Giant Trance advanced 2008

squiggoth
squiggoth Posts: 70
edited May 2009 in MTB buying advice
hello,

ive been mountainbiking two years now (im still a young age), riding a gaint XTC 4.5, which i think is fabulous but have decided to purchase another bike. luckily ive been offered a fair sum of money from the perents to go towards this and after a bit of searching ive stumbled across what appears to be one amazing deal.

http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?p ... 743&z=2629
with the £1500 offered by mum n dad and my own pocket i can now afford this but was wondering has anyone ridden this? the spec looks great and i mainly ride trail centre's and through the lcoal woods, nothing too gnarly. a few steep downhills but nothing over 300m (most being about 50m striaght down) scattered with small rocks ranging from the size of my fist to about 3times the size of it, and a bit of air over some natural rollers so would the carbon frame hold up to this?

i also spotted a http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p1734
giant reign 0 (2008) which looks like the trance X (2009) with a bit more travel; is this so, as i was looking into the trance x and anthem x pervious to this find.
aswell as these two bikes i had the lappiere zesty 514, cube AMS, scott spark(but seems bad value the scott) and a couple of hardtails in mind. the cube looks nice and also a specialized stumpy FSR. i was looking to spend arround 1800 but can pay more for a great deal, or 1200 on a hardtail.
id be interested in doing a little more small jumps and maybe some black runs at the trails centre's but no real downhilling as my technique isnt quite up to scratch yet.
any input would be greatly appriciated, thanks

Comments

  • lawman
    lawman Posts: 6,868
    personally id steer clear of carbon cos ive ridden it in the past and a bike that light would not really be right for what u describe. if ur an xc racer go for it, but if not look for somethin with abit more travel, maybe 120-140

    the giants and specializwes are pretty safe options, i think i zesty would be too much cos they really are all mountain bikesand would feel slow in singletrack compared to a giant xtc. im in the process of buying a commencal meta 55.1 and at £1750 from mwerlin the spec is awesome even if it is abit heavier then the rest

    considere a trek ex8/9, orange5 as well great bikes
  • squiggoth
    squiggoth Posts: 70
    edited May 2009
    thanks for your speedy response,
    i like a bit of XC but im not really going to race, i enjoy going down aswell as up so ill stear clear of the carbon then.
    thanks for your recomenedations, ive had a look and the trek looks visually stunning, shame there's not £2000 off that. ive heard good things about the commencal's, i dont see many arround which is a plus too.
    ill see what others have to say too, after a bit of trolling the Treks and Specials seems to be the winning one's.

    As for that meta 5.5.1 that looks rather neat, that wouldnt be too much of a tank to lug up a few hills would it?
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    If the carbon is designed for the purpose, it will be fine. Some DH bikes are carbon!