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nope.. it's a bike for disproportionate bodies.. or wacky stance/technique... pass..
they already do, the Fluid VLT. why should they invest in niche markets like unmotorized bikes?
The Fluid is, in my opinion, a bike that was almost completely ignored by consumers when it really shouldn't have been. I reviewed it for another site and it blew me away, and indeed others who rode it. A former colleague and I still regard it as one of the best trail bikes we've ever ridden. So much fun to ride.
I wanted to try something else so didn't end up buying one (ironic given my point I guess!) but it is genuinely a brilliant, brilliant bike. Perhaps the carbon one was a little expensive, but damn, from a ride POV, it was next level. If it disappears I'll be sad, I'd love to ride one back to back with my Ripley to see how it directly compares. As it is, I had a good year or so between riding each one.
V2 dreadnought is already 2 years old, so 2 more years (+/-) to a v3... same for a v2 Supernought
Wait wait wait. Youre wanting to pay top dollar for a Santa Cruz labeled frame that is just a crab link bike that probably already exists by another company? To each their own I guess.
Like mentioned V2s seems quite sorted and fairly recent. Shorter travel bike and a Dreadnaught-E with Avinox M2 seems to be the next bikes out of the oven
Yeah, I know, it's weird. I will only buy bikes that I can source through my LBS and if I were to go off of that rule, there are only two brands that I would do so with RAAW or Frameworks. Truth be told, I've ridden a lot of crab bikes (haven't we all) and I have mostly no complaints... however I want to see what Santa Cruz's horst link pedal bikes would be like after spending time on the bullit. There is just something about the combination of fit, geo, kinematics and quality (lack of issues) that keeps me coming back to Santa Cruz. I spent 5 years trying to ride everything but them, just so I wouldn't be another jerry in socal on a santa cruz... but after going down that route and dealing with all sorts of oddities in kinematic and frame quality issues... I'm back on SC fanboi train. I honestly want to be on team transition, but I had a bad run of 3 frames in a row with quality issues, so I'm on timeout with them.
Back to rumors. I'm sick of all of the ebike news stealing the show... since we're at the end of 2025, what's the full list of pedal bikes that we think are getting released/refreshed this year?
Santa Cruz: Nomad/Mega, Tallboy?
Transition: Spur?
Forbidden?
Specialized: Demo?
What else?
Fair. You make some points.
Yes back to rumors. I dont know if its anything, but the standard Trance on Giants website is kind of missing. All they have are framesets. Also not a bad price for the frame I gotta say.
Lack of dropper insertion/ stand over is probably my only complaint on the bike (I really wish I could run a 210mm dropper on my S3 at 5'10") which the e bike layout would fix. Perhaps 18mm of rearward axle path instead of 22mm might make corners feel a little less jolting but I just think the inverted crab with a horizontal shock orientation looks way more aesthetically pleasing.. but maybe looks go out the window when the e bike layout proves it's ride quality.
Giant is definitely due for a new Trance.. I wish I could have jumped on one of those frame deals... The small tweaks they made on that over the prior generation that I have and really like.. Unless they use the new Anthem X as a replacement..
Do they need a new trance though? I honestly don’t know, but whatever bike they recently came out with called the trance with the really straight top tube looks sick. Is that the trance X? I also remember there being an X, and an X that was 27.5, and like two non X generations that had short lifespans, which also did not coincide with the release of the X models. Idk it’s confusing as all get out. They are reaching maxxis levels of confusion in my opinion regarding gens and X variants releasing at sporadic times. I can’t even really decipher which ones are which unless I have my laptop open with multiple tabs going to compare what the hell I’m looking at.
My simple fix is this. Clean the slate and ditch the “X”. Consolidate to Trance 130 and Trance 140. One frame, no mullet options (leave that to the reign) and only release all of the models at a single time.
The product manager said on the N-1 podcast that the 120mm Trance is dead and the Anthem X will fill the gap. I loved the 2nd gen Trance 29, it was a great all around trail bike. It could be built light enough to compete on harder XC/marathon courses but could also race light/pedally enduro. Kinda bummed I sold it tbh, I had the bronze camo frameset so it was pretty unique. The X is probably a better all around bike for more people though, and probably a better seller.
Sorry, I really don’t have any inside info, just a bike nerd that got to bother Owen for 10 minutes. I wouldn’t count on V3s anytime soon. With the way the bike industry is going, they probably need focus their capital allocation on getting enough Druid-Es to dealers and customers. In PDX Cyclepath only got about ~8 of them and sold through quickly minus the one small. In my mind I would wait for the carbon molds to wear out before updating bikes, 3-4 years depending on yield from what I understand. Both the V2s IMO are good bikes.
Mid high pivot, seems to be the best compromise. You get the square edge performance with more neutral cornering and jumping character. And Forbidden is still unique because of the true proportional sizing, which I think is still the key sell point. I am terrible judge of aesthetics.
The new ones with the straight top tube are the Trance X (29er,140/150 travel stock) and
Trance X SX ( Mullet,145/160) . They also have carbon versions of both bikes, so Trance X Advanced, and Trance X Advanced SX 😵💫. I agree, Giant's model names can be incredibly confusing. What makes it worse, is they continue selling the old models well after the new versions drop. So, while the supply lasts, The old Trance X 27.5, Trance X 29 which is a completely different bike is still available for sale. You can also still buy the Trance 29 (120/130 travel).
I feel like they should rename the Trance 29 if they're gonna keep it around.
Their non-X Trance Advance 29 (their carbon 120/130 one) also has straight top tube.
They need to keep the v2 drop outs. The e-bikes are a step backwards
I was talking with one of the Norco reps at a Crankworx party, and I was given the impression that the optic was potentially going the way of the horse as a whole moniker/concept. TBF I don't remember all that much from that night lol, but the fact that they have 4 bikes that all fall in the all mountain to trail category is quite funny.
Whatever happened to the Bikeyoke wireless dropper proto?
There was a good forum on MTBR that got locked and was all about it
Apparently there were some differences between who was helping them make it and BikeYoke. I’ll have to reread to get the lowdown but it changed up the whole future of that project
SC:
No new mega
Tallboy soon
Nomad after that
New Heckler SL ? (sorry it is ebike related)
Yeah, they partnered with the company making a cartridge for remote actuation, had a falling out, they said they will make a third party remote cartridge for any dropper post and that's that. Radio silence since then.
Genuinely no idea on the E bike front, would defo expect it though
The only issue I had with my Trance X was that the bearings were shit. Less than a year of riding (closer to 6 months that a year) and the bearings were FUBAR, bike got wet 2 or 3 times and most of the bearings were rusted up badly, both the races and the actual bearings. I got lucky the rocker arm wasn't damaged, since one of the main pivot bearings was almost completely seized. They were kind of a pain to replace too.
Anybody know or have heard anything about an update to the Santa Cruz Blur? The current Gen. 4 model was released in 2021, so it might be scheduled for an update.
Granted, it's still a perfectly contemporary XC race bike. I'm really not sure what they would even update.
In the Uk the blur seems to be 50% off online, so that screams either a new one is coming or XC is dead in the UK for SC
Ella and Iago have been on a proto Cannondale all season. New Jekyll? New Habit LT?
The community did some digging and found out the person behind the product had other failed ventures before the bikeyoke project and in the habit of scamming. A wireless shifting kickstarter campaign that never delivered a working product and scammed lots of people out of their money. He then filed a federal lawsuit against BikeYoke. Then launched the failed wireless shifting Kickstarter and ghosting customers AGAIN.
https://ogbikeworks.com/bikeyoke-lawsuit/
https://www.mtbr.com/threads/bikeyoke-wireless.1233215/page-2?post_id=1…
Wow! Is that place even more niche than here? Making vitalmtb forums seem…vital. Narcissism of small differences but holy shit what a bunch of NERDS! Hahahaha
Mr OG has the textbook “probably a smart guy but just not worth it” vibe. Even the engineers have to admit it. How exhausting, I feel sorry for the Bike Yoker who brought him into the meeting. Ugh.
Challenge: make the ultimate grey market scam bike. Only the dirtiest of dealers need apply. Lewis brakes and this dropper for sure. Probably a Horst link frame, make it a YT to keep it topical?
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