# Giant Trance 29 3 for Clyde



## tenbsmith (Dec 31, 2004)

I'm probably buying a Giant Trance 29 3 in couple of weeks. Thought i'd take comments before I pulled the trigger. I've got $2100 to spend. 

I'm a 235lb trail rider who takes the occasional drop or jump. At most, drops up to 4-5 feat but only if the landing zone is sloped away. Jumps are what I run into on the trail, nothing big, I keep the wheels close to the ground and try to be smooth. 

I'm currently riding a 2009 Giant Trance X with 120mm of travel front and back, which suits my riding well. The new Trance 29 has 130mm front and 115 rear. I wish the new Trance 29 had 120 rear 'cause I know that works for me, but 4% less rear travel is probably indistinguishable on the trail.


----------



## Miker J (Nov 4, 2003)

Its a great bike but its a very lightweight frame. While backed by zero science my gut tells me you should find a burlier frame.


----------



## tenbsmith (Dec 31, 2004)

Thanks. When I started looking at bikes, i was thinking something like the Trance or 5010. Then i went to a Santa Cruz demo day and, after hearing my riding style, one of the SC guys said a Tallboy was the best match for me. Family expenses have put SC bikes out of range for me. The Trance 29 is similar to the Tallboy. I've ridden the Trance 29, but only on the streets and in a city park while wearing jeans, still it felt really good.


----------



## atarione (Aug 24, 2018)

Meh.. you'd be fine.. I'm bigger than you 6'3" 265lbs riding a Trance advanced 2 (2018) 27.5 .. no worries w/ the frame

I feel like people over think some of this stuff.. I'm pretty sure giant rates it bike up to 300lbs total rider weight.

I have no hesitation riding my trance 27.5 as hard as I want.


----------



## big_stoke (Jun 5, 2018)

I'm 6'4 295 ready to ride and my shop said the trance would be no issues for my weight. I rode one at a local demo day and the giant reps said the same thing. You'll be fine with that bike.


----------



## jrktms5 (Oct 2, 2019)

Hello, I 'm 6'2 @ 285 and i would not go with any off the shelf bike. The problem you may run into is that there will be some really good components- IE drive train etc but other things will be lower quality - IE hubs/ brakes etc. 
If you could, research parts and build a bike vice buying one. You will need to upgrade sooner then you may wish. However it will determine what & where u plan to ride. Grassy trails NP, mountain trails u got problems, IE whistler etc. I am currently building a bike and so far i have my wheels, drive train, brakes & rotors and tires. I know what fork and what frame to buy just waiting till new year to pull trigger.
Just MO
regards


----------



## tenbsmith (Dec 31, 2004)

The approach you suggest definitely has benefits, especially if you want to learn the exact specs for each part required, choose the part and search for it at a good price. Given competing demands on my time I prefer to buy a fully built and functional bike. You generally get a good deal on the parts you get because the compary, Giant in this case, negotiates lower price on parts than typical retail. 

Then I'll upgrade parts as they fail or wear out. i'll start by swapping my XT brakes onto this bike before I ride it the first time.


----------



## OhioPT (Jul 14, 2012)

Giant has a lifetime warranty on their frames, AND all the Giant reps say you'll be fine, AND lots of first hand reports from heavier riders with no issues. Just buy the bike. 

All the components on the Trance 3 should be fine. It's got 35mm bars and stem already, so super tough there. A great fork (basically a FOX Rhythm 34 with a more serviceable damper). Burly Maxxis DHF/DHR tires. Shimano brakes with 180 rotors front and rear. Steel chainring and cassette cogs. Burly crankset. The only thing the "might" give you a problem over time could be the wheel hubs, just because they use pawls (like 90% of all hubs). About the only hub that is highly unlikely to fail over time at your weight are the DT ratchet hubs, like the 350/240's. You can always upgrade those when the time comes. I did ask the Giant shop and mechanic if they have issues with the rear hubs, and they said they don't see any come back with failures, so they might be 100% fine. Surprisingly, they do have 12 degrees of engagement (30 clicks in 360 degrees), so that's better than a lot of OEM budget hubs. 

If you ride hard/fast, you might want to look into 4 piston brakes and/or a 203mm front rotor down the road. Either way, you are not going to find ratchet hubs and 4-piston brakes at the $2k pricepoint from ANY manufacturer. 

I usually build my bikes from the frame up, but the Trance 3 spec is a pretty awesome stock build/value.


----------



## tenbsmith (Dec 31, 2004)

Thanks for the detailed response. I'll ask the shop to swap the XT hydraulic brakes on my current ride with the brakes on the Trance 29. 

Edit: Coming off a 2009 TranceX, I'm excited about the spec on this bike allowing me to enter the lower end of all the new standards: boost hub spacing with through axles front and rear, somewhat slack geometry (but not too slack, 'cause i'm not about super slack), no front derailleur, and 12 speed cassette. This should make uprgrading and replacing parts easy into the future (I tend to hold onto my bikes for a while). 
Reviews of the Marzocchi Z2 seem to be very positive suggesting it is rugged, easy to service, stiff and handles big hits well, with the slight limitation that it is not quite as smooth on small stuff as high-end forks. Sounds ideal for me, not that I go after big hits, but medium hits from a clyde put as much strain on a fork as big hits from a skinny racer. I've got some stoke for 'zoke.

I'm expecting a payment early in the new year. Once i get that i'll order the bike.


----------



## shwndh (Nov 20, 2004)

tenbsmith said:


> I'm probably buying a Giant Trance 29 3 in couple of weeks. Thought i'd take comments before I pulled the trigger. I've got $2100 to spend.
> 
> I'm a 235lb trail rider who takes the occasional drop or jump. At most, drops up to 4-5 feat but only if the landing zone is sloped away. Jumps are what I run into on the trail, nothing big, I keep the wheels close to the ground and try to be smooth.
> 
> I'm currently riding a 2009 Giant Trance X with 120mm of travel front and back, which suits my riding well. The new Trance 29 has 130mm front and 115 rear. I wish the new Trance 29 had 120 rear 'cause I know that works for me, but 4% less rear travel is probably indistinguishable on the trail.


I'm 240lbs and ride a 2017 Anthem X2 with no issues. You'll be fine but I would not be doing any 5ft drops though.


----------



## mjs1 (May 27, 2016)

I just got my 2021 Trance 3 29. It’s a really fun bike! Geometry and fit is great. In addition to the other comments on this thread, here are my observations: the bike comes with 4 piston Shimano Deore brakes. Not XT level but I trust them for anything but longer or steeper downhill sections.

Giant’s website for the bike shows the rim specs as the all mountain wheels with 30 mm internal width, the bike shipped with their less-burly xc rim with 25mm internal width. Still decent for the bike. 

The fork ships with one internal volume spacer. I thought it was too linear as it ramps up quickly towards the end of travel so I added a second spacer for a more progressive feel/spring rate. Set sag at 20%. If you bottom out or use almost all the travel on mellower stuff, after increasing the compression damping on top of the fork (not rebound) knob a little, think about adding another spacer or 2 depending on your weight. The fork uses the green Fox 34 spacers. I weigh 185 with gear.

For the shock, I think 30% percent sag is too much given the bike’s travel. I was bottoming or close to bottoming on blue trails or small drops.

I added more pressure (220 psi) to get closer to 20% sag and feel this is the sweet spot. Watch the max pressure allowed. Also, you will lose maybe 5 psi taking off the shock pump so factor that it when setting your target pressure. 

The shock came with one orange volume reducer installed. The next one up is the red one.


----------



## tenbsmith (Dec 31, 2004)

I too tend to blow through the sag on the rear shock without doing anything overly aggressive, I run it at around 250psi currently, but I think I'll experiment with higher pressures going up to what's required for 20% sag. If I extrapolate from your 220psi for 185lbs rider, i'd need 280psi for my 235lbs. That's a lot, think i'll try something a bit lower first and work my way up there.

I love the bike, but i did dent the downtube riding over log crossings. More on that here: Dented Downtube on '19 Trance 29 2


----------



## mjs1 (May 27, 2016)

tenbsmith said:


> I too tend to blow through the sag on the rear shock without doing anything overly aggressive, I run it at around 250psi currently, but I think I'll experiment with higher pressures going up to what's required for 20% sag. If I extrapolate from your 220psi for 185lbs rider, i'd need 280psi for my 235lbs. That's a lot, think i'll try something a bit lower first and work my way up there.
> 
> I love the bike, but i did dent the downtube riding over log crossings. More on that here: Dented Downtube on '19 Trance 29 2


Ouch! Hope the bike is OK ?. If you do get too close to max shock pressure to achieve 20% sag and still feel like it's not enough to prevent constant bottom out, another option could be to switch from the orange to the red volume reducer. Red is the biggest you can go. It's the in Fox kit. I haven't seen individual spacers sold anywhere. Also I ride in the trail position as my default unless going through rock gardens or known chunky terrain. The shock will (I think?) override trail mode on a big hit and open up the full damping circuit.


----------



## tenbsmith (Dec 31, 2004)

The bike was "okay", rideable, no real problems. But I got a frame replacement because I plan to own it a long time and the dent increased risk for unexpected frame failure, which would be bad on my occasional back country rides. It took a while for them to get the frame from Giant, and total cost out the door was $1200 for frame, parts swap, a new chain, and one or two other new parts.

It looks like max pressure for my Fox Float DPS is 300psi (https://www.ridefox.com/dl/bike/605-00-139-FLOAT-DPS-Tuning-Guide-white-revB.pdf ), so running it at 280psi shouldn't be a problem. Given my weight, it may make sense to get the bigger spacer, but i've never done anything to a shock before, guess i could find a local shop to handle it.


----------



## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

tenbsmith said:


> The bike was "okay", rideable, no real problems. But I got a frame replacement because I plan to own it a long time and the dent increased risk for unexpected frame failure, which would be bad on my occasional back country rides. It took a while for them to get the frame from Giant, and total cost out the door was $1200 for frame, parts swap, a new chain, and one or two other new parts.
> 
> It looks like max pressure for my Fox Float DPS is 300psi (https://www.ridefox.com/dl/bike/605-00-139-FLOAT-DPS-Tuning-Guide-white-revB.pdf ), so running it at 280psi shouldn't be a problem. Given my weight, it may make sense to get the bigger spacer, but i've never done anything to a shock before, guess i could find a local shop to handle it.


It's a little difficult to get to, but here's how it's done:





I'm not that heavy, and just am not a fan of the DPS. I think the DPX2 is much better, especially for a big guy, but replacing the spacer makes sense.


----------



## tenbsmith (Dec 31, 2004)

The DPX2 is too expensive for me. I find the DPS is fine, just a bit concerned about blowing through travel, so i guess the spacer is a good solution. I'll take a look at that video later. I'm a bit concerned about weather the red spacer fits as fox has a series of complex table about that and i'm not sure exactly what size my shock is.


----------



## mjs1 (May 27, 2016)

tenbsmith said:


> The DPX2 is too expensive for me. I find the DPS is fine, just a bit concerned about blowing through travel, so i guess the spacer is a good solution. I'll take a look at that video later. I'm a bit concerned about weather the red spacer fits as fox has a series of complex table about that and i'm not sure exactly what size my shock is.


I also went down the Fox shock table rabbit hole before opening the air can. The shock that came with my Trance was the 42.5 LV. The orange or red spacers fit. Remember to release or add air to the shock in small increments (25-50lbs) and cycle the shock 8-10 times in between so the positive and negative air chambers equalize.


----------



## tenbsmith (Dec 31, 2004)

I guess it stands to reason mine's an LV too. But maybe I should look up my shocks code on the Fox site.


----------



## tenbsmith (Dec 31, 2004)

I've taken a couple of rides on my local dirt/road loop running 280psi and that has kept the o-ring about a 1/4 inch off the bottom of the travel. But, that loop is fairly tame so I think i still need to do the spacer for more aggressive trails. May take a while though as i've got other priorities currently.


----------

