GIANT TRANCE ADVANCED PRO 29 0 (2021)

The brand new Giant Trance X Advanced Pro 29, is the bike they should’ve released years ago. I mean, the last Trance 27.5 was great but it was showing its age.

And in a world where riders are demanding the best handling and modern geometry, the Trance 27.5 kind of overlooked for those who were after a progressive modern mountain bike.

Harsh, but true.

It took a back-seat in a crowd of progressive and shiny new trail bikes – kinda like that kid who is picked last at team sports.

No one wants that kid.

So, it’s absolutely no surprise that this new Trance X is nothing like the bike it’s replaced.

Let’s see what exactly has changed and why this is the best all-round Trance Giant has ever made – like Steve Urkel turning into Superman.

THE FRAME

It’s made from carbon. Both the front and rear triangle. Something we first experienced on the Trance 29 then the Reign 29.

And it’s good.

It improves cornering, steering and power transfer. The bike handles better; you can really carve through corners, line choice over tree roots and rocks becomes more accurate. It also isn’t as harsh over high-frequency vibrations.

FLIP CHIP

For the first time ever the Giant Trance gets a flip-chip that adjusts the geometry. There are 2 positions – High and Low.

The chip adjusts three things:

Seat-tube angle, head-tube angle and the bottom bracket height (or how low/high the bike is off the ground).

High:

A steeper head-tube angle makes the bike handle quicker and a steeper seat-tube angle places the rider in a more aggressive climbing position.

Also, a higher bottom bracket improves pedal clearance, allowing riders to pedal through rocky and rooty terrain with fewer pedal strikes.

The high position is the recommended setting for slower, tighter, more technical terrain.

Low:
A slacker headtube angle gives the bike more stability at speed and increased confidence on steeper terrain by placing the front wheel a bit farther out in front of the rider.

A lower bottom bracket height lowers the center of gravity of the bike and rider, making it stable at high speed.
The low position is ideal for faster, more open terrain.

GEOMETRY

It’s properly modern. Everything is adjustable, slacker, steeper, longer and shorter – all in the right places.

For those upgrading from the Trance 27.5, you’ll be interested to know that this is what you get:

Using a size Large as an example:

The Reach has increased by at 38mm (Low) and a maximum of 46mm (High).

The Seat-Tube Angle has steepened by 3.70-degrees (Low) and 4.40-degrees (High).

Trail has increased from 104mm to at least 119mm. That’s not far off the high-stability of the Reign 29. By the way, Trail is how well the bike corrects its front end. More Trail equals more stability.

Crank length has reduced from 175mm to 170mm. This means less hip closure at the top of the pedal stroke, more ground clearance and a smoother pedal pattern.

Chain length stays at 435mm (High) or can be increased to 438mm (Low). Either way it’s as short as the Trance 27.5, so you shouldn’t lose that playfulness from it’s character.

Head tube angle has also been slackened to 65.5-degrees (Low) and 66.2-degrees (High), compared to 67.0-degrees for the Trance 27.5.

FOX LIVE VALVE ELECTRONIC SUSPENSION

As the flag-ship Trance X Advanced, Giant has gone all out. And I mean all-out.

The 0 floats on Fox Factory Live Wire suspension. And it’s all electronically controlled. Unless you turn it off.

It’s been designed by Fox’s Advanced Product Group to simplify dynamic inputs from the trail.

There are accelerometer sensors on the fork, rear axle and frame. These sensors calculate the trail input and the angle of the bike in the air. And they send this data to the controller – 1000 times a second. Pitch detection enables the system to read whether you are going up, down or in the air.

There are four components to Live Valve:

CONTROLLER
Is the brains of the system. It assesses the terrain 1,000 times a second and makes the appropriate adjustment to the suspension in 3 milliseconds – or a hundred times faster than you can blink.

BATTERY
Is mounted alongside the Controller and can be charged on or off the bike via Micro-USB.

Charge time for Live Valve is between 1.5 and 2 hours, depending on the power source. A 15 minute charge will get through a 2 hour ride.

The average life of the battery, before it needs another recharge is 16 to 20 hours.

And there are 5 threshold (or firmness) settings to choose from. For example, a low threshold number requires very little force to open the suspension and become plush.

CALIBRATION
Calibration needs to be performed during final assembly. Or any sensors, controllers or fork travel are replaced or modified.

SHIMANO XT 12-SPEED
Shimano XT hardware is used throughout the bike, with an XTR rear derailleur.

12-speed Shimano is considered the best shifting under power. If you’re using a 12-speed SRAM Eagle system, one thing you’ll notice is how much fuller the gears feel when you’re climbing with Shimano.

The first 5 gears don’t have massive ‘steps’. This means smoother gear shifts. Without turning into a total nerd, the reason why is due to Shimano’s new tech called Hyperglide+. It uses special ramping profiles on the cassette and chain to deliver less ‘shock’ when you shift under load.

GIANT TRX 1 29 CARBON WHEELS

Giant’s TRX 1 carbon wheels weigh in at approximately 1,770 grams and they come with a 2-year warranty.

Sapim Laser spokes are laced to a DT Swiss 360 rear hub.

Internal rim width measures at 30mm and external measures at 37mm.

And, lastly they are hookless.

By eliminating the hook, there’s a couple of cool things that happen.

First, the rim gets stronger. No hook means no stress concentration and increased impact resistance against tree roots and rocks and rough landings.

Second, hookless rims tend to be lighter. Less material, less weight.

And lastly, the tyre holds a ‘rounder’ profile though corners, therefore resulting in better grip and handling.