2025 Giant Anthem Advanced 29 4 Review | The Anthem gets Giant’s new Crest SL fork & Flotrac XC shock


The not-so-minor details

Product

2025 Giant Anthem Advanced 29 4

Contact

Giant Bicycles

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/

Price

$5,299 AUD

Weight

12.85kg

Positives

- Lightweight Frame
- Efficient pedalling dynamics
- Comfortable riding position

Negatives

- Rear hub has already developed some play

Michael reviews the 2025 Giant Anthem

Giant has taken a bold step with the 2025 Anthem Advanced 29 4, launching a budget-friendly XC race bike equipped with its very own Crest suspension products.

You may recall that it was back in 2022 when we reviewed the Anthem Advanced Pro 29 1. Although the frame design remains unchanged for 2025, what is new is the arrival of Giant’s own Crest SL fork and Flotrac XC shock that you’ll see bolted onto out 2025 Anthem Advanced 29 4 test bike. This is exciting news for privateers on a budget and young racers as they can now pick up a race-ready, full-suspension bike for just $5,299 AUD.

To test out the suspension, Giant sent us an Anthem Advanced 29 4 to see how well the new products perform on the tracks.

Giant has gone big on developing its own suspension. We’ve been riding an Anthem equipped with the Crest SL fork and the Flotrac rear shock to see how it holds up.

An overview of the 2025 Giant Anthem

The Anthem is Giant’s premium full suspension XC race bike. Originally designed around a Maestro system, the latest version features a lighter and simpler FlexPoint Pro suspension layout. The single-pivot design relies on flex through the seatstays and a compact rocker link to drive the shock. The Anthem’s frame provides 100mm of travel in the rear and is paired with a 110mm travel fork.

In a heavily crowded XC market, the Anthem offers riders a straight-shooting race bike. There is no head angle, reach or BB adjustments or even room for a second drink bottle. Giant has kept it simple and sleek, with only the necessary features. This pared-back approach makes it one of the lightest XC frames on the market with a claimed weight of just 1,735g including the shock.

Giant Crest Sl Fork
With 34mm stanchions, the Crest SL feels stiff and direct on the trails.

The new Giant Crest SL fork & Flotrac XC shock

Bigger news then for 2025 is the introduction of the brand new Giant Crest SL fork and Flotrac XC shock. These components have been developed in-house, with the shock being tuned for the Anthem’s suspension kinematics.

Crest SL Fork

Giant has previously released a Crest fork on its Fathom hardtail; however, this new fork is specifically designed for XC racing. It features a lightweight 34mm chassis and a new damper that features what Giant is referring to as ‘sync-tuning compression’. It’s claimed that the compression values are similar between the fork and shock, with the aim of providing consistent traction and support.

The fork features a dual-air chamber design with a self-equalising negative spring. The Taiwanese brand claims the spring curve has been tuned to improve efficiency and prevent harsh bottom-outs.

Crest Flotrac XC Shock

Crest Flotrac Xc shock
The little Flotrac XC shock is fighting above its paygrade, so far it has been an outstanding performer on a variety of trails.

The Crest SL fork is joined by a brand-new shock called the Crest Flotrac XC. The shock features what Giant has deemed triple-flow path technology that balances big and little compressions while still delivering a plush and supportive feel. The three circuits regulate oil flow through the damping valves based on impact. The goal is to optimise ground contact and performance across the three compression settings; open, firm or lock-out.

Giant has opted for a more linear spring curve, aiming to achieve a constant and predictable action, allowing the shock to easily reach full travel while still providing plenty of support through its mid-stroke. If you need more ramp, it is possible to add volume spacers.

The rebound circuit has been designed so that each click delivers a noticeable force adjustment, which should make dialling in the settings easier. Being an in-house designed and manufactured product, Giant has tuned the shock to suit the kinematics of the Anthem’s suspension design.

The new Crest SL fork and Flotrac XC shock won’t be available to purchase on their own, so for now you’ll only find them on complete bikes. Giant will have service kits available, and the listed intervals are in-line with other manufacturers. A basic air can or lower leg service is recommended after 50 hours while a full service including a damper rebuild is recommended every 150 hours.

Giant Anthem geometry

We received a medium-sized bike for testing, which for my 173cm height felt spot on. The medium frame comes with a 70mm stem, 760mm wide bars and a 120mm dropper post. It has a generous reach of 450mm matched to a 67.5° head tube angle. The wheelbase comes in at 1,159mm with 435mm chain stays, these numbers are in-line with what you would have expected from a trail bike a few years ago, meaning, that the Anthem is stable at speeds and descends better than you may think a purebred XC bike should.

There are no in-frame geometry adjustments, however, the bike does ship with 35mm of spacers under the stem that riders can use to adjust their ride position, and the bars are reasonably wide for an XC bike at 760mm allowing some room for trimming down if necessary.

giant anthem size chart

Giant Anthem price & specs

For 2025, there will only be two Giant Anthem models coming to Australia. Both bikes will be carbon 29ers; there is a drool-worthy top spec Anthem Advanced 29 1, and our test bike, the Anthem Advanced 29 4. These two bikes share the same frame with only the colours and components changing.

Giant Anthem Advanced 29 4
The Anthem has a sleek and fast looking design that is backed up on the trail with some impressive speed, when both climbing and descending.

Giant Anthem Advanced 29 4

Crest SL fork air spring set up guide.
The air pressure recommendations on the back of the air spring side of the fork were surprisingly accurate.

Suspension setup

Setting up the new Crest SL fork was straightforward with air pressure and rebound being the two main adjustments available. For those wanting a little more customisation they can play with the number of tokens in the main air chamber of the forks. To check these you will need to first remove the air pressure from the fork and then use a 24mm socket to open the chamber. I was surprised to find seven tokens installed from the factory. For air pressure I settled on 65psi to give me roughly 25% sag for my 65kg riding weight, and 17 clicks of rebound. This was surprisingly close to the recommended pressure provided by Giant on the back of the air spring side of the forks.

Despite its basic setup, the spring curve on the fork has been very consistent and handled some shockingly large hits with aplomb. This would partly be due to the large number of tokens in the air chamber.

Moving on to the shock, I initially had some trouble getting a pressure reading. It took a few goes with four different shock pumps to work out how much pressure I had in there. We asked our contact at Giant about this and it turns out the shock’s valve core is recessed 0.3mm further in than a typical Fox shock, but is supposedly the same as other brands.

Eventually I found a shock pump that worked and was able to go through my usual setup process. Just like with the forks, riders can adjust the spring rate via spacers in the shock. Interestingly, unlike the fork that had seven tokens, the shock came with no spacers installed. The leverage ratio of the shock is working in unison with the suspension kinematics and so far I haven’t felt the need to add any more progression to it. After some playing around with pressures I settled on 155psi and seven clicks of rebound. This gave me 25% sag, which I have felt is working well on the mixed terrain around where I live on the Gold Coast.

Rider riding on undulating terrain.
Even when rolling the Anthem felt fast on the tracks.

Giant Anthem weight

Our Giant Anthem Advanced 29 4 came in at 12.85kg, set up tubeless and without pedals. While not XC World Cup light, this base level build certainly feels light and fast on the trails.

For context, it’s just over 1kg heavier than some if its much pricier competition. A lot of that weight difference will be down to the entry-level spec components such as wheels, seat, bars and stem. These are all alloy parts that if upgraded, could easily shed a kilo or more off the bike. For comparison, the Orbea Oiz M10 we tested comes in at 11.57kg and a hefty price of $9,499 AUD, while the Cervelo ZFS-5 weighs in at 11.52kg but comes with a whopping $12,000 AUD price tag.

What do I like about the Giant Anthem?

There is a lot to like about the Anthem, it is a surprisingly comfortable fit straight out of the box. The riding position is aggressive enough to lay down fast lap times or lead your mates up a steep climb and not leave you with that ride-ending lower back pain or stiff neck.

Rider climbing switchback trail.
The Anthem loves to tackle all types of climbing tracks.

It felt fast and light, I could feel the power being transferred through the drivetrain to the wheels. It is efficient and responsive on the trails. The ease at which it accelerates makes you want to keep pushing harder.

As you would expect from such a large manufacturer, most of the components are made in-house under the Giant label. I have found the bars, stem and dropper post to all work well and complement the intended purpose of the bike.

The Giant XCT rims are still spinning true; however, the rear hub has developed some play and appears to be the first victim of the rocky descents found at my local riding spots. While not a deal breaker, it is disappointing to have it happen so early on during testing.

One of the few parts on the bike that isn’t Giant branded is the crank and chain guide.

One of the first things I noticed when I got the bike was the tyre choice. The Aspens are not for the faint-hearted, with a very low and open tread profile that’s optimised for flat-out racing. They require some real attention when cornering or tackling steep and loose terrain. However, providing you commit to your turns and adjust your speed accordingly in loose or technical sections, the tyres help to bring out the race pedigree of the bike. Even when climbing they offer sufficient grip and when the trails allow you to sprint, they carry speed incredibly well.

I have the tyres set up with 20psi in the front and 22psi out back, not only have I found them to roll well with these pressures, but they have so far resisted any flats on my notoriously rocky local trails.

How do the Crest SL fork and Flotrac shock perform?

Off the bat, I was impressed by how well both the shock and fork handled repeated rough sections of trail. My first ride wasn’t your typical XC course, with some loose rocky descents known to chatter the teeth out of riders on much longer travel enduro bikes. The Crest suspension held its own and the limits of the bike’s tyres and geometry were found before I noticed any issues with the suspension.

Giant Crest SL forks
The Crest SL forks have a very understated appearance, its what’s going on inside those lowers that is impressive.

On more typical XC trails the Crest fork and shock were able to show how well they have been tuned for their intended purpose. Across smoother and undulating terrain the suspension is controlled and responsive while still taking the occasional bigger hit in its stride.

What stood out was how effectively the bike and suspension could get the power down to the wheels. I didn’t feel any lag or loss of momentum through the suspension even when climbing while standing up. This should be expected of a modern cross-country bike, however, the impressive part of this was how well the suspension could still absorb repeated hits on rougher tracks and feel composed on bigger drops and jumps. It is a testament to how far bike design and technology have come over the years.

The new suspension offerings from Giant feature a three-position compression adjustment via a grip shift on the handlebars, I was impressed by how well it worked and that it didn’t get in the way when riding. I haven’t had any unintentional shifts of the lockout. The grip shift changes the settings on both the fork and shock and allows you to cycle between open, firm and lock-out. I found the platform responsive in the open setting, so I didn’t feel the need to switch to the firm or lock-out settings on the trails. However, when tackling some bitumen climbs on the ride out to the tracks, the ability to firm things up was very welcome.

Rider cornering on the new Anthem Advanced 29 4
With spot on geometry for an XC bike, the Anthem loves to corner.

What did the Anthem struggle with?

To be honest, there was not much that the Anthem couldn’t handle, it was only when I took it right out of its comfort zone down some steep, rough and loose tracks that the combination of the Aspen tyres, the bike’s geometry and suspension travel slowed it down.

I could still ride the tracks, just not as fast or as comfortably as I was used to. In the end, this just made me choose trails that suited the XC nature of the bike and this is where I had the most fun.

The Aspen’s do have a defined limit to their traction, but they definitely don’t hold this bike back.

Component highs & lows

The component highlight on our test Anthem is the Crest Suspension, both the fork and shock have withstood a lot of abuse with no signs of wear or performance fade. They offer simple but effective adjustments and are surprisingly versatile. The Crest suspension’s performance was on par with products from the big-name players in the suspension world, credit should be given to Giant for investing the time and resources into developing its range of suspension to complement its bikes.

It was hard to fault the bike, unless you are super picky about weight and feel the need to make things as light as possible, I don’t think there is any need to change out any of the stock components. The only component I haven’t gelled with is the seat, and seeing as these are very subjective it is not a criticism of the bike or the product. It just doesn’t suit my rear end.

Unfortunately the rear hub has already developed a small amount of play. We got in touch with our contact at Giant about this, they said only a small number of these hubs have developed some play and that if the issue presented on a customer’s bike, then they could take it to their local dealer for a warranty assessment.

Rider rolling down short rock garden.
Despite their low and open profile the Aspen’s held traction on a mix of terrain types.

Flow’s Verdict

For riders eager to dive into XC racing or marathon events, the 2025 Giant Anthem Advanced 29 4 delivers exceptional value. It is light, fast, fun and more comfortable than I was expecting. It provides riders with a sleek and refined frame that is ready to race straight from the shop floor.

A standout feature of the Anthem Advanced 29 4 is the new Crest suspension. The products are simple to set up, have so far been very durable and are performing at a much higher level than I expected. The fact that both the fork and shock have been developed especially for this bike shows when you are out on the trails.

Rider performing XC styled bar turn on jump.
Michael trying his best Nino Schurter impersonation.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER - Michael Cooper

Hometown

Gold Coast, QLD

Height

173cm

Weight65kg

RIDING STYLE

Over calculated yet imprecise

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