What could be better than a world championship victory for the market launch? The South African Alan Hatherly not only made himself happy with his confident ride in Crans Montana, but also the entire Giant product management team. Hatherly had already ridden the entire World Cup season on a prototype of the new Anthem and piloted the almost production-ready bike to victory in the World Championships in Switzerland. To make the new Anthem better and faster than ever, the frame was redesigned from the ground up. The most striking feature of the new frame design is the departure from the typical Giant upright shock. By placing the rear shock close to the top tube, Giant not only achieves its ambitious weight targets, but also creates space for a second water bottle in the main frame.
Drilled out: Now with 120 millimetres of travel
But it's not just the look of the frame layout that has changed. In order to bring the Anthem Advanced SL up to date and make it fit for the increased challenges of the World Cup, the suspension now provides a standard 120 millimetres of travel at the front and rear. This puts the new race bike on a par with established competitors such as the Scott Spark or Specialized Epic 8 and also offers more reserves off the race track.
Ahead of the competition
In order to not only equal the weight, but to even go one step further, the development team consistently tackled the new carbon frame. According to Giant, the frame in size M should weigh just 1530 grams. This means that the new Anthem should undercut a Specialized S-Works Epic 8 frame by as much as 194 grams and still deliver better stiffness and therefore loss-free propulsion. The key to the improved STW value is the Flexpoint Pro rear triangle, which manages with just one main bearing point and, like its predecessor, saves on additional ball bearings. To further reduce weight, the main frame is laminated from a single piece in a monocoque design. In the newly developed process, a one-piece bladder is used, which allows larger carbon fibre mats to be used with less overlap, which reduces the weight. In addition, according to Giant, the bottom bracket and steering head stiffness has increased compared to the predecessor and also to the reference bike from Specialized.
Premium wheelset
But it's not just the centrepiece, the frame, that determines the capabilities of a race bike. In order to transfer the rider's power to the ground with minimal loss, Giant has also given its new Anthem a premium wheelset. The 1350 gram wheelset has carbon spokes and five millimetre wide rim flanges and is used on the three most expensive Anthem models. The wide rim flanges of the carbon rim are designed to enable particularly low tyre pressures and prevent damage to the tyre in the event of a puncture. In addition to Giant's own XCR wheelset, a handlebar stem unit is also used, which accommodates all cables in a recess on the underside. Five equipment variants will be available in Germany, ranging from 4500 to 12500 euros.
Giant Anthem: The first ride impression
As part of the product presentation in Taiwan, we were able to ride the top model for half a day. In top trim, the Anthem only gently caresses the scales and sprints effortlessly out of every bend. The frame stiffness feels very high. The front triangle of the frame in particular stands like a rock and doesn't allow any torsion. The Anthem finds the ideal line with precision.
With a reach of 470 millimetres in size L, a head angle of 66.5-67 degrees and a seat angle of 75.5-76 degrees (depending on the flip-chip setting), the Giant is balanced and modern. In combination with the 70 mm stem, the riding position is by no means too sporty or overstretched, which makes it easier to control the bike on technical sections. As soon as things get rough, the suspension, which has been increased to 120 millimetres, is clearly noticeable. The sensitive Rockshox suspension readily absorbs subtleties and larger bumps. At 25 per cent sag, the suspension travel can be used well and has a pleasant progression. Without the support of the automatic lockout, the rear suspension pumps slightly when pedalling. This is a minor disadvantage compared to the increased traction provided by the flex rear suspension.
Two things make the frame particularly light
Behind the marketing blah-blah, there are primarily two things that make the frame of the new Anthem particularly light. 1. the main frame is laminated from just one piece, which avoids unnecessary overlaps and additional gluing points. A one-piece bladder (previously three) was developed for this purpose, which already has the exact frame shape and minimises excess resin and creases. 2 Thanks to robotic support, the carbon mats can not only be cut precisely, but also placed perfectly on the bladder and in the heating mould. The frame uses larger but fewer carbon mats and consists of only 700 individual parts. This saves weight.
Interview with Joe Staub, Category Manager at Giant
32 inches is on the way. Isn't it a bit late to show a new 29er race bike now?
We started the project more than three years ago. Development continued seamlessly after the last Anthem. We virtually never stopped. We can see that XC Racing has evolved and are reacting accordingly. The positive feedback from Alan Hatherly has confirmed that we are on the right track. He even wanted to ride the aluminium prototype in the World Cup, even though it was a few kilos heavier. So we were and still are very convinced of the bike, even though a lot has changed in the meantime in terms of the wheels.
Will we see bikes with more than 120 millimetres of travel in the XCO World Cup in the future?
I think we will definitely see 130 forks. Alan is already experimenting with 130 because with Fox he has no weight disadvantage on the fork. If it gives the rider an advantage, why not? Depending on the route, it makes sense to have even more reserves.
What role will electronics play in racing in the future?
Electronics will generally become more and more common. As soon as there is a relevant advantage, it will be utilised. With Flight Attendant, the customer has the option of utilising the advantages of an electronic chassis on our top model. For the second most expensive model in the line-up, however, the power meter was more important to us than electronic landing gear.
