2024 Giant

Trance Jr 26

For almost as long as I’ve been testing bikes – quite a while, as my aching bones regularly remind me – the Trance has been Giant’s go-to trail bike. It debuted in 2005, and I have a feeling I must have first reviewed one close to twenty years ago too. – Short of time? Click here to skip to the verdict – During all that time and through multiple iterations of the Trance that have seen wheel sizes change, travel shrink and grow, and geometry steadily lengthen, the basic remit has remained: Trance is Giant’s efficient, do-it-all, trail bike and has always been the most versatile full suspension bike in its range for me. This latest X version has 140mm rear and 150mm front travel, and it’s available in carbon (Advanced) or aluminium with various adjustment options and an on-trend downtube luggage box. While it’s shiny, sleek and fresh looking, you can spot the model’s heritage in the basic shape and rear Maestro suspension, which uses a twin link design wrapping both ends together over the bottom bracket and at an upper rocker. The back end is marginally longer than some trail bikes, at 439mm, and overall the X version geometry isn’t particularly slack or aggressive. But Giant also offers an SX version that uses a 27.5in rear wheel, it gets a slightly longer shock stroke to achieve 5mm more travel and a significantly more relaxed head angle. The chameleon-in-the-light carbon finish on this Advanced 1 version looks amazing, with a funky, semi-transparent, purple/green lacquer that exposes the raw weave. There’s some pretty swanky kit that does the finish justice too; Fox Performance Elite at both ends with the superior GRIP2 damper in the 36 fork up front, and a mixture of a SRAM GX Eagle AXS drivetrain and Shimano XT brakes. Solid own-brand finishing kit includes wide, rounded rimmed TRX hookless carbon wheels clad in Maxxis rubber. Not bad, when Giant’s whole package costs under six grand. This 1 model is also pretty light too, at just under 14kg (and feels even lighter when you pedal it), which is very respectable for a modern, capable trail/all mountain bike. Design and specifications The latest Trance X frame ups travel over the previous model by 5mm to 140mm. There’s a neat Trunnion mount shock, which Giant bumps to a slightly longer 55mm stroke and 145mm on the SX version. The whole frame is carbon except the lower welded aluminium rocker link too and there’s a new downtube stash that’s actually big enough to actually stash things in. The Trance is also really adjustable compared to many trail bikes. Three different flip chip positions at the top of the seat stay use either an oval chip with a central hole or a spare included chip with an offset hole that can be orientated either way. To change the geo takes literally about a minute and can easily be done trailside with a multi tool. Giant recommends using mid or low positions with …Continue reading »

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Now, with 140mm of rear travel and the same 150mm fork, Giant’s new mid-travel platform packs multiple points of adjustability into a durable and capable all-mountain machine.

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Giant offer a wide collection of dual suspension trail bikes and just in case readers aren’t in the know already, can you start by explaining what the ‘X’ in model’s name distinguish about these bikes compared to the standard Trance models?  I’d like to think that it stands for Xtreme but in reality the X signifies that the bike is intended to get rowdy and encourage its rider to really have a lot of fun out there on the trails! […]

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