Best value upgrades for giant anthem X3

mikeyj28

Hi

My riding mate has an anthem X3 and wants to get it down in weight and make it better for XC riding/racing.
What are the best upgrades to make for this bike which won't cost the earth?
What is the best that £200 could buy as a start?
The spec is below.
Thanks

Frame : ALUXX SL-Grade Aluminum, 4" Maestro Suspension
Rear Shock: RockShox Monarch R

Forks : Rockshox Reba RL w/ 15mm Thru Axle, Tapered Steerer, 100mm

Rear Mech : SRAM X7

Front mech : SRAM X5

Shifters :SRAM X5 30 speed

Chainset :SRAM X5, 22/33/44

Bottom Bracket : SRAM GXP Press Fit

Cassette: SRAM PG-1030 11x36

Stem :Giant Connect

Handlebars : Giant Connect 31.8

Brakes :Avid Elixir 1, 160mm

Brake Levers : Avid Elixir 1

Rims :Giant S-XC2

Front Hub: Giant Tracker Sealed/CNC w/ 15mm Axle

Rear Hub :Giant Tracker Sport, 32h

Spokes: Black Stainless Steel

Tyres: Racing Ralph, 26x2.1" Performance, Folding

Saddle :Giant Performance MTB

Seatpost :Giant Connect

Greer_

Wheels maybe - Stans Crest on Superstar Hubs - £200

cooldad

What do all the various bits weigh?

supersonic

Foam grips to start.

mikeyj28

I'm not sure about weights but I'll ask him tomorrow? Would carbon bars improve the feel? Yep foam grips are a cheap weight saver.

mikeyj28

Greer_ wrote:

Wheels maybe - Stans Crest on Superstar Hubs - £200

How do the superstar hubs fare?

The Spiderman

Most scope there with a wheel upgrade. The other parts while not bling are OK and aren`t going to be easy to upgrade without expense.

Foam grips are cheap but are only going to save 70-80g. Worth doing but only once he has saved weight elsewhere.

Carbon bars might save 100g or so but are expensive. Some good aluminium bars might save a fair chunk without the expense. Those Giant Connect bars and the stem are lardy.

KCNC Razor rotors can make a decent saving over standard, for about £40.

The first thing to do though would be to remove parts and weigh them otherwise he may well end up throwing money on achieving very little.

The Rookie

+1, need to know what the non branded parts weigh, so remov ethe wheels and take off QR/Discs/cassette and tyres and tubes and weigh them, same for stem and bars (Giants often are HEAVY).
Lightweight tubes are an option, mine are 125g and cost £3.99ea and I keep the lardy (220g) originals as spares.

rockmonkeysc

Giant branded components are pretty good quality. The stuff I had on my Trance X was about the same quality & weight as Easton EA50.

The Spiderman

Whilst the Giant branded stuff is OK and nicely finished, Easton EA50 stuff isn't especially light though either, being towards the lower end of their range. Look at KCNC instead if you want cheap and cheerful but light, or you need to go up to EA70 or higher with Easton to make any real gains.

Just checked some weights of my old Giant Bars,stem and seatpost,which got relegated to the winter hardtail.

My Giant Connect bars were 290g,stem was 170g and seatpost was 280g.

Not bad weights,for standard OEM kit but I now have a KCNC stem which is 120g, (£20 from ebay), Easton EC70 carbon riser bars which are 175g (£50 from ebay) and the Thomson post which came off my hadtail (250g).

KCNC seatposts can be 170g-200g ballpark depending on lenth and model. Often see good deals on Raceface Deus/Turbine bars for around £30 which are still a decent width ,aluminium and weigh about 230g.
For stems it`s hard to beat KCNC for weight/price.

There is a decent saving to be had if he swaps the saddle out for a Selle Italia SLR (170g). I`ve seen them at On One for around £50,

I`d start with the inner tubes first,decent saving to be had where it will be felt most,then go from there.

And swap the cassette for XT when it wears out.Cheap and effective weight saving if done at time of renewal for slight premium over replacing like with like.

WindyG

With a £200 budget I would change the wheels, I'm guessing that with that spec that is the 2012 model, they have been downgrading the wheels from P-XC2 to S-XC2 which are heavier. On my 2011 X3 I have fitted Easton EC70 carbon bars and seatpost and an EA50 stem, cost was £130 but is only a weight saving of about 200-300g, a £200 set of wheels from Superstar would give a better weight gain for the money.

mikeyj28

The Spiderman wrote:

Whilst the Giant branded stuff is OK and nicely finished, Easton EA50 stuff isn't especially light though either, being towards the lower end of their range. Look at KCNC instead if you want cheap and cheerful but light, or you need to go up to EA70 or higher with Easton to make any real gains.

Just checked some weights of my old Giant Bars,stem and seatpost,which got relegated to the winter hardtail.

My Giant Connect bars were 290g,stem was 170g and seatpost was 280g.

Not bad weights,for standard OEM kit but I now have a KCNC stem which is 120g, (£20 from ebay), Easton EC70 carbon riser bars which are 175g (£50 from ebay) and the Thomson post which came off my hadtail (250g).

KCNC seatposts can be 170g-200g ballpark depending on lenth and model. Often see good deals on Raceface Deus/Turbine bars for around £30 which are still a decent width ,aluminium and weigh about 230g.
For stems it`s hard to beat KCNC for weight/price.

There is a decent saving to be had if he swaps the saddle out for a Selle Italia SLR (170g). I`ve seen them at On One for around £50,

I`d start with the inner tubes first,decent saving to be had where it will be felt most,then go from there.

And swap the cassette for XT when it wears out.Cheap and effective weight saving if done at time of renewal for slight premium over replacing like with like.

Thank you for taking the time to weight components and advise on weights and possible upgrades. I'll let him know and bear that in mind. I think he should do wheels and then follow with bars/seat post etc. He has a fair bit of life in the cassette but like you I agree that he should change it to an XT or maybe the PG990.
How light is your anthem now and do you enjoy it?

The Spiderman

I'm still loving my Anthem but must admit I've been riding the hard tail or the road bike more for the last 2 months.

What I like about the Anthem is its speed and agility, but yet it is still more than capable when you ride it hard at a trail centre.
I've tried to make mine lighter but with one eye on retaining strength. Mine weighs around 24lbs,with XT group set, Roval Control wheels,etc.

I could knock another 1/2 pound off that quite easily with a swap to 2 x 9,lighter skewers and rotors but pretty happy with it now and all in it hasn't cost much as most of it has been sourced via eBay.
Anyway feel free to ask if you need to know anything.

The Rookie

I'd suggest he keeps an eye on ebay for bargains....better way for bang for the buck than deciding the order in advance!

on mine
Superstar stem (122g) £8 collected
Syntace Duraflyte (alloy) bars (233g) £15 delivered
Promax carbon seatpost (233g) £15 collected - yes I know it's Promax but I've been using it without issue since late 2009!

97th choice

go from 3x10 to 2x10

snoopsmydogg

97th choice wrote:

go from 3x10 to 2x10

^ this, unless he is constantly using the top 2/3 ratios. cost would be the price of a few bolts and a weight saving over 100g+

also for £200 he could get these http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=496 which according to the site weigh in at 1600g using crest rims.

and then there is tubes, tyres...

The Rookie

snoopsmydogg wrote:

97th choice wrote:

go from 3x10 to 2x10

^ this, unless he is constantly using the top 2/3 ratios. cost would be the price of a few bolts and a weight saving over 100g+

Hmm a 100g + chainwheel is a pretty rare beast, make that about 75g for normal steel, 50g for quality steel or about 35g for alloy, maybe losing 4-5g off the bolts costing £5+ (new)

mikeyj28

The Spiderman wrote:

I'm still loving my Anthem but must admit I've been riding the hard tail or the road bike more for the last 2 months.

What I like about the Anthem is its speed and agility, but yet it is still more than capable when you ride it hard at a trail centre.
I've tried to make mine lighter but with one eye on retaining strength. Mine weighs around 24lbs,with XT group set, Roval Control wheels,etc.

I could knock another 1/2 pound off that quite easily with a swap to 2 x 9,lighter skewers and rotors but pretty happy with it now and all in it hasn't cost much as most of it has been sourced via eBay.
Anyway feel free to ask if you need to know anything.

I've spoken to him and he wants to go down the wheel change route. I think a set of Roval Control wheels would be way above his budget. What would be a decent low weight and good value for £250?
He is going to swap the handlebars too for carbon.

Dick Scruttock

mikeyj28 wrote:

The Spiderman wrote:

I'm still loving my Anthem but must admit I've been riding the hard tail or the road bike more for the last 2 months.

What I like about the Anthem is its speed and agility, but yet it is still more than capable when you ride it hard at a trail centre.
I've tried to make mine lighter but with one eye on retaining strength. Mine weighs around 24lbs,with XT group set, Roval Control wheels,etc.

I could knock another 1/2 pound off that quite easily with a swap to 2 x 9,lighter skewers and rotors but pretty happy with it now and all in it hasn't cost much as most of it has been sourced via eBay.
Anyway feel free to ask if you need to know anything.

I've spoken to him and he wants to go down the wheel change route. I think a set of Roval Control wheels would be way above his budget. What would be a decent low weight and good value for £250?
He is going to swap the handlebars too for carbon.

Stans crest on Hope hubs from Winstanleys. Check they have them in stock before he orders (they are not the best on back order but its hope so they cannot be too bad!), £264 if they have them in. Yes people say superstar have cheaper wheels but is the backup there? Never bought wheels off them so I dont know.

The Spiderman

My Roval Control wheel set cost me £160 via eBay.Adertised as secondhand d but came in a box as new and never fitted. :-)
I'd look at the Superstar wheel (Switch with Crest rims) sets if he is on a budget or keep an eye on ebay for bargains.