Giant Anthem X 29er - See first post for info

[pistonbroke]

Thanks for that. I know all about those tyres. Every time I go to ride my xtc one of them will be flat. Are snake skins any better at holding air?
730mm wide bars? Is that really needed? It's a struggle to fit through doorways, let alone between the trees. I trimmed them to about 700 before I even rode it. But will replace them with something carbon when funds allow.

 

[pharmaboy]

Yep , snakeskin hold air better as well, but you still require good technique to fill all the holes before you ride. Wide bars are the in thing don't you know! I'm at 670 and smack too many trees as it is

 

[ctguru]

Don't bother trying to go tubeless with those tyres; I've found them pretty unreliable at keeping the air in 'cos they're so bloody thin & porous. The stock bar is pretty chunky, so going carbon will shed a decent number of grams. There's not a huge weight saving in going to a XT cassette, the main upgrade over the SLX one is the surface treatment of the sprockets to improve corrosion & wear resistance.

nothing wrong with converting those tyres to tubeless

I have a set of shit crossmark wire 2.1 that I run tubeless on giant rims

also the RR tyres are fine on my sunringle rims, no issues at all

whats probelms have people had with the RR and tubeless??

 

[whitey89]

nothing wrong with converting those tyres to tubeless

I have a set of shit crossmark wire 2.1 that I run tubeless on giant rims

also the RR tyres are fine on my sunringle rims, no issues at all

whats probelms have people had with the RR and tubeless??

You can convert them to tubeless but if you are an aggressive rider you will blow them off the rim as they are not specifically tubeless designed tyres (even though they say they are). Much better going for a maxxis UST, much thicker and stronger sidewalls.

Ive just ordered mine, going to run maxxis straight up. Traditionally havent been a fan of the RS suspension but I havent been impressed with the new Fox CTD forks so im willing to try the RS, especially if you can get them dialed nicely.

 

[pistonbroke]

nothing wrong with converting those tyres to tubeless

I have a set of shit crossmark wire 2.1 that I run tubeless on giant rims

also the RR tyres are fine on my sunringle rims, no issues at all

whats probelms have people had with the RR and tubeless??

They don't hold air. They always leak from small holes in the sidewall, around where the sidewall meets the tread. Everything will be fine for a week. Have another ride and put it away and one of them will be flat the next day. I am running a lot of Stan's sealant also.
I think I will try cleaning the inside of the next set with brake cleaner. I have heard this works well with the lighter continental tyres, so will try it with the RR's.

 

[Art Vanderlay]

They don't hold air. They always leak from small holes in the sidewall, around where the sidewall meets the tread. Everything will be fine for a week. Have another ride and put it away and one of them will be flat the next day. I am running a lot of Stan's sealant also.
I think I will try cleaning the inside of the next set with brake cleaner. I have heard this works well with the lighter continental tyres, so will try it with the RR's.

I have had trouble running continental tyres tubeless. Heaps of pinhead holes that won't seal on the sidewalls. How does cleaning the inside of the side walls with brake cleaner have an affect?

 

[The Duckmeister]

RaRa Evo "Tubeless Ready" (*cough*) tyres have more holes than a flyscreen in them. I had them on a bike last year and never got the things to hold enough air for more than a day. I've done tubeless setups on the things at work for customers too, and they're consistently bad; you can see the sealant sweating out of the sidewalls in literally hundreds of places for weeks after they're done.

I'm currently using bog-standard folding-bead Crossmarks tubeless with far better reliability than the Ralphs.

 

[mtb101]

pistonbroke, great looking bike, that's going to give you some fun rides. think the weight is fine, would go tubeless but everything else is pretty good gear.

I've been running Schwalbe RRs snakeskin tubeless on Giant rims for over 12 months now (no issues) and I have just finished setting up a pair on my new Crest Rims, if the sidewall has pin holes stans should seal them by laying wheel down flat and then shaking and laying down again sometimes takes a while for solution to seal up leaks - but that's what it's designed to do (on new tyres of course!).

I also use silastic to seal the valve in - this is the most common reason I've had slow leaks in past. Other thing I do is get them to 60 psi ... think this helps test seal and really forces solution into any holes etc. I also use gaffa tape and once I apply gaffa I put tubes in and keep them at 60psi for 24 hours to really force the gaffa to seal rim holes. worked beautifully tonight on crest rims, no leaks and went up no dramas. 2 scoops btw.

 

[pistonbroke]

pistonbroke, great looking bike, that's going to give you some fun rides. think the weight is fine, would go tubeless but everything else is pretty good gear.

I've been running Schwalbe RRs snakeskin tubeless on Giant rims for over 12 months now (no issues) and I have just finished setting up a pair on my new Crest Rims, if the sidewall has pin holes stans should seal them by laying wheel down flat and then shaking and laying down again sometimes takes a while for solution to seal up leaks - but that's what it's designed to do (on new tyres of course!).

I also use silastic to seal the valve in - this is the most common reason I've had slow leaks in past. Other thing I do is get them to 60 psi ... think this helps test seal and really forces solution into any holes etc. I also use gaffa tape and once I apply gaffa I put tubes in and keep them at 60psi for 24 hours to really force the gaffa to seal rim holes. worked beautifully tonight on crest rims, no leaks and went up no dramas. 2 scoops btw.

What gaffa tape do you use? Is it a cloth tape? 19mm width. Or is it the grey stuff plumbers use?

 

[pistonbroke]

RaRa Evo "Tubeless Ready" (*cough*) tyres have more holes than a flyscreen in them. I had them on a bike last year and never got the things to hold enough air for more than a day. I've done tubeless setups on the things at work for customers too, and they're consistently bad; you can see the sealant sweating out of the sidewalls in literally hundreds of places for weeks after they're done.

That's what mine do(on my xtc). I can get the holes to seal just fine and its ok while I ride but if it sits in the shed for a few days they go flat. It seems to be worse on really hot days. The Stan's doesn't seem to like the heat. Anyone else notice this?

As for the brake cleaner??? I don't know what it does but I read it in a mag when one of the testers was having problems getting some conti race sport tyres to seal. Conti suggested it to him and it seemed to work. I'll give it a shot and see how it goes on the next set.

 

[mtb101]

What gaffa tape do you use? Is it a cloth tape? 19mm width. Or is it the grey stuff plumbers use?

there are plenty of weak imitations, but I use the original nashua gaffa

I tear it at about 15/20 mm wide and do 2 loops of rim. Pulling it very tight as I go around the rim. then a small hole for valve, put in tube, pump to 60 and leave for 24 hours. Remove tube but leave one side of tyre seated on rim. put in valve - seal it, put in solution and blow up with compressor. If you have issue pumping up tyre it means the inner well in rim is too deep so too much air is escaping. you would then need more gaffa to build up rim, you'll know you're right when tyre is a bit tight to get on. I keep tape away from inner rim edge so tyre bead has clean surface to seat.

 

[Art Vanderlay]

RaRa Evo "Tubeless Ready" (*cough*) tyres have more holes than a flyscreen in them. I had them on a bike last year and never got the things to hold enough air for more than a day. I've done tubeless setups on the things at work for customers too, and they're consistently bad; you can see the sealant sweating out of the sidewalls in literally hundreds of places for weeks after they're done.

I'm currently using bog-standard folding-bead Crossmarks tubeless with far better reliability than the Ralphs.

I set my RARA Evo tyres up tubeless and have had no troubles. Been holding air for a couple of months, no pinhole leaks in the side walls at all......lucky me!! But as I mentioned earlier, I have had this problem trying to get conti's to hold air. Might try the brake cleaner method.

 

[krackers007]

2013 XTC Composite 29er 1 Wheelset suggestions

I just got it yesterday...awesome ride was very surprised on how good it is as my first HT. My dually is a 2011 Anthem X29er and iprobably is going to be sitting in the garage for a while until I get over the stoke riding the new bike... ...

Need some suggestions on upgrading the wheels. I upgraded my 2011 Anthem with American Classic All Mountains as I was about 93KG and wanted to ensure they could handle my weight...dont think I am the smoothest rider. These are about 1800G and are strong as...can handle anything you throw at them.

I want to go lighter with this bike. I am now about 87KG, and hopefully ride allot smoother on the trails.. any suggestions from someone of a similar weight? Obviously I don't want to purchase something that will crumble at the first bump. Also struggling to find out how heavy the current wheels are online...

 

[pharmaboy]

I just got it yesterday...awesome ride was very surprised on how good it is as my first HT. My dually is a 2011 Anthem X29er and iprobably is going to be sitting in the garage for a while until I get over the stoke riding the new bike... ...

Need some suggestions on upgrading the wheels. I upgraded my 2011 Anthem with American Classic All Mountains as I was about 93KG and wanted to ensure they could handle my weight...dont think I am the smoothest rider. These are about 1800G and are strong as...can handle anything you throw at them.

I want to go lighter with this bike. I am now about 87KG, and hopefully ride allot smoother on the trails.. any suggestions from someone of a similar weight? Obviously I don't want to purchase something that will crumble at the first bump. Also struggling to find out how heavy the current wheels are online...

I got the hope pro2 hoops with crests in march, and a bit over 2000km off road since. tacoed the front wheel a couple of weeks ago (doin something dumb), and yesterday broke a rear spoke when standing up to accelerate (these are the wiggle ones with sapims and 1700g).

Plan is to order some chinese AM carbon rims, and get them built up on the existing hubs with new stronger spokes.

TBH, in hindsight, go with the extra $200 option and get TWE wheels - i would have appreciated the crash warranty etc for sure

 

[pistonbroke]

I just got it yesterday...awesome ride was very surprised on how good it is as my first HT. My dually is a 2011 Anthem X29er and iprobably is going to be sitting in the garage for a while until I get over the stoke riding the new bike... ...

Need some suggestions on upgrading the wheels. I upgraded my 2011 Anthem with American Classic All Mountains as I was about 93KG and wanted to ensure they could handle my weight...dont think I am the smoothest rider. These are about 1800G and are strong as...can handle anything you throw at them.

I want to go lighter with this bike. I am now about 87KG, and hopefully ride allot smoother on the trails.. any suggestions from someone of a similar weight? Obviously I don't want to purchase something that will crumble at the first bump. Also struggling to find out how heavy the current wheels are online...

What bike did you get and what's your budget?

 

[krackers007]

Twe

I've gotta 2013 giant composite xtc1 29er. Budget wise I would be happy to spend up to $800... Thanks for the feedback I'm the crest will keep looking but the hopes sound like a good hub

 

[pistonbroke]

I just got some ness carbon wheels for my xtc composite. They are pretty light at 1490 grams pair and cheap for carbon wheels at $750. Check out Torpedo7. Also check out the 29er wheel thread for my thought on them.

 

[benny the kid]

Lefty??

I've been oohing and aahing over a cannondale scalpel 3 at my lbs. Looking at the spec vs price its not worth spending the extra over my current anthem x29 1.
So instead I'm thinking of a bling build on the anthem.

What I'd like to know is whether you can change out the stupid 1 1/4" top headset cup for something lefty friendly (1.5, or 1 1/8 with a project 321 adapter)
Also has anyone stripped an anthem frame? Do they look good under the paint?
Cheers Ben

 

[krackers007]

I just got some ness carbon wheels for my xtc composite. They are pretty light at 1490 grams pair and cheap for carbon wheels at $750. Check out Torpedo7. Also check out the 29er wheel thread for my thought on them.

Thanks will do!

 

[jossa]

I've gotta 2013 giant composite xtc1 29er. Budget wise I would be happy to spend up to $800... Thanks for the feedback I'm the crest will keep looking but the hopes sound like a good hub

I have to chime in and highly recommend Greg at TWE. :thumb: He built me up some Arch EX with Hopes nearly a year ago for my A29X and they have been fantastic . I’m not light and they have taken some good hits and beating and were true until I got a big stick jammed up in the rear last week. I was travelling at a pretty good clip (the 20 mt long skid and the big whack against the seat stays attests to that!) and I was expecting a lot more damage than the slightly bent spoke and the rim out of true by about 7mm. An email to Greg and the wheel is on its way to be repaired free of charge!
The only issue I have had is with the alloy freehub sheel that cracked. I replaced it with a steel one. Bit heavier but stronger and isn’t as prone to being gouged by the cassette.