Review: Giant Trance X Advanced E+ 1 | The mountain goat of full-power eMTBs
Giant’s Trance X Advanced E+ 1, is a pedal-assist bike that has sensational handling bringing tons of trail thrills. It’s pacey, full of brawn with far more appeal than its predecessor.
| WORDS: Myles Kelsey | IMAGES: Rob Ward | LOCATION: The Trails of Cape Town & Rhebokskloof, Paarl |
It’s no secret the rapid rise in the popularity of pedal-assist trail riding presented the entire bike industry with challenges. Whilst the early models were revolutionary, the dynamics at play in this space were not only new, but they were also evolving faster than anyone anticipated. For all the brands, just keeping track of trends and innovations was a mammoth task. The learning curve was steep. Thinking back to some of my first rides on the early model Trance eMTB, (circa 2018 ish) I wouldn’t say the bike was particularly easy to ride. I wouldn’t say managing the power was particularly easy. I did say it was a little wild, surgy, unpredictable and sketchy. As I recollect, the Yamaha motor back then was a bit of a screamer. Integration wasn’t a thing. My oh my, how things have changed. Five (ish) years later and in my opinion, this bike has jumped a decade forward in terms of ride feel, range and software.
FEATURES & DETAILS
The model we tested is the Trance X. It has a carbon front triangle, rear triangle, and an upper suspension link made of the same pricey material. The motor is by Yamaha but with a very specific tune created by the engineering crew and test riders at Giant. In South Africa, there are three models of alloy-framed Trance X’s available with pricing starting at R117k.
| FRAME | 140mm rear, 29″, Advanced-Grade Carbon Frame with Maestro layout |
| MODEL | Giant Trance X Advanced E+ 1 |
| RETAIL | R169 000 (at time of testing) |
| FORK | 150mm Fox 36 with Live Valve |
| SHOCK | Fox Float X with Live Valve |
| DRIVE UNIT | SyncDrive Pro Motor with 85Nm, 625Wh Battery (optional 250Wh Range Extender) |
| BARS | Giant Contact, 780mm wide, 35mm clamp size |
| STEM | Giant Contact SL, 50mm |
| SADDLE | Giant Romero Neutral |
| SEATPOST | Giant Contact Switch dropper, 170mm |
| WHEELS | Giant AM rims with 30mm inner, Shimano XT Hubs and Sapim Spokes |
| TYRES | 29×2.6″ Maxxis Assegai EXO casing front and Maxxis Dissector Rear EXO+ casing |
| CASSETTE | Shimano 10-51T |
| MECH | Shimano XT |
| SHIFTER | Shimano XT, 1×12 |
| CRANKS | 165mm Praxis |
| BRAKES | 4-piston Shimano Deore with 203mm rotors |
| WEIGHT | 23.9kg (As tested, with sealant, bottle cage, multi-tool and no pedals) |
The test bike had no shortage of bling and out of the box, there isn’t a single throw-away item. Durable alloy 29″ wheels, proper trail tyres, a long dropper post, short cranks, a decent cockpit and big brake rotors. Not to mention the capable Fox 36 fork and Float X shock, in Live Valve iteration.
The suspension layout on the Trance is Giant’s Maestro setup. Think of it as two short dual links that connect the front triangle to the back of the bike. The bonus with a system with the back end ‘fully disconnected’ is a more active ride, with better rollover and braking characteristics.
An integrated control unit known as RideControl Go, houses the on/off button and displays which of the five support modes is selected, plus the remaining battery life. A handlebar-mounted, screen display is also available for riders who want to keep a closer eye on speed, distance and other data without opening the Giant App.
It’s an own-brand bar and stem that are sized for shredding. The brakes are the 4-piston Shimano Deore and the grips are a single-lock variety by Giant.
The Live Valve fork sensor sits just behind the crown and it’s probably a good idea to run a mudguard there. Each lower has a bleed valve for a quick release of any excess air pressure that can build up. It’s a 150mm Fox 36 which has the external setup tweaks of a single rebound and single compression dial. Rear travel is 140mm, courtesy of the Fox Float X Live Valve, in a trunnion mount and it has a single rebound adjuster.
This model Trance X E+ is only available in one colour, Panther Green, which as you can see, our camera lens fancied, very much. The Panther, tipped our scales at precisely 23.9kg (without pedals) which isn’t exactly earth-shatteringly light, but it is lighter than many full-power eMTBs I’ve ridden.
Giant says their intention wasn’t to build a lightweight bike here. They prioritized ride feel, range and reliability. There are big rotors – although, is 203mm considered big these days when it comes to eMTBing? I guess for Trail riding they are. More about the stopping power on the mid-range Shimano Deore brakes, in a bit.
Giant has built a solid-looking bash plate under the motor and the integrated battery sits inside the curvaceous downtube. Conveniently, that 625Wh battery also powers the Live Valve suspension so it’s a one-charge system.
It’s a tidy seatpost clamp in a semi-integrated design that holds a 170mm dropper in place. There’s nothing overly fancy looking about the Romero saddle, but it didn’t disappoint.
Maxxis provide the shoes for the Trance X with an Assegai in EXO casing and 3C compound on the front plus a Dissector in EXO+ casing on the back. The width is 2.6″ which is very on trend with full-power eeeBs.
THE DRIVE UNIT
The Trance X uses the newish Yamaha motor with a specific tune by Giant themselves and it’s dubbed SyncDrive. Torque was bumped up to 85Nm and the maximum support is on a 400% ratio – meaning it quadruples rider input. The Q-factor (distance between the pedals) is slightly narrower than most full-support eMTB’s and the idea here is to mimic the position of analog bikes. I like it.
This is Yamaha’s lightest motor ever and its claimed weight is 2.75kg which is a little lighter (±150g) than the popular Bosch and Brose systems but not as light as Shimano’s EP8 which has a claimed weight of 2.6kg.
The on/off switch (aka Giant RideControl) is flush with the frame and integrated into the top tube display. The left-hand side of the display indicates the support mode that is selected and the right-hand side shows the remaining charge.
A very sleek control unit (Giant’s RideControl 3) can be mounted on the left or right grip. It is possible to run two units – one on each grip – although I’m not quite sure why it would be necessary. The three-button controller sits flush with the grips and is very minimalist—very clean looking.
Even with 2.6″ wide tyres there’s plenty of clearance inside the stays. Peanut butter rides (yes I’m thinking about the fine folk of KZN and Mpumalanga here) should be clog-free. With these 473mm long stays, I imagine there is some flex going on there so having extra clearance would help prevent the tyre from rubbing on the frame.
Inside the Giant App are navigation tools and the ability to track distance, time, elevation and average speed. Ride history is stored in the App and it has a ‘system check’ feature. Also, what’s very cool is the support, torque and launch percentages can be tweaked across all five ride modes of Eco, Tour, Active, Sport and Power. It’s also evident that Giant are constantly refining the software. Whilst the bike was with me, an update was run on the App by Giant which opened up yet more tuning options.
The Trance X has a 625Wh battery and if that’s not enough a 250Wh range extender is available. Riders looking for more range have the option of an 800Wh main battery, which together with the range extender means they’d have a 1 050Wh eMTB. That’s a lot of exploring right there.
Accessing the charge port is through a pull-and-twist style cap that is inward of the crank arm. A spinning crank cannot rip the charge port cap off. Kudos on that one! This is something other eMTB brands should take note of.
One of the challenges with the short-dual-link design suspension system is there are a lot of moving parts which makes cable routing tricky. Giant has done well to channel the cables inside the frame in places and inside a separate housing in other places. A lot of thought has been put into this.
GEOMETRY & SIZING
Trance X has decidedly trail geometry. The head angle has not been slacked out for ‘sending’, the seat tube angle is steep and the chain stays are long, real long. This is trail DNA. A bike built for climbing and trail trekking. The only adjustability is via a flip chip on the linkage allowing for a 10mm variation in BB height and a 0.8-degree tweak to the head tube.
The sizing on this current generation Trance X, is rather large. Reach on a size large is 482 or 489. That’s huge, and something you’ll want to be aware of before buying. I’m mostly in between a size medium or large bike – with most brands and models that is. With this Trance X, I’m definitely a medium.
VIDEO: Tech Overview & Range Experiments
RIDE IMPRESSIONS
– Climbing –
Frankly, Trance X is a monster truck. On climbs, it crawls or gallops on demand like a mountain goat. I’ve got four main reasons for this, plus one slightly less obvious reason. Number one: the forward-biased riding position is a big contributor to its climbing prowess – in this position, it’s easier to get ‘on top of the pedals’ and find a rhythm. Number two: the long reach provides ample space to arch over and ‘get the power in’ on long or steep climbs. Three and four: the incredibly long chainstays reduce the chance of looping out on steep terrain and that supple-off-the-top Maestro suspension design provides truckloads of grip, which is handy on sketchy stuff. A slightly less obvious reason that the Trance X is an excellent climber is the small Q-factor of the SyncDrive Pro motor. Now there’s no science here, I’m just going on what I feel and it’s the width between the pedals – it feels very similar to analog bikes and maybe my legs are more accustomed to pedaling analog bikes but I swear it feels better, for climbing.
Of course, I’d be amiss not to mention the power delivery of the Giant tuned Yamaha motor. I don’t know I’ve ridden a more responsive unit. The power kicks in early, especially when riding in the higher support modes. This is handy on restarts and steep climbs. Not so handy when posing outside Vida. Be careful – it’s really sensitive. In the five or six test rides, I didn’t feel it necessary to tweak the factory support settings – but it is a very nice feature to have, especially when group riding and needing to even the playing field.
– Descending –
It’s crazy just how much a few clicks on the suspension can completely change the nature of the ride. On the first ride, the fork was diving a little on steeper descents. After adding 10 clicks of compression, it was a different bike, completely! The fork started to sit higher up and didn’t wallow into the travel anymore. Giving a better dynamic geometry.
To those Deore brakes then. A very very impressive performance from a mid-tier brake indeed, once the rotors are warm that is, which in fact happens pretty quickly so maybe I’m being a little harsh here. The brute-stopping power is really not bad and there’s plenty of modulation on these Deore brakes. On the more techy descents, or when slapping the bike into turns I did notice a slight clunk sound coming from the motor which I did some research on and it does seem to be a thing with the Yamaha motor. It’s nowhere near as loud a clang as what happens on the Bosch system and you really need to listen for it to pick it up. In my opinion, it’s by no means a deal breaker as let me tell you – just about every single eMTB makes weird sounds when things get janky. Most eMTB riders tune out of those sounds anyways – I certainly have.
Trance X isn’t a bad bike on the downhills, not at all. I had a lot of fun on this bike and it’s highly capable when the terrain points down. It’s just that the bike is designed to excel on all trails, to go far, and to outclimb everything. Enduro-style riders should look to the Reign E+ from Giant which is more orientated towards gravity riding.
– Range –
Max Sullivan from Giant tells me he did back-to-back rides on a stage of Wines2Whales last year and found the Live Valve (electronic suspension) had a significantly positive impact on battery efficiency, to the tune of 18%. He said the tests were predominantly on smooth terrain and gravel roads. 18% is a chunk of battery life that will come in handy in any eMTB racing or big days out.
I was intrigued by Max’s range experiment so I flipped the idea. I wanted to know what impact the different Live Valve settings would have on battery life when riding on very rocky trails. If you watch the video you’ll see just how rocky the trails were, you’ll get a deep dive on the settings I used, and you’ll see that a firmer suspension setting on very rough trails is far less efficient than a more open setting. This is not BREAKING NEWS. What was interesting, is just how much more battery the bike used on the same track, when the suspension was in a firmer default setting. [On a side note: does anyone know a good chiro…]
Riders looking for long-range capability whether it’s for eRacing or big out-rides should not ignore the Trance X. Put it on the shortlist. Maybe even at the top. Upgrading the internal battery to an 800Wh unit and adding the 250Wh range extender gives, to my knowledge, unrivaled range capabilities. For the Trance X, the Live Valve electronic suspension will help squeeze more range into your rides and does add value and adjustability to the bike, however, I’m not convinced it’s an absolute must-have. It’s probably more of a nice-to-have.
– Overall handling & performance –
There’s absolutely nothing quirky about this bike. The steering is responsive, the suspension is sensitive on the small hits, and it doesn’t blow through on the big landings. This Trance X is a 10-fold improvement on the early version I clunked around Cape Town on, all those years ago. Although I’m not a massive fan of the ergonomics of Shimano’s shifter (I can never find the downshift lever when I’m out of the saddle and hoofing it) the XT drivetrain shifts instantly and runs quietly too.
I like the short 160mm cranks on the size XS and S, I think the bigger sizes could benefit from shorter cranks too – especially if technical climbing and rocky trails are being ridden. At the risk of sounding cheesy, the Trance X rides lighter than what the scale says it should. There’s a reason for this. Rotational weight. The EXO and EXO+ tyre casing is on the lighter side and those few grams definitely add ‘play’ to the ride feel.
TAKEOUT
From a power delivery point of view, I don’t know that I’ve ridden a more responsive bike. The power kicks in instantly and there’s plenty of it around, however, I really enjoyed the linear nature of the power delivery in the lower support settings. Whilst the Trance X E+ can get ‘sendy’ it’s not the intended application for this bike. Climbing, big-range rides, adventure days, exploring and eStage racing are where the Trance X excels.
| WORDS: Myles Kelsey | IMAGES: Rob Ward | LOCATION: Rhebokskloof, Paarl |