# Giant Trance Jr. 26" thoughts?



## hogfly (Mar 6, 2018)

Our local shop is closing these out at around $1600 (not crazy cheap, but a decent deal). I don't see these bikes talked about a whole lot here. My almost 11 year old is ready to move up from his 24." We were thinking we would probably just move him into an adult XS or S, but we've also considered the 26" Spawn YJ, though he wants to go FS for this next bike (I've told him the YJ is very shreddable, so he's somewhat open to it).

Anyway, back to the matter at hand: thoughts on the Trance Jr.?


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## prlundberg (May 7, 2004)

I don't know much about the Trance, but I regret getting my son a 26" GT in XS. I thought it would be a better fit for him, and I guess it is, but it's kind of a hassle these days finding decent 26" tires and forks. They're out there, but not in nearly the selection of 27.5" stuff. If he's tall enough for an adult small, personally, I'd go with an adult 27.5" bike.


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## hogfly (Mar 6, 2018)

Good point on the 26", though I hear lots of other people claiming it's easier to find 26" parts because people have them sitting around. I guess that all depends on your comfort going online or how big the bike market is where one lives. 

I think another hesitation I have is that the resale on this bike (because it will be temporary, as he'll grow rapidly) would have a lesser built in customer base than an adult 27.5." There just aren't that many people looking for kid's FS bikes, especially in our area.


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## jestep (Jul 23, 2004)

26in wheels and tires are easy and the wheels are as cheap as I've ever seen. Replacement forks are getting harder, but it looks like this has a tapered or 44mm headtube, so you can use a tapered fork if you needed to upgrade in the future. It's really the straight 1 1/8" forks that are getting more difficult to source but there's still plenty of them out there.

Sort of a weird mix match of components. Guessing it's going to be pretty heavy as well, just off the top of my head, I'd put it around 32 lbs or so.


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

jestep said:


> It's really the straight 1 1/8" forks that are getting more difficult to source but there's still plenty of them out there.


I'm going to have to strongly disagree here. Quality 1-1/8" trail forks are quite rare these days, and sellers who have them know it and usually want a premium.

The situation is better for tapered 26" forks, but it's still not great. Fox doesn't make the 34 in 26" at all. They make the 36 in 26", but only 160 mm or 180 mm travel, GRIP damper only, and 15x100 is the only axle option. Rock Shox still makes a 26" Pike, but also only long-travel configurations, 15x100 only, no Charger 2 damper and no DebonAir spring.


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## GSJ1973 (May 8, 2011)

hogfly said:


> I think another hesitation I have is that the resale on this bike (because it will be temporary, as he'll grow rapidly) would have a lesser built in customer base than an adult 27.5." There just aren't that many people looking for kid's FS bikes, especially in our area.


Actually there are a lot of kids and women in the 5' range that benefit from the slightly smaller 26" wheels. My son's friend at 5'2" just sold His Trek Fuel EX Jr. to an Asian woman who was 4'10" tall. XS 27.5" bikes are still too big for a lot of people and XS 26" fills a demand that actually fit a lot of people. There are a lot of people this height in the world and he had zero problems literally selling his bike overnight via Craigslist ad.


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