Trek Fuel Ex8 or Giant Trance X1??

dyson1590

It's a fairly common question, but I was hoping for some advice on a bike choice...

I'm a 6ft 1" female and want a bike that will happily traverse around the Peak District but also handle doing a little bit of black run freeride (but I dont go too quick/mad!!) and was looking at the well-rated Fuel Ex8 and Trance X1.

Does anyone have any tips on what would do the job best? And being tall would the 29er X1 be better for me?

I understand a lot of it is personal preference, just wondering if anyone has experience of the bikes who may have some tips.

Thanks in advance.

IRL_MBiker

Have you considered the Anthem X 29er? For general XC/Freeride it's perfect, you may be "overbiked" for what your use of the bike would entail...

dyson1590

Yeah I did look thank you...and I would rather have the 120mm of travel as I do take drops which use up most of the travel on my current Kona hardtail. So I was looking for one that will travel the same but is a full sus

IRL_MBiker

Trance X 29er

supersonic

Height has little impact on whether a 29er will fit or not. Can you test any of the bikes?

dyson1590

I won't be able to take one down a trail to test no, more of a ride round a car park! Starting to like the sound of the X 29er, will go and try the giants and see how I get on. Thanks!!

supersonic

If your riding will progress to harder stuff, I'd probably look at bikes with a bit more travel, ie 140-150mm All Mountain bikes.

rockmonkeysc

What do you mean by black freeride trails? Do you actually mean freeride trails, with massive jumps & drops? Or do you mean black graded trail centre stuff?
If it's just trail centre stuff then the Trance is excellent, if you actually mean freeride then you will be wanting something a lot bigger & heavier like a Trek Scratch or Specialized SX Trail.

dusk

I've used my EX8 for xc to dh and everything in between, it's a great bike

dyson1590

RockmonkeySC wrote:

What do you mean by black freeride trails? Do you actually mean freeride trails, with massive jumps & drops? Or do you mean black graded trail centre stuff?
If it's just trail centre stuff then the Trance is excellent, if you actually mean freeride then you will be wanting something a lot bigger & heavier like a Trek Scratch or Specialized SX Trail.

Heard of Llandegla? Their black run, the drops aren't huge and the trail is as hard as you make it...so reckon the Trance would do the job well having read the comments.

Thank you

rockmonkeysc

dyson1590 wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

What do you mean by black freeride trails? Do you actually mean freeride trails, with massive jumps & drops? Or do you mean black graded trail centre stuff?
If it's just trail centre stuff then the Trance is excellent, if you actually mean freeride then you will be wanting something a lot bigger & heavier like a Trek Scratch or Specialized SX Trail.

Heard of Llandegla? Their black run, the drops aren't huge and the trail is as hard as you make it...so reckon the Trance would do the job well having read the comments.

Thank you

Thats quite a long way from freeride! Trance would be ideal.

jairaj

I demoed a Fuel Ex8 2012 earlier on in the year I haven't tried the Trance so can't give it a side to side comparison.

I really enjoyed the Fuel Ex, the geometry really suited me, nice slack head angle but long top tube and low head tube means you can go up and down the hill with equal ease. Frame was very stiff and accurate, I also got on well with the DRCV fork and shock. I was using up a lot of the travel on bigger hits but never felt a harsh bottom out. Also felt the bike was capable of a lot more than your typical 120mm bike.

I think its a great bike for many kinds of riding from XC to more technical trails, I'd consider it almost an All Mountain Lite bike. Not that we need any more of those marketing buzz words.

I think Trek also do a female version of the Fuel EX too? might fit you better?