2018 Giant Anthem 29 Pro Review | Its FAST

Giant Bikes brought their Demo truck to Stillwell Woods last tuesday. I got to ride the new carbon Anthem Advanced Pro 29 and it was fast!
The bike: www.giant-bicy...
Gear: Hero 4 Black
EVO SS Gimball
Filmed also with: Samsung Galaxy S7
Socials:
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Music by Joakim Karud / joakimkarud

[@PhilAndersonOutside]

Nice to see you ride this bike the way it was meant to be ridden. Fast.

[@MTBGarage]

Thanks, I am spoiled now though, the downside to demos, it makes you want ALL the bikes!

[@brewdaddybikes]

Nice stuff man! Looks like a fun ride. Cheers!

[@Bsteazy]

SO all in all faster on the 5010? I was going to get the 5010 (coming from a Trance SX) but rode a mates Yeti ASR the other week and loved it. Cant afford the Yeti (and they don't make em anymore) so thinking this Anthem or the Rocky Mountain Element could be a goer!

[@MTBGarage]

Yes for sure faster in a xc race environment, overall it felt a lot more confident than I expected coming off the 5010, but I was impressed! I haven't ridden any of the yeti's to date.

[@Bsteazy]

Awesome mate thanks for the replay. Found a god deal on the Giant so might just buy it and then if it doesnt work out can always sell and get something else. Rode Whyte T130crs a while back (similar to the 5010) and loved it so could be a good alternative.

[@jarlaxlebaenre7932]

@@Bsteazy Giant is king

[@BlindstuffMTB]

The Anthem is definitely a fast bike, but I could not get over the steep head angle, it makes it so hard to ride confidently. Never ridden the new 29ers, but as much as the 27.5 was the perfect XC bike, it taught me that i'm not an XC guy. I'll take my efficiency penalty in exchange for some more confidence. Looking forward to your review on the Trance, I rode that same one, interested in comparing impression.

[@MTBGarage]

+BlindstuffMTB Yes, maybe with a dropper it would feel slightly more capable, having spent time on 100mm bikes before, I also feel timid on them. 95% of our local trails 100mm is perfect for though, so it's always a hard decision if you are only going to have one bike. Looking at the specs though, your Jeffsy still offers insane spec for the price, you made a good call on that one.

[@BlindstuffMTB]

I live in FL, if it were up to what my trails should be ridden on I'd be on an full XC hardtail lol. For 90% of us I just think you should ride what ever kind of bike you enjoy and call it a day, I guess if you race its another story.

[@PhilAndersonOutside]

I had to look into this. The head angle on the 2018 Anthem 29-1 is 69 degrees. That's actually fairly slack for an XC 29er, and all but puts the bike into "endurance racing" category. The older Anthem 29ers were up to 71.5 degrees. You mentioned riding the 27.5, and those have gone from 69.5 in 2016 to 68 degrees for 2018. So perhaps your voice, and those like yours, was heard by Giant. Know that comparing angles on a 27.5 to 29er is not apples to apples, but I believe the reasoning in my research is sound.

[@francmeister420]

That hill out of the snakepit is the worst!!!