With an all-new carbon frame, wide carbon rims, FOX Factory level suspension and a full Shimano XT groupset the Trance Advanced 1 comes in just shy of six gorillas at $5799. And if its predecessor is anything to go by, we’ll certainly enjoy this review.
Check out our range highlights of the 2017 Giant lineup.
See our review of the 2016 Trance Advanced 1 here.
The good bits.
FOX, Shimano and Giant’s own components make up the bulk of the spec. We’re most impressed with the way the Trance Advanced 1 (and last years version too) comes with the absolute best from FOX suspension, the cream of the crop fork and shock with Kashima-coated sliding bits and all the external adjustments we love.
Shimano’s XT is always a winner in our minds, but new for this year the 11-46 tooth cassette that widens the range significantly from last year’s 11-42 cassette, to sweeten the deal Shimano’s new chainring is here too, a new teeth profile promises to cut down on noise, increase lifetime and maintain chain retention without the need of a chain guide.
This will be our first experience with Giant’s new TRX 1 wheels, which claim to be only 1680g and the rims a generous 27mm internal width (33mm external). We like these numbers a lot!
As always, there’s much more to a bike than its components, but in terms of value for money and deciding how to spec a bike, Giant are off to a running start.
What’s the Giant Trance Advanced 1 all about?
The Trance Advanced 1 is a long travel trail/all-mountain bike that’s designed to cover a wide range of needs. It sits in the middle of Giant’s shorter travel Anthem and burly Reign, so its intended use is to fill that large segment of the market that is made up of riders that are not fussed on racing, those that are prepared to pedal all day and could do with a generous amount of suspension travel for control on rough trails and comfort on long rides.
The 2017 Trance frame looks similar but is vastly different to the 2016 one, what has changed?
The Trance platform received major updates to the frame this year, it’s longer in reach, lower in bottom bracket height, shorter in its chainstay length and fork travel is bumped up 10mm to 150mm. The 2017 model comes with a host of new and emerging technologies, such as boost hub spacing front and rear, a trunnion mounted rear shock and a flush Kabolt (not a quick release) axle on the fork and Giant’s allen key axle on the rear.
How much travel is the Trance packing, and what about the wheel size?
Built around 27.5” wheels, the Trance range comes equipped with 140mm of rear travel mated to a 150mm travel fork up front. Giant have colour-matched their frame and wheelset with custom stickers from Fox, and the bike looks gorgeous in the flesh.
Where to now?
A bike like the Trance Advanced 1 is probably going to have an owner that uses it for many things, so that’s exactly what we’ll be doing. From buff singletrack to downhill bike worthy terrain, we’re keen to see what this bike is capable of. Even just looking at the 2016 model of this bike, one of the major gripes we had was its narrow rims holding back the bike’s performance on rougher trails, with this rectified and with a host of other improvements this is sure to be a hot bike for 2017.
We’ll be putting a full review up in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled!