on the climb
and you've got tons of traction.
The other thing about this bike that makes it interesting
is that flip chip
and the adjustable geometry.
And so it actually is quite a substantial change
at 0.7 degrees.
And so if you kind of want to play around with that
like this is the only bike that'll give you that option.
- Yeah, none of the other value bikes here
have adjustable geometry.
So I think that's definitely worth noting.
(calm music)
- All right, Sarah,
next up we're talking cons.
Hit me.
- So that active suspension,
it's very noticeable on both the climbs
and the dissents
and not always in a good way.
And then the other part is that the bike is just quite noisy
with that fork, dropper post,
chainstay slab, everything.
So I'd say where the Giant loses
is on the suspension front.
So with that RockShox 35.
It has the gold fork,
which is an upgrade from the DaVinci
that had the silver fork.
- [Mike] The TK fork,
the TK damper in it.
- And then the other thing it loses on
is that drive train.
It's not the Dior
that we found on some of the other bikes
Little bit crisper shifting, better ergonomics.
And it's interesting because I mean,
Giant is a really big company,
so they've got, you know,
branded Giant dropper post,
Giant branded handlebar stems.
They're kind of saving costs, you would think,
on those things.
And then you would hope to see an upgraded drive train
and suspension,
but that's not the case.
(calm music)
- All right, Sarah,
it is time to wrap up our review of Giant's Trance X,
so I want you to tell me who it suits
and the type of terrain that it belongs on.
- [Sarah] Yeah, so the Giant Trance X
is definitely suited to
a rider who prioritizes forgiveness
and traction over all-out speed.
And it's going to be somebody who's riding,
maybe slower speed trails,
but a lot more technical.
- [Mike] Rough and chunky terrain,
in other words.
- [Sarah] Exactly, let's plow right through it.
- Exactly.
All right, and that's it for the Trance X
Make sure you subscribe to the channel,
so you don't miss any of our
field trip review videos
and round table discussions,
because there are a whole bunch more coming.
(calm music)