1. THE ORIGINAL CONDITION
Giant Anthem 1, 3099 euros, 11.83 kilos (photo above)
The Anthem is a thoroughbred marathon bike and with 100 millimetres of travel at the front and rear, it is absolutely geared towards propulsion. Despite the aluminium frame, the bike only weighs 11.83 kilos without pedals, which is a very good value in relation to the price. However, due to the lack of a dropper seatpost and the very sporty geometry with a significant saddle rise, the Giant loses out to trail bikes. With our tuning measures, we have managed to significantly increase the range of use.
2. THE TRANSFORMATION
Budget: 1679 euros | Weight: + 460 grams
1 suspension fork: 1640 g / 1199 Euro
The idea: To give the Anthem more confidence off-road, a 120 mm fork was needed. But the market for lightweight 120 mm forks is small. We opted for the SR Suntour Axon Werx, which weighs just 1640 grams thanks to its carbon crown and steerer tube. Super savings tip: the Axon Elite, which weighs around 100 grams for 739 euros. Lighter, but in some cases significantly more expensive, are the forks from market leaders Rockshox Sid and
Fox 34 SC.
2 Saddle: 240 g / 140 Euro
As the original Giant Contact SL saddle has a very angular and unpadded plastic rear end, it had to make way for an Ergon SM3 Pro, which offers plenty of comfort even on long trail rides.
3 Telescopic support: 573 g / 260 Euro
Since a thin 27.2 mm seatpost is used on many race bikes, the choice of telescopic seatposts is very limited. With the Kindshock LEV Integra, we found a suitable model with a length of 410 millimetres and 100 millimetres of drop.
4 tyres: 689/638 g / 80 Euro
When new, the Giant rolls on 2.25 inch wide Rekon Race tyres from Maxxis, which are supplied tubeless as standard. In other words, there's little potential for gram-fiddlers. For a little more grip, we fitted a pair of tyres with better wet grip, but wanted to keep the width for a manageable weight. With the Wolfpack Cross on the front wheel and the Race on the rear wheel, the Anthem has better all-round capabilities.
3. THAT DID THE TRICK
Driving report
The Giant Anthem has already shone in various race bike tests and is still one of the favourites in the 100-millimetre class. With its steep head angle and sporty riding position with a significant saddle rake, the bike scores points on the climbs, but reaches its limits early on the descents. After our tuning measure, the geometry and riding position change significantly due to the almost 30 millimetre longer fork. At 68.2 degrees, the head angle has been slackened by 1.4 degrees, with the bottom bracket moving upwards by just eight millimetres. As a result, the Anthem is much smoother on fast and steep downhill sections.
Thanks to the already wide handlebars and not too long stem, we were able to adopt the cockpit without any problems. The slightly higher front end (stack +10 millimetres) also shortens the reach by 14 millimetres, which softens the riding position. Nevertheless, there is still enough pressure on the handlebars, and the seat angle of 73 degrees remains steep enough to climb even nasty ramps. In contrast to the other two tuned bikes, the Giant is the only bike to gain weight: 460 grams. However, as the wheels with the new tyres are even slightly lighter, the Giant hardly loses any propulsion. The biggest gain downhill is definitely the dropper seat post.
CONCLUSION on the Giant Anthem 1 by Stefan Loibl, BIKE editor
Despite all the tuning measures, we wanted to retain the bike's first-class propulsion and superior climbing characteristics. Even with the longer fork, the front remains low and the riding position sporty. On downhills, however, the Anthem is much more confident thanks to our interventions. The Maestro rear triangle harmonises well with the longer fork despite less travel. This turns the sporty racer into a fast, universal trail bike for low mountain tours, on which you can scrub up a lot of kilometres.
You can find this article in BIKE 10/2019. You can read the entire digital edition in the BIKE app (iTunes and Google Play) or the print edition in the DK shop reorder - while stocks last:
