2014 Giant Anthem SX

[bodger]

At last the day has come that I can build a bike that is exactly the spec I want (mostly), if one really managed to build the perfect bike then there would be nothing to upgrade and we can't have that now.

 

 

Specs for now (12.58kgs with pedals and old tyres):

Fork: 2013 RockShox Revelation RL with remote lockout (1.84kg inc axle and remote) Currently in for warranty repair and hopefully removal of the lockout.

Shock: RockShox Monarch RL

Frame: Anthem Advanced 27.5 frameset large (2.4kg with thru axle)

Wheels: Giant P-XC2 27.5

Groupset: Full Shimano XT, 2x10, RT66 Rotors, 180F, 160R

Stem: Easton Haven, 70mm, 0degree

Bars: Nukeproof Warhead, 720mm, 20mm rise

Seatpost: RockShox Reverb, 420mm, 125mm drop

Seat: Pro Turnix

Pedals: Shimano m520

Tyres: Onza Canis 2.25 front and rear (pictured with Racing Ralph and Honey Badger)

Grips: ESI Chunky

 

Future Upgrades:

Wheels: ZTR Flow EX on something or AC Wide lightning.

Bars: Raceface Next Riser carbon

Seatpost: RockShox Reverb Stealth

Pedals: Shimano XT m780

 

Frame arrived 2 days after the order was placed, good form William!

 

The fork with remote on its way back for warranty.

 

Basically the concept of this bike is to create a trail bike that is as light as possible but without compromising on strength and descending ability. Traits I require are a stiff but supple fork, plenty of grip from the tyres and a dropper seatpost for downhills and cornering. On the flip side I have a strange love affair with brutally steep climbs and so I also need something thats not too heavy and pedals well while seated or standing.

 

Frame with 12mm thru axle but no cable grommets.

 

Other frame options were a Santacruz 5010 (ruled out because of price) or a Pyga OneTwenty650 (ruled out because of weight). Although ideally I wanted 120mm of rear travel, enough good things have been said about the Anthem's descending prowess in its standard spec (100mm front and rear) that I thought I would give it a try.

 

Personally my favourite review of the Anthem 27.5 came from right here on the hub. I trust the opinion of a guy who rides in baggies, a t-shirt and FiveTens far more then a fully decked out lycra jock, so thank you for your review Claudio.

 

It was rumoured a while ago that Giant was toying with the idea of making an Anthem with a 120mm fork, this sounded like a great idea to me as my previous bike was a Morewood Zula with a 130mm Sektor and I loved it but it was a bit portly. Recently Giant announced their 2015 bikes and the Anthem SX was among them. So now that I have a name for what I'm building lets get started.

 

Daryn wrenching, he should have his arm in a sling but he's bad like that!

 

I'd like to dedicate this build to my good friend Dazza (Mechanic at William's bike shop) who is currently recovering from a severe meeting with a tree in Jonkershoek. That didn't however stop him from giving up his evening and doing alot of the work to get the bike together in quick time with fractured scapular and all. Also a special mention to SJ from Revolution Cycles for great service & advice.

 

The Reverb hose needs better securing but otherwise I'm extremely impressed with the finished product, orange grips and all. When the Revelation returns I'll update with pics. Once again massive thanks to Daryn, I would have spent twice as long and done the job half as neatly.

 

 

 

 

[Super Sywurm]

Why the orange grips?

[bodger]

My favourite colour is orange but alas not everything can be orange. Luckily there is some blue on the frame and orange is blue's complementary colour so I got orange grips.

 

 

[Iwan Kemp]

Looks killer. I'm sure it will be a ripper. Enjoy.

[Meezo]

orange+blue+white = rabobank colours

[Charsky]

nice ride! Enjoy

[Dan Dob]

Sick bike- I reckon you have got the best do-it-all bike for Western Cape riding right there.

[bodger]

Update 1:

 

The Revelation is back and the tyres are on (Thanks to phenning for lending an extra pair of hands and a compressor to seat the tyres.)

 

Its tough to take a photo of a black and white bike at night.

 

I'm a little disappointed in the width of the Canis 2.25 tyres, I imagined they would have had the volume of an Ibex 2.25 with smaller knobs. I shall reserve judgement on them until the first ride though because I have heard nothing but good things about them.

 

I have left a good number of spacers under the stem for now to fine tune the cockpit nothing worse than cutting off too much too soon.

 

I love the Monarch at the rear, all the knobs and dials have a delightful click and positive feel when adjusting them.

 

I'm going with 20% sag at the rear and 25% on the fork. The Revelation is a little tall for the bike at 130mm so I may need to increase the sag a little but I don't want the bike to dive under braking either. Not much more can be said about suspension until I get it out for a proper ride but parking lot / garden tests are positive so far.

 

 

If only my photography skills were as good as her jumping skills.

 

The most thanks in this project must actually goto an unsung hero, my wife. She has put up with endless hours of obsessing over specs and parts and somehow has remained excited with me and for me through the whole process. She is also fantastic at catering when the guys come round to work in the garage, although she hasn't really taken to bike maintenance quite as well as MTBing (in her defence she does wash her bike from time to time).

Edited August 21, 2014 by bodger

[Hairy]

So how is the bike doing

[TYGA]

My favourite colour is orange but alas not everything can be orange. Luckily there is some blue on the frame and orange is blue's complementary colour so I got orange grips.

 

I like the Orange on blue...my favourite combo. I had an old pair of orange Oury grips which spent time on four different bikes as I "grew up". Finally sold them with my blue Heckler .... damn I miss those grips.

 

Nice bike!

[bodger]

Update 2:

 

From the 19th Aug to the 18th Sep I took part in the Food lovers market Strava challenge, it turned out to be one of the hardest challenges I've ever undertaken more mentally than physically in fact.

 

During the ensuing month I covered 1150km on the Anthem, I rode every type of terrain from asphalt to Tokia & Steilte DH tracks. The Anthem felt sure footed and stable on high speed sections such as the new woop woop line at Steilte but still climbed well enough to get me to the mast in Tokia twice in one day. It lacked the rear end travel down through the roots in Tokia but it is only a little 4" XC bike after all.

 

After the challenge I prepared to take the bike in for a well deserved service but while I was washing it I found a crack in the seat tube and under the pivot bolt. The cracks were not there when I washed the bike 5 days prior so I had to assume my last run down Steilte must have been too much for my poor little plastic Anthem.

 

 

Casting my mind back I do remember over jumping one of the tables and thinking to myself how well the bike had handled the situation, I didn't feel like the bike had bottomed out even. The only other option was the high speed water bar section on the way back down to helderberg farm. I'm not exactly heavy at 72kgs and I would consider myself a fairly smooth rider, I haven't dented a rim in ages. Perhaps it was just a faulty carbon frame.

 

 

Giant was very good about warranty and I had a new frame 3 working days later. I also sent my reverb in for a "service" because of play that had developed fore and aft and received a brand new post from rockshox.

 

I decided that the complete rebuild was a good time to replace some goodies.

 

New parts:

Frame: Warrantied frame (new bearings and rear shock so no servicing costs for me )

Wheels: American Classic Wide Lightning

Seatpost: Rockshox Reverb stealth 125mm drop (traded in my new warrantied post)

Tyres: Onza Ibex 2.25

 

No more hose rub.

 

Although it seems counter intuitive to run massive tyres on really light wheels I love the extra grip from the ibexs and the thick side walls will help protect the rims from rocks and other sharp edges which are the norm at my favourite trails Steilte and Jonkers.

 

Wide lightning with a fresh Ibex.

 

The wide lightnings make the bike feel even more dynamic, it is extremely poppy over jumps I often need to scrub speed or pre jump to not over shoot landings. This could be due to my weight loss and hectic training schedule over the last month but I think its down to the lower rotating mass and freshly serviced/new suspension. When it comes to climbing I love the grip for days feel on the rear.

 

Fork service, William's bike shop does most Fox and RS fork servicing in house and it comes back feeling better than when it left the assembly line.

 

With the new wheels and heavy tyres the bike now weighs a ball hair under 12.4kg ready to ride. Bars and pedals still need to be upgraded but I'm really happy with the bike feel now. 

 

My only real complaint with the bike after a month of exhaustive testing is that the down tube protector nearly fell off and I had to glue it back on.

 

P.S Pics of the completed bike and new grip colour coming soon.

[Iwan Kemp]

Good going on the Ibex + Wide Lightning combo. I'm going that route on my Vipa. 

[bodger]

Update 3: lets get cracking... again

 

Cracks have appeared on the new frame in exactly the same places as the first. I can only think this is a bad batch of frames because I have been far more careful with the 2nd frame and still it has met an early end.

 

This one has done a little better making it 2 months but only 850km. I also got a 3rd bonus crack at the joint of the seat tube and top tube. I hope to get a new 2015 frame, I like the colour scheme of the 2014 model more but anything to get away from the current batch of frames.

 

Anthem Advanced 2015 murdered cyan edition

 

New parts:

Bars: Raceface SIXC carbon bars (Cut to 760mm)

Grips: Super chunky non ESI silicone grips (Yellow)

 

I like Isostar so much I made my grips match the bottle top.

 

New bars are wider, lower and I can't feel any distortion when acceleration hard out of the saddle or when bombing down the fun bits at Oak Valley. More testing at Jonkers to come.