New Bike Day!

mmmmmmmm
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The 22' trance 29 and trance x 29 frames are actually hand painted which is pretty neat. The trance 29 is actually painted with black gloss base coat and from what I am told, they use silver paint and a garbage bag to apply the silver on black camo look to it. I'm not sure how they achieve it on the trance x 29, but I am told that they are done by hand and thus, each one is just a little bit different with patterns and colors. It's a pretty cool frame paint setup, especially for giant who seems to either do mundane or totally absurd colors and nothing in between that's actually "cool". I actually didn't like this frame paint much in photos, even when these frames were released. However, in person they look absolutely gorgeous.

I'm interested to try this one out for sure. I am a HUGE fan of the float X shock. I have it on another bike and have upgraded a few friends bikes with it and it is the best feeling/performing air shock that i have ever used out of the box... and I have pretty much used them all. It's a bummer that giant sent all of the publications the decked out live valve version of this bike because all of the reviews end up focused purely on how intrusive live valve ends up being. I've heard good things about this bike from a few people that have it already.

For my usage, my megatower is now full blown stupid with 170 travel and 35lbs even with carbon everything (wheels, bars, cranks, etc). It still pedals astonishingly well, but the gap I created between my trance 29 and my megatower ended up being a bit too polarizing for certain rides. For example, palm canyon epic or the whole enchilada is totally doable on the trance 29 but, by the end of the day when I was riding sloppy and had poor lines, I'd end up feeling a smidge under biked. I'm planning on this bike to still allow me to be a bit more flexible when i venture out of town with a bike bag so that I can run fast and light tires with less sag for pedal days and still be flexible enough to put some minions on and make moderately bad life choices.
 
I ended up using the rainy day this last sunday to wrap this thing. Still haven't ridden it yet but I'm super stoked with it after having spun it around the neighborhood. The F/R balance is bang on and the first manual I threw myself into was just butter. I'm honestly a bit surprised because I have a wolftooth angle adjust headset in it, slacking it out to 64.5 in the low setting, so I was half expecting for the front center to feel a bit too long for the chainstays... guess time will tell when I start loading up the front wheel in corners.

Final weight, as pictured is 29.8lbs which is only .5lbs heavier then my trance 29 was. Pretty solid trade off for the improved geometry, +15mm rear travel and +20mm front travel. I honestly am pretty blown away by the bikes in this segment with the progression of geometry and suspension products. The float X is a revelation in this category and now that I have it on two bikes... I can confidently say it's the best off the shelf air shock that I've experienced since the glass cannon cane creek inlines that were epic... for about 3 rides.

Anyway, love the paint now that it's built up... It appears black in some light conditions and silver-ish in others. I'm sure I'll adjust a few things to wrap this thing up but it's pretty dialed already. trying to decide on fork decals at the moment. Not sure if I should go fully custom slik graphics, stealth standard fox decals or just go sans decals. I do like how this bike only has the giant branding on the head tube and then the model name on one side of the top tube. It's sorta pushing me to remove all of the branding off of the bike with some spray paint on the components.

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JbalColgate said:
Waiting for correct caliper adapters after WW cyclery sent the wrong ones (someone at the shop mislabeled them)
After that all is left is bleeding the brakes after shortening hydro hoses and its all ready to go!

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Nice. My first bike was an Orange Santa Cruz. I think they called it "mountain rescue orange" or something like that. LOL.
 
JbalColgate said:
Went on "shakedown" ride today, some parts were transferred from old bike - cranks with chainring , saddle and stem and handlebars with grips..
Right away there was grinding on the front chainring when chain was coming off, turned out chain ring has to be replaced due to worn out teeth..

Old frame going to Aero Weld in Inglewood for crack welding and it will become second bike..

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Now you can get down to some serious "hopping" on that rig!!
 
JbalColgate said:
Went on "shakedown" ride today, some parts were transferred from old bike - cranks with chainring , saddle and stem and handlebars with grips..
Right away there was grinding on the front chainring when chain was coming off, turned out chain ring has to be replaced due to worn out teeth..

Old frame going to Aero Weld in Inglewood for crack welding and it will become second bike..

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Click to expand...
Are those 26" wheels?
 
JbalColgate said:
Went on "shakedown" ride today, some parts were transferred from old bike - cranks with chainring , saddle and stem and handlebars with grips..
Right away there was grinding on the front chainring when chain was coming off, turned out chain ring has to be replaced due to worn out teeth..

Old frame going to Aero Weld in Inglewood for crack welding and it will become second bike..

View attachment 86023
Click to expand...
That's a Tallboy, yes?
 
CBone said:
So now you get to go to the exotic places for Dental Conventions like my nephew and his dentist buddies? How cool is that.
I kid.
Very nice bike
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I play the part…first long travel bike for me. Sooo good.

Also, you never go full retail. The only way I could afford these things. I’m likely paying less for these than an off the shelf specialized, trek or giant of equivalent spec.
 
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