Bike upgrade

[Windyj]

I know this has probably been done to death but here goes! I have a Giant Anthem 2013 (26er) that needs new drive train and possibly frame bearings. Now before I go and spend money on maybe an 11 speed groupset and bearings do I just bite the bullet and go for a 27.5 and come up to date? my choice would be either another Anthem or a Bird Aeris any thoughts gratefully recieved.

[The_Jackal]

Ride a more modern bike and see if you like the difference. That should answer it.

[yellowjack]

Personally, I'd go with a 27.5" Anthem 3.

But then I'm biased because I bought one (cheap too!) in March 2016 and we've done over 2,600 miles together in the ten months since. I love it. But then I came from a year(ish) off MTBing, and previously had a 26" GT Avalanche hard-tail. So from an 8 year old £300 hard tail to a current £1500 full suspension was a complete contrast for me. For you perhaps the differences wouldn't be so pronounced?

I think the Aeris is a different beast to the Anthem. More travel, and more of a 'fun trails' kind of bike than a low-travel XC machine like the Anthem. I took a trip to Bird when I was looking for what eventually turned out to be the Anthem. If Ben had been in on the day I went, I think I'd have ended up with a Bird Zero hard-tail, but they were experiencing supply issues with wheels and Ben called me back with a work-around only hours after I paid for the Anthem the following day.

I'd also keep the 26" Anthem, in your position. I'd tuck it in a quiet corner of the garage and replace the drive train and bearings later, when the wife wasn't looking...

[P-Jay]

Windyj said:

I know this has probably been done to death but here goes! I have a Giant Anthem 2013 (26er) that needs new drive train and possibly frame bearings. Now before I go and spend money on maybe an 11 speed groupset and bearings do I just bite the bullet and go for a 27.5 and come up to date? my choice would be either another Anthem or a Bird Aeris any thoughts gratefully recieved.

Erm...

If you're looking for 'permission' to buy a new bike, don't let us stop you - the new Anthem is great, I hear good things about Bird and they're British. If you're not aware of it already, Google 'Metric MTB Shocks' and consider if not being able to run a Fox Shock (other Manufacturers aren't going metric but I forget which) in the near future is a deal breaker for you as Bird have 'gone metric' - Metric shocks are looking like the next way bikes will be made obsolete.

In regards to the 2013 bike and 27.5" in General. 2013 isn't that old, I suspect that if the 27.5" 'watershed moment' hadn't have happened you probably wouldn't be that fussed, I know I wasn't. Just because new bike invariably has different wheels now, it doesn't mean yours is 'old' or any worse than it was in 2013 and your bike always got good reviews from owners and reviews alike. A new 'drive train' could mean a Cassette, chain and front Ring/Rings about £60 worth, or maybe £100 if you want a shop to fit it. Bearing set £40 or £100 fitted. They're still making a few 26" MTB, there are still many thousands and thousands of 26" MTBs being used every week so it'll be a long, long time before you can't get a decent tyre, fork or rim for them.

[yellowjack]

I can't afford another new bike, but the shop where I bought my Anthem have sent me a link to this discounted 2016 model with a fair chunk taken out of the asking price...


SRP £2599
Save 26% (£700)
Web Price: £1,899.00

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/giant-anthem-sx-... ...Only the 'M' and 'L' frame sizes are still available though.

A full list of discounted bikes (road and MTB) for anyone interested in buying round about now... http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=ef5e5e9bb58c80...

Edited by yellowjack on Wednesday 11th January 14:24

[Windyj]

Thanks Guys I think i will keep it and upgrade to 11 speed and replace the bearings. There is actually nothing wrong with it really and i keep up with others on 27.5/29ers

[Craikeybaby]

P-Jay said:

Erm...

If you're looking for 'permission' to buy a new bike, don't let us stop you - the new Anthem is great, I hear good things about Bird and they're British. If you're not aware of it already, Google 'Metric MTB Shocks' and consider if not being able to run a Fox Shock (other Manufacturers aren't going metric but I forget which) in the near future is a deal breaker for you as Bird have 'gone metric' - Metric shocks are looking like the next way bikes will be made obsolete.

So that is why they are only offering RS on the Aeris 120. That is currently at the top of my list of potential next bikes.

[P-Jay]

Craikeybaby said:

So that is why they are only offering RS on the Aeris 120. That is currently at the top of my list of potential next bikes.

Yep, it's not limited to RS, Cane Creak, Manitou, X Fusion and DVO are 'going metric'.

If you ever want to see a great example of a poorly handled product launch - you'd struggle to find a better one.

They made the press release on the 31st of March - it was mostly Pinkbike that published it - if you don't already know Pinkbike have a great reputation for joke press releases on the 1st of April - it went out late, most people read it on the 1st of April.

The name is just plain stupid - what they are, are a new standard of shock length - longer bodies for the same length of shaft to allow more room for fancy suspension stuff in the body - whether this is actually useful or just a way for SRAM (who own RS and a bit of Canecreak) to work with frame makers that have ties with to push fox out of the market who knows - most fancy shock are piggy-back anyway. but Mountain Bikers, especially I think younger ones (PB is basically a kids club) are very wary of new standards making their stuff 'obsolete' and SRAM are usually blamed for it - 650b in part, but certainly 'Boost' is their baby so they avoided the word 'standard' and just said Metric Sizes.

So tens of thousands of riders saw the date, saw a press release saying that imperial sized shocks were being phased out in favour of metric sizes and took a moment to think... shocks have been by and large listed in metric sizes for years, even on US sites 200mm x 57mm for example so they laughed and thought it was a hoax. Not a great start.

Then there was the realisation that it wasn't - so riders tried to work out the implications - and at first it was pretty stark - the two shock standards are completely incompatible - even if you find a 'metric' shock with the same eye to eye length as your 'imperial' shock you can't use it unless you want to reduce the travel of you bike by 20%-ish, you can't fit metric shock of the small shaft length because even if your frame will open far enough to accept it (most would I would guess) your geo would be all to st and you'd possibly top out the frame in the air. At best the supposed benefits would be more than wiped out by the problems.

More than that, the 'Metric Cartel' also announced that the Metric revolution would start with 2017 bikes (last Sept) and they would drop Imperial immediately. Which is a bit st for those manufacturers on the outside, if you’re Fox who had already released their 2017 products that weren’t metric and Marzocchi who are struggling anyway and whose future rests on getting their stuff out as OE supply you’ve just lost a big pile of OE sales, and worse than that all those bike owners can’t even buy your stuff as an upgrade. SRAM really have it tied up, they’ve got the biggest OE market and Crane Creak are still the brand most riders aspire to.

I’m surprised it hasn’t made more news, 29ers and 650B bikes were and are still big news stories, no much fuss over this – I guess whilst the bikes are out, most of them will be sold March-June. The Metric makers did change their tune a bit a few months back and said they would continue to make imperial sized stuff for 3 years “to support riders” – but it one of those “will it stick” moments – if makers like Bird see a dip in sales because people I still prefer Fox shocks to RS and might not fancy a very high end build with a Cane Creak, will they stick with Metric for 2018, or use imperial RS stuff on entry level – who knows – you don’t want to be the guy who bought the bike with the standard that only lasted a year.

[Craikeybaby]

I'll have to do some more reading on that. I must admit that Fox would have been my preference.