Inspired by my good friend, HPW (
http://hendropw.multiply.com/) who had set a new bike not too long ago. When I saw his action with his new toy in Puncak last month, I was amazed with how active the rear suspension reacting to the decent loose rocks at one of rather extreme section after the "water pot holes". The suspension looks becoming more active when hits from the bottom.
A week after the Puncak ride, I asked my buddy Hendro to accompany me to have lunch at Roxy... :-) We took a quick lunch at a famous "ayam goreng" restaurant nearby the bike shops. Then, we went to the shop, I asked the owner if he had the frame I was looking for. Luckily me, he pointed his finger to the frame hanging on the wall. Yeaah, that one, the size is right and the anodized black color is just perfect. What else I can ask ... ;-) The Trance has always been a great bike, especially the latest 2008 release with maximum use of swoopy hydroformed tubing.
Since I plan to set this bike as my pure XC, I've decided to put the original Fox F120 fork which came along with the bike. I brought the frame home and setup the bike to be ready for action. The total weight is about 13.2kg due to heavier Kenda UST tyres both front and rear.
Make the story short, I went to Rindu Alam again with my buddies Hendro who was riding his TranceX and Hendra Bitong with his new Blur LT. I've put 60psi air pressure into the fork and 100psi for rear shock. As usual, we started as early possible from Rindu Alam and planned to take our normal courses.
The steep decent rockie track beside mang Ade's restaurant is my first attempt to test the bike. Trance reacted very positevely, her stability has brought full of traction during this short section which instantly also built my confidence to this new baby.
On the way to Paralayang parkir lot, I can feel the rear end was very stable and the traction was very good even in loose gravel. So far it's an excellent ride with this particular XC bike. While, the Fox forks are plush from the off and soak up everything I throw at them too
We continue the course heading to the Gunung Mas which has long decent of rocks terrain. I put some more power during the decent terrain to test how the bike behave. Again, it's a very comfy ride and I can feel the 5" rear suspension doing a great job of ironing up the rocky terrain for me; of course not to be compared with Blur LT of Santa Cruz for instance. Another excellent point, rear end is still very active during hard braking which gives me more control of the bike.
We took a quick stop at Taman Safari parking lot before continuing our trip with steep climbing. I started with slow rolling at normal cadence, as soon as I pedal the crank feels firm under the feet and the Trance shoot forward; it seems the bike was very nimble on the way up. After awhile, I put some more power with higher cadence, the bike shown unnoticed bobbing, very good Maestro improvement over the old design. Moreover, under standing power I can feel a little kickback to control traction and give a sharp pedal edge, but not enough to knock off my pedaling rhythm. Excellent work of Giant parallel link suspension work.
Jump to the track section between Citeko and the end of off road tracks before asphalt road where different kind of track conditions were available; rocks, hard pack, loose gravel, swamp, wet damped soil and slippery rocks. When descending, it's perfectly progressive for sucking up medium drops and ugly rock sections, and it rolls over big rocks beautifully as well. It looks linear and high leverage ratio of Mastro linkages were working perfectly.
TEST RIDE at JPG, BSD
After having enough experience with Trance at Puncak areas, I want to test the Trance at tight single tracks environment with various technical sections; the best place is JPG, BSD. So, I went there with my buddy Rivo Pamudji who hasn't do off road riding for about 3 months.
The bike setup remain the same except the rear tyre had been changed with Kenda Kharisma-II which gives more grip compare with Nevegal for this kind of soil at JPG. In short, the Trance still turns lightly which gives a very confident feel of exactly where the front tire is pointed at extreme speed. The Maestro is always active and gives the back end plenty of positive tractions.
It climbs like a mountain goat yet it descends like real downhill bikes - full of tractions all the time. I had not put my feet on the ground for those challenges. Handling in single tracks is quiet responsive without getting nervous at speed. Trance's light feel benefits on the descents too which adding to the responsiveness in the tight technical sections.
In summary, this is the best bike I've ever tried for trail contour, Anthem's travel just too short for me and built for race indeed. I believe this bike is becoming the most wanted bike by trail riders, from the price, style and its performance. Perhaps the best value for money in its class. I think I will hold this bike for quiet some years.
BUT, I still want to compare the Trance with Specialized Stumpjumper ;-)
UPDATED @ 07 June 2008:
I've just been updated by my friend HPW who has just returned from his trip at Rindu Alam this afternoon. He has substituted his Trance-X2 with Trance-X0 which equipped with Fox Float RP3, the mother of all XC air-shock suspension ;-)
HPW clearly mentions that descent trails is now much more comfy with X0. I am suspecting this is due to the adjustable propedal on RP3 which capable to bring softer initial stroke of the shock. While X2, its Fox Float R has permanent pre-set compression damping on medium level.
Trance-X2 is comfortable enough to suck up the bumps and not much different on climbing compare to X0. In my opinion, X2 remains one of the best value for money trail bike along with other series of Trance.
