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From XTC2 to Anthem X3

1K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  djonesax 
#1 ·
I am considering the purchase of a new MTB. I currently ride an 07 Giant XTC2 with factory specs. I have been really happy with my Giant and figured I would keep with the Giant Line. I have been thinking about upgrading to something a little more comfortable and the Giant Anthem X3 looks like something I could enjoy and is in my price range. I do ride on roads and paved trails some but only for convenient exercise. I want whatever bike I purchase to be optimized for off road and I will just make do for when I ride on roads.

Admittedly, I don’t know a whole lot about bikes and their technology and bought my first Giant completely on the way it felt to ride. I really just want to get a good bike and ride it!

I was wondering if some of you experienced riders could give me a run down on the improvements I can expect from the XTC to the Anthem X3. For example, I can look at the specs and see that they have both 100MM travel front shocks but one should be better than the other and I’m not sure how .

Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks,

David
 
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#4 ·
djonesax said:
...I currently ride an 07 Giant XTC2 with factory specs... I have been thinking about upgrading to something a little more comfortable... I do ride on roads and paved trails some but only for convenient exercise. I want whatever bike I purchase to be optimized for off road and I will just make do for when I ride on roads.
In my opinion going from hardtail to even a short-travel full suspension is a BIG jump in terms of comfortability and handling in off-road riding.

But there is price to pay for that: more weight, more maintenance and less efficiency in relatively easy trails and especially on uphills.

If you have only quickly tried a longer travel trail bike like Trance it can easily feel very good because of how it eats up all the bumps and feels soooo comfortable. However after the honeymoon is over you start to notice that again there is a price to pay for that, just quite a bit bigger than for a short travel bike: all those short uphills that you used to power through with a quick out-of-the-saddle effort are wasted in the soft suspension etc.

My advice is to assess what kind of "off-road" you ride and how: is it less technical, quick trails XC style or more technical & downhill oriented etc. Then pick a bike that is designed for that use. No single bike excels everywhere though Anthem is one of those bikes which is a pretty good compromise almost everywhere (I ride Anthem with a 120mm remote lockable fork and it works well for both XC & trail riding).
 
#5 ·
Zarzo said:
(I ride Anthem with a 120mm remote lockable fork and it works well for both XC & trail riding).
I actually keep flip flopping between these two bikes. The trails I ride 95 percent of the time are local watershed trails. They are very hilly but steep short climbs. Up and down, up and down with lots of roots.

The hard part for me is that I have never ridden a fully on a trail before and there is no place to demo one right now. my neighbor has a yeti but it has 6.5 inches of travel and wouldn't be a good comparison.

Im thinking that 5 inches of travel would be over kill for my local trails but the comfort would be nice. The bike shop is telling me that 4" is perfect for around here and that 5" might get in the way a little bit. I have a 4" dart 3 on my XTC2 that I ride now and I still need to pull up on my handle bars on medium size roots so to minimize the jarring. with the anthem being 4" travel too, I wonder if that will be the same.

Decisions... Decisions...
 
#7 ·
djonesax said:
I have a 4" dart 3 on my XTC2 that I ride now and I still need to pull up on my handle bars on medium size roots so to minimize the jarring. with the anthem being 4" travel too, I wonder if that will be the same
The point of better suspension is not to completely eliminate the need for bike skills, but it will make your ride more comfortable. A 100 mm of quality suspension (i think its a fox on the anthem x3, but i may be wrong) is a hell of a lot better than the 100 mm dart 3's. I ride a fork with 80 mm of suspension but it still does a better job at absorbing impacts than most 100 mm low end forks do. Dont be blinded my travel measurement numbers.

Are you going to keep your xtc? If so, i'd keep the xtc for your less technical trails and get a trance for the rougher stuff. If not, get the anthem unless your local trails contain many 2+ foot drops and steep technical downhills (in that case get the trance). I ride my anthem 1 ( 80 mm front and back) everywhere and hardly ever miss the lack of suspension, then again, i dont consider the trails i ride around here that technical.
 
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