The New Anthem

The New Anthem

October 31, 2023 | Tim Krone | Bikes, Noise

The man who cannot stop buying mountain bikes — specifically dual-suspension mountain bike suitable for SW Michigan riding — continues to buy mountain bikes. Let’s recap the bikes I’ve had the past few years:

This is the new Anthem. If you purchase a complete bike, it will have 100mm of rear travel and 110mm of front travel. Mine has 100mm of rear travel and 120mm up front because I used a bunch of parts from the previous bike.

This biggest news about this Anthem is the rear suspension design. Much as Specialized abandoned FSR, and Kona quit their multi-link setup, and Santa Cruz moved away from VPP in the Blur, Giant ditched their renowned Maestro rear suspension for a single-pivot, flex-stay setup. It’s the (semi)hot new(ish) setup for a cross country mountain bike. The suspension is generally good enough and the weight is low. (Aside: I say “good enough,” but it’s good. Lots of the XC guys like to LTSO (lock that s*** out) and really don’t care too much about suspension quality. Me? I’m probably too slow/uncoordinated to appreciate lockouts, so I regularly tear that stuff off my bike. Grams! But I do appreciate suspension. This aside is terrible marketing.) What we can all agree on is stiffness. This bike is plenty stiff.

Despite the similarities to other bikes, this version of single-pivot flex-stay is different. Because my kinesthetics are not the best, I usually use a ShockWiz to help dial my suspension. Because I tend to loan out my bikes, I write down my suspension settings. I quickly noticed two things about the Anthem:

  • I run way less pressure in the rear shock than I did in other flex-stay bikes. This implies some suspension leverage difference. Hmmm.
  • The Anthem feels more like a multi-pivot bike. I specifically think it feels more like — almost exactly like — the Pivot Mach4 than the other single-pivot bikes. This is a very good thing.

I don’t know what kind of monkey business Giant is up to, but it totally works for me. I’m just thrilled.

The rest of the frame is pretty typical of a modern cross country bike. Really, all the medium-framed cross country bikes are within just a few millimeters of each other in geometry. The Anthem is as light as any of ‘em. Giant doesn’t get all “lightest in class” in their marketing like Specialized does, but the Anthem is light. Maybe the press-fit bottom bracket is not as chic as the recently-resurgent threaded BB, but whatever. it’s not BB30. Thankfully.

Other bits on this particular bike are a mixed bag of something old and something new.

The excellent Bontrager wheels have been with me for a while. They are awesome, and I love them. They don’t make my exact wheel, but this is the latest version.

The SRAM X0 Transmission drivetrain is relatively new and really nice. It shifts slower than non-Transmission AXS, but it shifts perfectly. Setup is super important. It requires careful attention and just the right length chain. I love everything about it but the shift pod, with which I have struggled to form a happy relationship. In fact, I recently borrowed a bike with mechanical X.01, and it felt like an old friend. I’m giving serious thought to buying a different AXS shifter to see if that’ll do the trick. Honestly, it’s not horrible, but I haven’t had this much trouble getting comfortable with a shifter since I had those crazy Shimano STI mountain levers with a rapid-rise rear derailleur. If that setup didn’t make me quit mountain biking, I don’t think any controls will.

SRAM Level TL brakes are my favorite bang-for-the-buck brakes. You can poo-poo SRAM brakes and their demonic DOT5.1 fluid all you want, but I love ’em. Insert heart emoji.

All that Fox stuff is nice. The frame came with the Factory shock. Sweet. I had the fork from another project. My last bike had a 31.6 seat post and this one is 30.9, so I had to get a new dropper. Why not a Fox to complete the package? Sure. ALWAYS a Wolf Tooth lever. Seriously, if you’re using anything else, get a Wolf Tooth. It’s better.

Tires are old guy perfect. A Maxxis Ardent in the front and an Aspen in the back. This is awesome for someone who has zero faith in traction and really doesn’t want to fall down.

And that’s the package. It’s pretty legit. You could make it lighter with the application of more dollars, but I was out of budget. By a long shot.

Riding it is great. FANTASTIC. The thing that differentiates this bike from a Blur/Epic/Hei Hei (in my opinion) is the rear suspension. (I think that) whatever Giant is doing back there is better, and you’re only going to get it on an Anthem. And you should.