My Trance(s)

For the last 5 years I have owned a Giant Trance 4, the original 4.2 inch travel version. I bought it as an upgrade from my previous bike, a Giant MCM980 and transferred the Pace fork and a few other good bits from it to the new bike.
Much to my shame, the Trance saw more use as a commuter than anything else for most of that time, until about May this year when the mountain bug bit me again. I almost immediately changed the wheels, since the originals had about had it by then, and fitted new tyres. Here is a picture of my Trance at that point.



After a few months of being used properly, the decade old Pace forks gave up the ghost as well (stress cracks in the magnesium bridges) so I bought a Rockshox Reba to replace them. I had also replaced the crankset by this time, in fact the whole thing seemed to be breaking on me almost every time I used it! Not entirely surprising, as it had done a lot of miles, but road miles don't stress things like mud miles do. Here it is as it was at that point.



Although I loved riding my Trance and was very confident on it, there were occasions when I struggled with it. Some of the fast clattery sections at Cwn Carn left me hanging on for dear life and on the edge of control, while some of the bigger drops at Afan were taxing for the front end. I spent a lot of time daydreaming about more travel that I couldn't afford, or so I thought.....

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a 2009 Trance X frame on e bay, in my size. And the best bit was the price, just £385! I couldn't really refuse at that price could I?



I thought it might be a bit grufty at that price, but when it turned up I saw that it was anything but - result!
Of course I needed a different fork, my Reba being only 100mm and as good a fork as it was, not going to cut it. The Reba went on e bay and sold the same night.
Finding a new fork though, was proving troublesome. I wanted a U Turn Revelation, but finding one with QR dropouts and within my budget just wasn't happening. The last place I expected to find the right fork was the TF Tuned website, but that is where I found the answer. They supplied me with a new Rockshox Sektor fork with coil springing and U Turn adjustment, and the all important QR dropouts. Serviced and set up for me for £300 - brilliant value!

Everything else was set to be transferred from my old Trance, including some new parts I had amassed in order to convert back to separate shifters and brakes. A lot of that was second hand from sellers on here, so thanks to all you guys
I did have a couple of little hiccups with the build. Brake adapters were a pain to get hold of, then my new brakes had a much too short rear hose. But today the last parts arrived from CRC, and I was able to finish it off







So there it is. I know it isn't a super bling flash mobile like some of the stuff on here, but it is exactly what I wanted it to be.
100-140mm U Turn fork, full XT apart from the SLX double and bash cranks. Easton finishing kit, lock on grips, Mavic Crossrides and RP23 shock.
So far I've only been up and down the road outside the house on it, and it feels very different to my old one, much softer but light and well balanced. I'm going to go get it muddy tomorrow

Jen.