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Giant frame quality?-I'm falling into a TRANCE

4K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  onegear 
#1 ·
Hey Giant riders,

I was hoping you could help me out with a few questions. How does Giants frame quality compare? They build Specialized, right? What about the durability of their suspension pivots, and the ability for suspension pivots to be rebuilt? Are parts readily available? I ask because I am very close to ordering up a 20" Trance frame for my new epic xc bike build and am not that familar with what level of quality I can expect from Giant. Currently I am on a Santa Cruz Blur and I have not been that impressed with the frame itself-especially with the alignment. Thanks for any help.
 
#2 ·
In all my dealings with Giant as a company they have been wonderful. I've had the same experience with their bikes as well.

As far as durability of their suspension, well that's up to you. If you take care of it, you'll have no issues. In the odd case something is messed up, parts are usually easy to come by. I wouldn't worry about it.

Everyone's been saying that the new design is pretty nice. I'm planning on picking up a Reign in Spring. If I could I'd have bought one already.

But I'm a Giant fan, so you could say I'm a little biased.
 
#3 ·
They Rock!

barrows said:
Hey Giant riders,

I was hoping you could help me out with a few questions. How does Giants frame quality compare? They build Specialized, right? What about the durability of their suspension pivots, and the ability for suspension pivots to be rebuilt? Are parts readily available? I ask because I am very close to ordering up a 20" Trance frame for my new epic xc bike build and am not that familar with what level of quality I can expect from Giant. Currently I am on a Santa Cruz Blur and I have not been that impressed with the frame itself-especially with the alignment. Thanks for any help.
This not some shameless sponsor plug.....I have been on, and racing on Giant mountain and road bikes for 7 years now. The last 3 years I have been blessed enough to race solo on the NRS air. I have never, I repeat NEVER, had a problem with any of the craftsmanship of GIANT bikes. And that includes pivot bearings, welds, etc. I will always be true to GIANT, caue they back me. If you have any other questions, please e-mail me.

Jeff
 
#4 ·
Thanks

Thanks for the feedback. I was sucked in by the hype on the Santa Cruz Blur, and I have not been entirely pleased by the bike. I will not make the same mistake on my next bike purchase, although the hype on the Trance is hard to ignore. I will test ride the Trance as soon as they become available and if the suspension performs the way I need it to I will be ordering a frame to build up. BTW I think this bike may end up being perfect for my epic xc rides and endurance races. Who will post first with Trance frame weights?
 
#5 ·
barrows said:
Thanks for the feedback. I was sucked in by the hype on the Santa Cruz Blur, and I have not been entirely pleased by the bike. I will not make the same mistake on my next bike purchase, although the hype on the Trance is hard to ignore. I will test ride the Trance as soon as they become available and if the suspension performs the way I need it to I will be ordering a frame to build up. BTW I think this bike may end up being perfect for my epic xc rides and endurance races. Who will post first with Trance frame weights?
Barrows - Can you give more details on what you are not happy about with the Blur? I was thinking that I would be buying one as soon as I could afford it, until I heard what people were saying about the Trance. Now that the prices on the Blur have gone up again and a Trance 2 is a lot of bike for about 200 bucks more than a Blur Frame I am leaning even more towards the Giant. Still, I would like to hear something that counters all the hype that surrounds the Blur, especially someone that owns one and is less than happy. What specifically are you not happy with, what has given you problems?
Thanks
 
#6 ·
Blur

Some people love their Blurs, some people don't. Please do not get me wrong, the Blur is an excellent bike for what it does well, just not so much for me. My favorite riding is long fast xc rides in the Colorado mountains. I also do a little bit of endurance racing from time to time (sport class vet). What I need in a bike may not be the same as what someone else needs so keep that in mind as you read my criticism.
The Blur does not really fit me the way I like-the top tube is too short on a large frame, I am 6'1" and prefer a top tube around 24.2" or so. To get the position on the Blur I wanted I had to go with a 130mm stem, and it is still not quite right, and with the long stem the steering is not quite right. I would prefer a 110-120 mm stem on a longer top tube.
I had problems with the alignment of my Blur, the rear wheel was not in plane with the front triangle. I sent the frame back to SC and they "fixed" it-it was a little better but still not right, after having them tell me that I was wrong, I gave up and decided to live with it. I bought my frame when they first became available, and maybe they were just overwhelmed with the demand, and maybe now they are controlling frame quality better.
The Blurs suspension does some things very well, but not all things: It is great at absorbing big hits, very plush. It sprints remarkably well on smooth ground, and it is very efficient at isolating bob on smooth ground. For me it is fair to poor at climbing steep technical singletrack-high amounts of chain tension (like when you are in the little ring) lock out the suspension-in other words it becomes inactive while climbing steeply. If all your steep climbs are smooth this is ok, but during rocky/rooty climbs it is annoying. The other problem is that if a bump exceeds the pedalling force and activates the suspension you feel a big kickback through the pedals.
I am interested in the Trance because of the reports that it is an active suspension with no pedal feedback (none is probably impossible, maybe it is virtually none-therefore none that can be felt). If these reports are accurate the Trance may be the bike that I am looking for.

I am interested in covering the most ground as fast as possible-long 50+ mile rides on high altitude singletrack. I need a bike that is a little more "xc" and I feel that the Blur is a little more "trail" I hope that this helps-remember to ride the bikes to get a feel for the differences.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Mike Young said:
What is the difference between "XC" and "trail"???

In your post and others, I have seen "XC" and "trail" mentioned, but I do not know the difference.
I'm just guessing here but I think by "XC" he means a bit more like a XC race bike. I would read "trail" to mean comfort before speed and efficiency.

Of course, this is just my interpretation.

Cheers!
-Ian
 
#9 ·
barrows said:
Some people love their Blurs, some people don't. Please do not get me wrong, the Blur is an excellent bike for what it does well, just not so much for me. My favorite riding is long fast xc rides in the Colorado mountains. I also do a little bit of endurance racing from time to time (sport class vet). What I need in a bike may not be the same as what someone else needs so keep that in mind as you read my criticism.
The Blur does not really fit me the way I like-the top tube is too short on a large frame, I am 6'1" and prefer a top tube around 24.2" or so. To get the position on the Blur I wanted I had to go with a 130mm stem, and it is still not quite right, and with the long stem the steering is not quite right. I would prefer a 110-120 mm stem on a longer top tube.
I had problems with the alignment of my Blur, the rear wheel was not in plane with the front triangle. I sent the frame back to SC and they "fixed" it-it was a little better but still not right, after having them tell me that I was wrong, I gave up and decided to live with it. I bought my frame when they first became available, and maybe they were just overwhelmed with the demand, and maybe now they are controlling frame quality better.
The Blurs suspension does some things very well, but not all things: It is great at absorbing big hits, very plush. It sprints remarkably well on smooth ground, and it is very efficient at isolating bob on smooth ground. For me it is fair to poor at climbing steep technical singletrack-high amounts of chain tension (like when you are in the little ring) lock out the suspension-in other words it becomes inactive while climbing steeply. If all your steep climbs are smooth this is ok, but during rocky/rooty climbs it is annoying. The other problem is that if a bump exceeds the pedalling force and activates the suspension you feel a big kickback through the pedals.
I am interested in the Trance because of the reports that it is an active suspension with no pedal feedback (none is probably impossible, maybe it is virtually none-therefore none that can be felt). If these reports are accurate the Trance may be the bike that I am looking for.

I am interested in covering the most ground as fast as possible-long 50+ mile rides on high altitude singletrack. I need a bike that is a little more "xc" and I feel that the Blur is a little more "trail" I hope that this helps-remember to ride the bikes to get a feel for the differences.
Man, maybe were twins because i am also unhappy with my Blur. It feels great sometimes and weird other times. Hard to predict i'd have to say and i don't really like VPP with that little of travel. V-10s are another story because then i'm riding downhill VPP is great and is great at absorbing little and big bumps but it's the slow, techy climbs that the Blur is troubled by. My Blur is going to be for sale sometime in the near future and my XC bike will be a Trance 1 or Racer-X.

-TS
 
#10 ·
Mike Young said:
What is the difference between "XC" and "trail"???

In your post and others, I have seen "XC" and "trail" mentioned, but I do not know the difference.
I would have to agree with the guy above - XC is well, XC: it can be a race bike but general rule of thumb is light and less than (up to) 4 inches of travel front and rear. Although to many people XC (esp race) bike is a hardtail because it is lighter and simpler.

Trailbikes are a little bit more comfy with 4-6 inches of travel and almost always dually.

Think of XC as fastest way to cover ground and Trail as all-day epic riding. Nothing wrong with a nice light race rig but it is probably not your 1st choice for an all day ride over technical terrain.

Hope that helps, just my my opinion but one that I think a lot of people agree on ;)
 
#11 ·
TheSherpa said:
Man, maybe were twins because i am also unhappy with my Blur. It feels great sometimes and weird other times. Hard to predict i'd have to say and i don't really like VPP with that little of travel. V-10s are another story because then i'm riding downhill VPP is great and is great at absorbing little and big bumps but it's the slow, techy climbs that the Blur is troubled by. My Blur is going to be for sale sometime in the near future and my XC bike will be a Trance 1 or Racer-X.

-TS
Just curious: Why would you expect the Trance to be significantly different from the Blur with regard to chain-tension induced lockout? To my unsophisticated eye, they Maestro suspension looks very, very similar to the Blur's VPP.
 
#12 ·
I like my Giant.

barrows said:
Hey Giant riders,

I was hoping you could help me out with a few questions. How does Giants frame quality compare? They build Specialized, right? What about the durability of their suspension pivots, and the ability for suspension pivots to be rebuilt? Are parts readily available? I ask because I am very close to ordering up a 20" Trance frame for my new epic xc bike build and am not that familar with what level of quality I can expect from Giant. Currently I am on a Santa Cruz Blur and I have not been that impressed with the frame itself-especially with the alignment. Thanks for any help.
I purchased a Giant VT-1 last March. It was a 2003 and I got an awesome deal on it. I am very impressed with the quality of the welds and finish of the frame. The welds are better than the welds on my wife's Trek. In fact, the only welds that I have seen that were better, have been on a couple custom steel hardtails that I have personally got to check out up close. The suspension is as tight as the day when I brought the bike home from the shop. I check it for play before every ride, figuring parts that move as much as they do would eventually develop some noticable slop (This is my first fs ride).

Brian
 
#13 ·
Look Closer

cartman said:
Just curious: Why would you expect the Trance to be significantly different from the Blur with regard to chain-tension induced lockout? To my unsophisticated eye, they Maestro suspension looks very, very similar to the Blur's VPP.
VPP links rotate in opposite directions. Anyway, the only similarity is that both bikes feature 2 relatively short links-this in no way makes them the same, or even similar for that matter. Suspension qualities will be defined by the axle travel path, and the shock rate and choice/setup. Early reports from people who have ridden The Trance comment on how little pedal feedback the design exhibits. I will test ride a Trance as soon as possible and get back to the forum with a ride report.
 
#14 ·
cartman said:
Just curious: Why would you expect the Trance to be significantly different from the Blur with regard to chain-tension induced lockout? To my unsophisticated eye, they Maestro suspension looks very, very similar to the Blur's VPP.
Way, way, way, way, way, way different. Check out the axle paths of both and you'll see. I'm also a bike whore and i like trying new things.

-TS
 
#15 ·
I've been riding an NRS for about 2 years and have never had a problem with it. I've got to say, I don't think there's anything better for the money. PERIOD.

Just got the new DR in the mail and there's an ad for the new Giant Trance 1. Man, that is one sweet lookin' ride!
 
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