Giant Trance 27.5

PB Forum :: Giant
Giant Trance 27.5
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flag fredski89
Posted: Jun 2, 2020 at 20:13 Quote
Hi,

I have been riding a 2019 trance 1.5 MEDIUM for a couple of months.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/fr-ca/trance-1dot5--ge--2019

Already bumped up the travel on the 36 to 160 up front, which was a great improvement.

I was wondering if anybody as ever seen a Fox flotat X2 on a 2017-current trance 27.5 MEDIUM.

With my current DPS, my sag is properly set (even a bit more pressure to compensate for the lack of high speed compression adjustments) and i have the biggest volume spacer available but i still bottom out the shock too much... i am looking into the following options:

1. Taking off the travel reducer inside my DPS so it becomes 185X55 (instead of 52,5) and tuning it so it doesn’t bottom out as easily. I know a great guy for tunes already! That would be a very cheap upgrade (around 40-50cad), but than again, i would « only » be riding a small DPS...

2. Buying a dpx2 185X55. The bigger ammount of oil/piggyback will help me on longer descents, but the volume of air will remain almost the same. (I don’t ride very long descents, so that investment seems a bit useless moneywise compared to #1).

3. Buying a X2 185X55. As with #1 and #2, that would bump up the travel to 146,67mm. The X2 would allow me to adjust my shock in realtime to be very subtle on the top part, but also to resist bottom outs on bigger hits. I’ve read in reviews that the 2021 X2 even gives you a better pedaling platform and poppy feel thant the dpx2, if tuned properly, of course.

Some of you are probably gonna tell me to buy a reign, which i have considered. I mainly ride natural flowy trails/singletracks with the gf (park a couple of times a year), but i also love to huck to flat bigger hits. We pedal and climb a lot, so I know that the trance is perfext bike for me Wink

Thanks
flag sflanagan21
Posted: Jun 3, 2020 at 15:24 Quote
I have a 2014 Giant Trance SX Advanced Carbon. I’ve recently put a Fox 36 160mm up front and upgraded the drive train to xx1.

I want to get a new shock, wheelset and a dropper. Not really on a budget, so what would you throw at it? Thanks!
flag ajax-ripper
Posted: Jun 3, 2020 at 20:11 Quote
fredski89 wrote:
Hi,

I have been riding a 2019 trance 1.5 MEDIUM for a couple of months.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/fr-ca/trance-1dot5--ge--2019

Already bumped up the travel on the 36 to 160 up front, which was a great improvement.

I was wondering if anybody as ever seen a Fox flotat X2 on a 2017-current trance 27.5 MEDIUM.

With my current DPS, my sag is properly set (even a bit more pressure to compensate for the lack of high speed compression adjustments) and i have the biggest volume spacer available but i still bottom out the shock too much... i am looking into the following options:

1. Taking off the travel reducer inside my DPS so it becomes 185X55 (instead of 52,5) and tuning it so it doesn’t bottom out as easily. I know a great guy for tunes already! That would be a very cheap upgrade (around 40-50cad), but than again, i would « only » be riding a small DPS...

2. Buying a dpx2 185X55. The bigger ammount of oil/piggyback will help me on longer descents, but the volume of air will remain almost the same. (I don’t ride very long descents, so that investment seems a bit useless moneywise compared to #1).

3. Buying a X2 185X55. As with #1 and #2, that would bump up the travel to 146,67mm. The X2 would allow me to adjust my shock in realtime to be very subtle on the top part, but also to resist bottom outs on bigger hits. I’ve read in reviews that the 2021 X2 even gives you a better pedaling platform and poppy feel thant the dpx2, if tuned properly, of course.

Some of you are probably gonna tell me to buy a reign, which i have considered. I mainly ride natural flowy trails/singletracks with the gf (park a couple of times a year), but i also love to huck to flat bigger hits. We pedal and climb a lot, so I know that the trance is perfext bike for me Wink

Thanks

Lets start with a few questions:

1. What do you not like about your existing shock?
2. Realistically what are your expectations for the bike following the upgrade?

I think you would NOT benefit from an x2. Based on what you wrote your biggest concern seems to be bottom out resistance. generally the way to solve this is to increase how progressive the spring is which is achieved by one of the following three methods:
1. Degrease air spring volume
2. Increase IFP/bladder pressure
3. Add more air and run less sag

The x2 has a larger air can and will be more linear out of the gate and wont do anything to fix your problem. It should also be mentioned that compression adjustment will not affect bottom out resistance.


sflanagan21 wrote:
I have a 2014 Giant Trance SX Advanced Carbon. I’ve recently put a Fox 36 160mm up front and upgraded the drive train to xx1.

I want to get a new shock, wheelset and a dropper. Not really on a budget, so what would you throw at it? Thanks!

What are you looking to achieve by swapping out these components?
flag sflanagan21
Posted: Jun 4, 2020 at 4:23 Quote
ajax-ripper wrote:
fredski89 wrote:
Hi,

I have been riding a 2019 trance 1.5 MEDIUM for a couple of months.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/fr-ca/trance-1dot5--ge--2019

Already bumped up the travel on the 36 to 160 up front, which was a great improvement.

I was wondering if anybody as ever seen a Fox flotat X2 on a 2017-current trance 27.5 MEDIUM.

With my current DPS, my sag is properly set (even a bit more pressure to compensate for the lack of high speed compression adjustments) and i have the biggest volume spacer available but i still bottom out the shock too much... i am looking into the following options:

1. Taking off the travel reducer inside my DPS so it becomes 185X55 (instead of 52,5) and tuning it so it doesn’t bottom out as easily. I know a great guy for tunes already! That would be a very cheap upgrade (around 40-50cad), but than again, i would « only » be riding a small DPS...

2. Buying a dpx2 185X55. The bigger ammount of oil/piggyback will help me on longer descents, but the volume of air will remain almost the same. (I don’t ride very long descents, so that investment seems a bit useless moneywise compared to #1).

3. Buying a X2 185X55. As with #1 and #2, that would bump up the travel to 146,67mm. The X2 would allow me to adjust my shock in realtime to be very subtle on the top part, but also to resist bottom outs on bigger hits. I’ve read in reviews that the 2021 X2 even gives you a better pedaling platform and poppy feel thant the dpx2, if tuned properly, of course.

Some of you are probably gonna tell me to buy a reign, which i have considered. I mainly ride natural flowy trails/singletracks with the gf (park a couple of times a year), but i also love to huck to flat bigger hits. We pedal and climb a lot, so I know that the trance is perfext bike for me Wink

Thanks

Lets start with a few questions:

1. What do you not like about your existing shock?
2. Realistically what are your expectations for the bike following the upgrade?

I think you would NOT benefit from an x2. Based on what you wrote your biggest concern seems to be bottom out resistance. generally the way to solve this is to increase how progressive the spring is which is achieved by one of the following three methods:
1. Degrease air spring volume
2. Increase IFP/bladder pressure
3. Add more air and run less sag

The x2 has a larger air can and will be more linear out of the gate and wont do anything to fix your problem. It should also be mentioned that compression adjustment will not affect bottom out resistance.


sflanagan21 wrote:
I have a 2014 Giant Trance SX Advanced Carbon. I’ve recently put a Fox 36 160mm up front and upgraded the drive train to xx1.

I want to get a new shock, wheelset and a dropper. Not really on a budget, so what would you throw at it? Thanks!

What are you looking to achieve by swapping out these components?

Just time to upgrade more-less...
Wanting a shock that compliments the Fox 36, wheelset and dropper are both in need of replacing.
flag notsosikmik
O+
Posted: Jun 4, 2020 at 8:00 Quote
sflanagan21 wrote:
I have a 2014 Giant Trance SX Advanced Carbon. I’ve recently put a Fox 36 160mm up front and upgraded the drive train to xx1.

I want to get a new shock, wheelset and a dropper. Not really on a budget, so what would you throw at it? Thanks!

EXT Storia is what I have on mine and it kicks ass.
flag friendlyfoe
Posted: Jun 4, 2020 at 11:27 Quote
sflanagan21 wrote:
I have a 2014 Giant Trance SX Advanced Carbon. I’ve recently put a Fox 36 160mm up front and upgraded the drive train to xx1.

I want to get a new shock, wheelset and a dropper. Not really on a budget, so what would you throw at it? Thanks!

I'm surprised at the number of people saying they are enjoying a 160mm fork on their bike. I've been running 150mm for the last 5 years on my 2014, just had the travel changed to 160 as I have a new frame coming this week. Threw it back on my trance just to try it out while I'm waiting and IMO it completely destroyed the handling characteristics of the bike.

As for your bike if you're not a big tinkerer just get a dpx2 as it's easy to setup.

Wheels I mean there are a bunch of different manufacturers that all make crazy expensive hubs in shiny colours, and they all do basically the same thing. Some are louder than others so that if anything is a deciding factor. Or just walk into a bike shop with your credit card and pick out something shiny from under the display case
flag sflanagan21
Posted: Jun 4, 2020 at 13:12 Quote
mixmastamikal wrote:
sflanagan21 wrote:
I have a 2014 Giant Trance SX Advanced Carbon. I’ve recently put a Fox 36 160mm up front and upgraded the drive train to xx1.

I want to get a new shock, wheelset and a dropper. Not really on a budget, so what would you throw at it? Thanks!

EXT Storia is what I have on mine and it kicks ass.

Thanks!
flag sflanagan21
Posted: Jun 4, 2020 at 13:23 Quote
friendlyfoe wrote:
sflanagan21 wrote:
I have a 2014 Giant Trance SX Advanced Carbon. I’ve recently put a Fox 36 160mm up front and upgraded the drive train to xx1.

I want to get a new shock, wheelset and a dropper. Not really on a budget, so what would you throw at it? Thanks!

I'm surprised at the number of people saying they are enjoying a 160mm fork on their bike. I've been running 150mm for the last 5 years on my 2014, just had the travel changed to 160 as I have a new frame coming this week. Threw it back on my trance just to try it out while I'm waiting and IMO it completely destroyed the handling characteristics of the bike.

As for your bike if you're not a big tinkerer just get a dpx2 as it's easy to setup.

Wheels I mean there are a bunch of different manufacturers that all make crazy expensive hubs in shiny colours, and they all do basically the same thing. Some are louder than others so that if anything is a deciding factor. Or just walk into a bike shop with your credit card and pick out something shiny from under the display case

Thanks for your input, I don’t have a credit card, all hard earned cash. Looking for opinions on a wheelset that other Trance owners like and complemented their Trance. My bike is blacked out so loud colors aren’t my thing haha!

The only negative I’ve noticed with the 160mm is on steep rocky/rooty climbs. It’s lost a little bit of snappiness off jumps but I’ve learned to adjust to it. I literally rode the same rowdy section of trail with the stock Fork the morning before and the 160mm later that day. I was giggling at how much more stable the bike felt in the chunk.

Thanks again for your input...
flag friendlyfoe
Posted: Jun 4, 2020 at 13:39 Quote
LoL credit card is just a turn of phrase for going in and spending money. Really the only difference between high quality hubs will be points of engagement, and how loud they are. Some people want the loudest hubs they can find and some want the quietest. All high end hubs are going to work incredibly well and engage quickly. They aren't really bike specific in terms of performance though.

For louder hubs hope/I9/chris king all get a bunch of love. I run dt swiss 350 because they are relatively affordable, high quality and not super loud. Onyx makes some cool silent hubs with instant engagament but they're a bit heavy and pricey. If you want carbon rims weareone out of canada or Santa Cruz both do great stuff. Aluminum I mean DT swiss ex rims are as bomb proof as you can get.

As for droppers you're really just looking for reliability. The fox transfer post is bomb proof but has a larger insertion depth than most so I'm not sure how it would work on a trance. PNW components have been getting a lot of love but their top end dropper is sold out at the moment.
flag sflanagan21
Posted: Jun 4, 2020 at 18:43 Quote
friendlyfoe wrote:
LoL credit card is just a turn of phrase for going in and spending money. Really the only difference between high quality hubs will be points of engagement, and how loud they are. Some people want the loudest hubs they can find and some want the quietest. All high end hubs are going to work incredibly well and engage quickly. They aren't really bike specific in terms of performance though.

For louder hubs hope/I9/chris king all get a bunch of love. I run dt swiss 350 because they are relatively affordable, high quality and not super loud. Onyx makes some cool silent hubs with instant engagament but they're a bit heavy and pricey. If you want carbon rims weareone out of canada or Santa Cruz both do great stuff. Aluminum I mean DT swiss ex rims are as bomb proof as you can get.

As for droppers you're really just looking for reliability. The fox transfer post is bomb proof but has a larger insertion depth than most so I'm not sure how it would work on a trance. PNW components have been getting a lot of love but their top end dropper is sold out at the moment.

Thanks so much, some valuable info!
flag heinous
O+
Posted: Jun 4, 2020 at 19:01 Quote
I found the trance wasn't the stiffest bike in the world, so super stiff wheels got all out of whack. I ended up building some Easton ARC30s on Hope hubs as a bullet proof built for a trip away and they worked great with the bike. DT is another option. I find the ARCs a softer rim that the DT rims so probably worth considering your size and how you ride when choosing.

Hub is really a matter of budget/bling/bees. You can't go wrong with Hope or CK. The new Shimano hubs look super value. I'm running i9's and Kings mostly and the i9 can be a PITA with a proprietary non-serviceable bearing in the freehub.

I reckon the new trance chassis really needs 160mm, they effectively steepened the head angle from the previous gen. 160mm works great. You may want to tweak rear shock, tyre pressure or stem length as you feel.

For droppers, there's nothing more reliable and easily serviced than Bikeyoke. So good Rockshox ripped off their bleed idea for the new Reverbs.

I honestly wouldn't throw loads of cash at a custom coil for a Trance. By the time you're doing that there are better bikes out there for the purpose. The DPX2 suits them really well, it's easy to set up and is reliable.
flag pdn24
O+
Posted: Jun 5, 2020 at 7:44 Quote
Hey everyone, I've been riding my new giant trance 3 27.5 for a few weeks now and want to try out an angleset before taking it to the bike park. Does 1.5 degrees sound like a good start? I am considering bumping up the front travel to 160mm from 150 so going straight to a 2 degree angleset seems like a lot.

Also does anyone have have experience ordering from workscomponents for the trances? Trying to figure out what size I need, but if anyone has one for a medium 27.5 trance please let me know what size you got!
flag Franktrance
O+
Posted: Jun 5, 2020 at 22:52 Quote
padenw24 wrote:
Hey everyone, I've been riding my new giant trance 3 27.5 for a few weeks now and want to try out an angleset before taking it to the bike park. Does 1.5 degrees sound like a good start? I am considering bumping up the front travel to 160mm from 150 so going straight to a 2 degree angleset seems like a lot.

Also does anyone have have experience ordering from workscomponents for the trances? Trying to figure out what size I need, but if anyone has one for a medium 27.5 trance please let me know what size you got!



I am using a -2 degree works Angleset on my 2018 Trance , The headset you need is the EC44/ZS56. I emailed works components with all my questions they answered promptly and we're very helpful.
As for the affect on the bike It lengthens the wheel base slightly and lowers the bb, I feel it greatly improved the bike on descents but added
a little wheel flop on the climbs. All and all I feel it improved the bike.
flag johnovey
O+
Posted: Jun 6, 2020 at 18:27 Quote
I would stick to one change at a time, to get a feel for each one separately.
flag pdn24
O+
Posted: Jun 11, 2020 at 12:05 Quote
For the people with rockshox deluxe select shocks, what rebound are you guys running? Having a hard time figuring out what to do. Mostly I just run it in the middle but not sure if this is optimal or not. I'm 160lbs running about 25% sag

 


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