To Giant Anthem owners

Would you ride the Anthem at trail centres in South Wales like Cwmcarn and Afan, etc? I have just spend the day riding at Cwmcarn on mine and noticed I was the only one on xc race machine with 100mm travel while others were on 120mm plus travel, it did feel good on the climbs and smooth tracks but cant help feeling it wasnt suited for the big rocks and fast downhills tracks, I did two loops, on the second hoop, I pumped more air on the shocks but didnt feel much difference.

Same as On-One Whippet, would that be suited at trail centres?

Ride whatever your comfortable with, i see people out there with no suspension or some with no gears, if your happy don’t be a sheep and enjoy the trails.

Afan is one of the smoothest trail centres.

it’s fine my mate Tinks rips it up on his anthem on these trails, he’s a Cwmcarn local and thinks it’s a perfect bike for it.

You see folk riding a huge variation of bikes at these centres so choose you weapon of choice and enjoy 😀

All that extra weight to carry uphill, no thanks, Anthem everytime. Makes for a good all round UK bike to be honest.

Don’t do it you will die

obvious friday night troll.

It’s not Friday (float) – so must be a Thursday Troll huh?

FWIW – as per others, ride what you like and feel good on it

Don’t do it you will die

QFT, the internal charge goes off when the front wheel makes contact with a trail centre

i ride cwmcarn regularly on a giant xtc, 100mm xc hardtail,

also use a marin rock springs setup with 120mm front and rear,
its a slightly different experience, i do find myself rolling/bashing through stuff on the marin.

I think I prefer the hardtail for some reason, it feels so sprightly and effortless on the climbs.

100mm XC Hardtail is allyou need… 🙂

I find a fixed hardtail on conti 1.5 xc tyres works best for me 😉

Cheers chaps for some good answers and funny jokes!

I previously owned steel 853 Genesis and ridden Cwmcarn alot, I did used to feel beaten up and sore back at the end of the day while first ride today on Anthem, no pain on back or beaten up so FS is the best for me.

Maybe spending two grand bike got me worried in fear of breaking it, I should chill out and enjoy the trail and bike.

Thanks all 🙂

Used mine at Glentress on all the trails, Fort William Witches trail and Laggan all with no ill effect.

I’m loving those trails in a superlight so why not ? A little travel is more than enough 😉

I’d not ride a trailcenter on anything less than 140mm. Those places are not made for short travel or ht bikes IMO

There are grades of routes at trail centres. Cwmcarn has an excellent x-country route, for which the Anthem is perfect. Downhill routes are ok going slowish but not really for me, so the Anthem is perfect.

i hate the phrase “UK Bike” its Meaningless. Go to Thetford then maybe Herts Shore (both in S.E England)and you will find massively different types of riding. What bike you use totally depends on YOU. Unfortunately many idiots like to criticise others for their bike choice, rather than getting on with their own riding. If you like the Anthem use it! People telling you how much travel you need or don’t need fall into the same mire. Just enjoy it! Same with tyres …its perfectly feasible to leave one set on all year and adapt your riding to suit 🙂

I’d not ride a trailcenter on anything less than 140mm. Those places are not made for short travel or ht bikes IMO

hahahahahaha oh please, please tell me that’s a joke?

hardtail. ftw.

being beaten up and aching just makes you remember the trails days later!

I’ve ridden cwmcarn a lot, I really don’t enjoy it on my old school Zadkar hard tail, I can do lap after fast lap on the 100mm tallboy, but it is by far the most fun on my 140mm prophet. Depends what floats your boat I reckon.

the way i see it,people were riding off road over 100 years ago (and some pretty severe offroad come to that/on a penny farthing 😯 some how i think your anthem will be fine 😉 p.s not that i’m biased (i have an x2 awesome bike 😉

Was at Innerleithen yesterday with me on my hardtail, a mate on his Anthem X and another mate on an Orange 224… Anthem wouldn’t be the bike I’d choose for the downhill trails but it seemed to work.

Maybe spending two grand bike got me worried in fear of breaking it, I should chill out and enjoy the trail and bike.

Most posts have been arguing about comfort when the real concern was about component strength.
Trail centres tend to flow better and more smoothly than normal trails so impact should be pretty low, certainly compared to any naturally rocky area. Bike manufacturers wouldn’t make much money if their products didn’t stand up to ‘average’ consumer conditions which I’m sure means trail centres these days. So I guess the only concern would be for particularly heavy riders.

loddrik – Member
Afan is one of the smoothest trail centres.

compared to where?

‘UK bike’ meant in the terms of not the Alps, North Shore Vancouver, the places where natural trails are big. 100mm is plenty for the vast majority of UK riding, but totally agree, it is all about having fun and enjoying what you’re doing. Don’t do it for someone else, you ride for your own enjoyment.
Me, hardtail everytime but as having owned an Anthem, really rate them.
If I were to be limited to one bike, it would be a Scott Spark 20, a Giant Anthem or my current bike Cotic Soda (100mm set-up).
Just get and ride, having lots of fun 😀

loddrik – Member
Afan is one of the smoothest trail centres.

When people say “Afan”, do they mean Glyncorrwg? Cos that White’s Level was blimmin rocky when I went there!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESD1gdxGLlI[/video]

tinks on his anthem x2

So and anthem can keep up with a fast bogey ghost?
– edit -wiped out a 4.05 🙂

There is a Giant Anthem on bottom section of Cwmcarn trail, cool video.

(how to put the youtube video on here without using the link?)

thats tinks again using my camera

There’s a guy who frequently rides Cwmcarn on a unicycle, you may not die on that Anthem of yours.

The Giant Anthem X is capable of anything a trail center can throw at it. Most trail centers that rent bikes rent hard tails don’t they?