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Trance 1 built up, sweet

3K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  sharprocks 
#1 ·
Rode it this morning.

Setup is as follows:

Trance 1 20" with RP3
Manitou Black Elite TPC+ 100/120 (2003)
RF Evolve XC X-Type cranks
SRAM X.9 rear der + twist shifter
Vintage Shimano XT front shifter (rapid-fire)
--no front derailleur yet!
Egg Beater S pedals
Sun DS2-XC rims on XT disc hubs
Hayes HFX-Mag discs
90mm Sette Venn stem
Titec Hellbent XC lo-rise bar
IRC Trail bear 2.25" f/r with Stans Notubes

Bike rides like a dream. Descends like nothing I've ever been on, hooks up and hammers up climbs. RP3 is killer. The fork is a much better match for the bike IMHO than the ones Giant's putting on the bikes stock (Fox, RS), not to mention that's a great fork but you can't get it any more. With the 120mm setting on the fork this bike will descend anything there is to descend in Central TX.

One ride so far.

FWIW the SRAM X-gen front derailleur does not fit!! Due to the weld loation on the curvy seat tube, the clamp won't clamp. For those of you building a Trance 1... Gotta get a Shimano front der. with low-clamp.

Also the other big surprises were: you have to run cable housing all the way under the top tube... those are cable guides, not cable stops. This frame has V-brake bosses... I don't recall seeing them on Trance 2, 3, 4 in the shop. Do all Trance 1's have V-brake bosses? It's not easy getting the rear wheel on with that big tire inflated. Pressing those "cups" into the head tube was not the easiest thing... they just always wanted to go in crooked. But I really appreciate the split/spring crown race that doesn't require a press/pounding to get it on or off!! Riding it, it's remarkable how tall this bike is... I don't recall noticing this on test rides but once I got on it on the trail, it's taller than I had thought, but you can pedal it around corners you'd have to coast on a Blur to avoid pedal strike.

And FWIW, I love the RP3 shock.
 
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#2 ·
What! no pix?
sharprocks said:
Rode it this morning.

Setup is as follows:

Trance 1 20" with RP3
Manitou Black Elite TPC+ 100/120 (2003)
RF Evolve XC X-Type cranks
SRAM X.9 rear der + twist shifter
Vintage Shimano XT front shifter (rapid-fire)
--no front derailleur yet!
Egg Beater S pedals
Sun DS2-XC rims on XT disc hubs
Hayes HFX-Mag discs
90mm Sette Venn stem
Titec Hellbent XC lo-rise bar
IRC Trail bear 2.25" f/r with Stans Notubes

Bike rides like a dream. Descends like nothing I've ever been on, hooks up and hammers up climbs. RP3 is killer. The fork is a much better match for the bike IMHO than the ones Giant's putting on the bikes stock (Fox, RS), not to mention that's a great fork but you can't get it any more. With the 120mm setting on the fork this bike will descend anything there is to descend in Central TX.

One ride so far.

FWIW the SRAM X-gen front derailleur does not fit!! Due to the weld loation on the curvy seat tube, the clamp won't clamp. For those of you building a Trance 1... Gotta get a Shimano front der. with low-clamp.

Also the other big surprises were: you have to run cable housing all the way under the top tube... those are cable guides, not cable stops. This frame has V-brake bosses... I don't recall seeing them on Trance 2, 3, 4 in the shop. Do all Trance 1's have V-brake bosses? It's not easy getting the rear wheel on with that big tire inflated. Pressing those "cups" into the head tube was not the easiest thing... they just always wanted to go in crooked. But I really appreciate the split/spring crown race that doesn't require a press/pounding to get it on or off!! Riding it, it's remarkable how tall this bike is... I don't recall noticing this on test rides but once I got on it on the trail, it's taller than I had thought, but you can pedal it around corners you'd have to coast on a Blur to avoid pedal strike.

And FWIW, I love the RP3 shock.
 
#4 ·
Sounds Excellent! I plan on doing something very similar- transferring all the parts from my NRS over to the Trance 16" frameset - (my NRS is 18.5" and a little too tall for tech trails), and btw- I believe all the framesets come w/ V-brake studs, just to keep that option open.
I plan on using a Talas 90-130mm fork though, similar versatility as to your fork, I agree though, it should come specced w/ something a little different since it's not Giant's full xc race bike (although I'm sure a lot of users will use it as one).
post up some pics when you get them. ;)
 
#6 ·
Yeah souds like a nice build up. Hopefully Ill have enoough money saved up for a trance frame sometime in the near future.

For the cable guides, I was checking out a Trance 4 at the LBS and its interesting how they are running almost full housing (stops on the chainstay). They put guides inderneath the top tube, so youll have to run full housing there. I like this idea since you dont have to worry about getting dirt in the housing. Makes shifting a lot smoother too.
 
#7 ·
The full cable housing is probably to prevent ghost shifting too, I know that was a fairly well known problem w/ the 03 and older NRS's, then they switched to full housing in the rear triangle, I just dremeled my stops, then ran full housing in the rear tri, problem solved. ;) Better for long term use too, especially if riding in adverse elements.
 
#8 ·
Four rides in so far.

All of them have been in somewhat wet conditions since it's been raining nearly nonstop for the past couple of weeks.

No ghost-shifting; full housing works!
LX front derailleur now installed, works fine
mud gets crammed in the gap between the rear triangle and the main frame where the lower link is
with 2.25" tires it's a major pain to get the rear wheel on and off. the shape of the dropout with the derailleur hanger doesn't help much. getting the wheel on and off without removing the pressure from the tire (which sux with stans tubeless tires) really risks bending the derailleur hanger or brake rotor (or both). my Rocket88 was much the same way.
in another thread someone noted a recommendation to set the shock for your body weight... where did this suggestion come from? I weigh about 188 and am running the RP3 at 150 psi and it doesn't ever bottom, feels right.
a couple of times I've had a chain skip when climbing hard in a tallish gear (32/16 or so) coming out of a sharp corner... anyone have a clue what might be causing that?

in all though, the bike's just comfortable, does what it's supposed to do.
 
#9 ·
sharprocks said:
Four rides in so far.
in another thread someone noted a recommendation to set the shock for your body weight... where did this suggestion come from? I weigh about 188 and am running the RP3 at 150 psi and it doesn't ever bottom, feels right.
a couple of times I've had a chain skip when climbing hard in a tallish gear (32/16 or so) coming out of a sharp corner... anyone have a clue what might be causing that?

in all though, the bike's just comfortable, does what it's supposed to do.
Think it might have been me about setting the shock to body weight, but I only have a T3 and FloatR, I find it to cushy and SAG is more than recomended if I set it less.

As for the "tall gear" can you remember what exact combo it was, as I've had a similar experience? I was in midle 5 (32-20) on a tarmac hill pushing really hard and I got a big jump. I figure that in the future I will prob try to use BIG 3 combo instead of MIDDLE 5, should keep a bit more tension on the chain.
 
#10 ·
LyNx said:
Think it might have been me about setting the shock to body weight, but I only have a T3 and FloatR, I find it to cushy and SAG is more than recomended if I set it less.

As for the "tall gear" can you remember what exact combo it was, as I've had a similar experience? I was in midle 5 (32-20) on a tarmac hill pushing really hard and I got a big jump. I figure that in the future I will prob try to use BIG 3 combo instead of MIDDLE 5, should keep a bit more tension on the chain.
Well, if the gear ratio and amt. of power is the same you won't get any more chain tension where it counts (top side of the chain)... the chain's not falling off due to slack derailleur pivot spring.

Yes this was in about middle-ring-5 but it has only happened (twice) when climbing hard out of a corner. My guess is it's a combo of suspension compression (position), chainring flex, chain-line, maybe frame flex? Mostly it's that I can climb out of a corner in a MUCH bigger gear than I could on my other bike frankly because it does NOT flex and also it has so much more traction. On my other bike, I'd spin out long before putting that much torque on the cassette.

ha,.. I think I'm going to put the Dura-Ace 11-23 cassette on there for bragging rights... titanium cogs! :) who needs a 25-tooth gear anyway?
 
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