Giant anthem

gmacz

Finally got my new but old mountain bike dirty.
Standard bike with bar ends and a layer of dust removed :roll:
Lovely smooth ride but really needs the spds back on it.
First ride on full sussy bike and well worth the wait.
Need mud protection and this will be next purchase.
Anyone found a good solution re mudguards etc.

Tomskii

I use a crudcatcher rear mudguard on my anthem, but I could never make the front crudcatcher agree with the massive rectangular downtube and cable routing. I never bothered trying any others, and didn't really notice the lack of it.

97th choice

What the fark is going on with your picture?

gmacz

Was that a seat post or rear mounted crud catcher.
Did you try that little mud catcher on the front.
Picture is all about the bike, what else is there to see.

97th choice

Actually it completely distracts from what is a nice bike. Unless you're a huge fan of jigsaws.

Brown sauce

97th choice wrote:

What the fark is going on with your picture?

Hahaha

Tomskii

the seatpost mounted crudcatcher. I never bothered with anything on the front, I don't really care about spray from the front wheel of my MTBs but I'm all about keeping my ass dry.

swod1

You might be surprised, I bought a mucky nutz fender bender, small and compact and now no mud all over front of bike.

bartimaeus

Fender bender on mine... but no rear mudguard.

Brown sauce

I have the same for mine.....but only gets put on after rain. So.....most of the time in this country then

gmacz

Will try the seat post mudguard and the bigger version of the fb.
Always thought hydraulic disc brakes on a bike was just ott.
Having used them for the last week, i can now say that they are a big step up from v brakes in terms of feel and lack of fade.
Makes the journey a lot easier as it gives you more instant control of a wayward bike.
Just need to figure out the rebound settings on the suspension now.
Negatives - I feel the handlebars are just too wide, will slide all the controls inwards and see how it goes.

bartimaeus

What are your bars at the moment? My Anthem came with 680s I think, on a 110 stem. I've now got 730s on a 70mm stem - and once I added a dropper post that has no layback I found I'd nearly cut them down too much! Definitely go with what's comfortable for you - but it might be worth trying a slightly shorter stem rather than a narrower bar. With stems from Carboncycles at £13 it's a relatively cheap experiment.

gmacz

Old gt bike has 570 bars and the anthem has standard 670.
Road bike has 470 width bars.
Big jump with the new bike.
Still loving the bike, a bare bike without all the usual add-ons is a nice bike to view and ride.

rockmonkeysc

Nice bike, I have the same model (different build) and it's a great ride.
I would go for something with a lot more tyre clearance on the rear than those mud huggers unless you are only riding on road. For the front Marsh Guard's are very good.
Doesn't look like you will need one for at least another month.

Kowalski675

Fender Bender here also, plus Cycraguard crudcatcher (fits on big tubes with underside cables 'cos of the rubber spacer wedges).

SirKingPenguin

I have the exact same bike as you!! Hope to see full pictures of your Anthem in action.
However, I would advise you to check your seat tube after every ride as I've seen quite a number of Anthem riders seat tube cracking. If you're interested to know, you can go on mtbr forums under Giant section.

chrisrobs

Those bar ends have made an ok looking bike look like a pile of dawg shite.

rockmonkeysc

SirKingPenguin wrote:

I have the exact same bike as you!! Hope to see full pictures of your Anthem in action.
However, I would advise you to check your seat tube after every ride as I've seen quite a number of Anthem riders seat tube cracking. If you're interested to know, you can go on mtbr forums under Giant section.

I tried my best and I couldn't break my Anthem frame. I snapped the chain stay on my old XTC and broke suspension linkages on my Reign X but the Anthem was solid.
Great ride as well, lovely handling. More of an all day, big mileage epic ride mountain bike than an xc race bike.
I will definitely have another Anthem one day, I just need an AM & DH bike as well.

mikeyj28

RockmonkeySC wrote:

SirKingPenguin wrote:

I have the exact same bike as you!! Hope to see full pictures of your Anthem in action.
However, I would advise you to check your seat tube after every ride as I've seen quite a number of Anthem riders seat tube cracking. If you're interested to know, you can go on mtbr forums under Giant section.

I tried my best and I couldn't break my Anthem frame. I snapped the chain stay on my old XTC and broke suspension linkages on my Reign X but the Anthem was solid.
Great ride as well, lovely handling. More of an all day, big mileage epic ride mountain bike than an xc race bike.
I will definitely have another Anthem one day, I just need an AM & DH bike as well.

I agree with the durability of the Anthem frame and it does ride very well. Although, I have done quite a few XC races on mine and have finished as high as 4th so i'd say it is pretty good for a race bike too. If you were going to go for a very short and a flat/smooth race (15-20k) then yes i'd have a hardtail but other than that i'm inclined to use my 23.4lb anthem over my 21lb hardtail.