I spoke to a Giant New Zealand rep, and while they may have been lying, or not in the know, I was surprised to hear there were no plans at all for an Anthem update in line with the Evo, Top Fuel, Spark etc.
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@devolikewhoa83, line choice my friend. Line choice.
I’m a big fan of “under-biking” wherever possible. Purchased a new Santa Cruz hardtail this year just for this purpose and spend most of my riding time on it instead if my FS bike.
Efficiency and line choice increasing with each ride. Forces you to look up the trail all the time instead of barreling through stuff on a FS bike
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Line choice is one thing but the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. If you have to weave around trail undulations on a hardtail that you could go straight over on a FS bike I would say the FS bike would be faster.
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True to a point, but highly dependent on the obstacle that is rolled over vs avoided. Just having suspension is not a free ticket to being faster. It may make it smoother and faster than rolling it with the hardtail, but that doesn’t guarantee it is faster than the alternate line. The undulations and such could result in a drop in speed or momentum that is more detrimental than the avoidance, regardless of suspension. That tricky trail problem is what makes this all more complex and fun to “solve” as a rider. 
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How much does this thing weight? Looks sweet!
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Thanks. 
Its no light weight with a 2.4 Rekon, dropper post and NX, but its currently at 11kg or a shade over 24lbs
Yeah, that’s true but only to a point. There’s also picking the right tool for the job.
Lots of fast and very skilled riders out here. Very few ride the trails i’m thinking of on a hardtail, and when they do, the hardtail is slack with 2.6 tires and a 140mm fork.
It’s a seller’s market. I probably under-priced my Blur, it sold quickly and with no haggling. I would also recommend going used now, but be ready with cash in hand.
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Yeah, i have some friends with bikes with bottles on the downtube and they get disgustingly dirty. No thanks.
How do you like the Aspen on the front? I use it as a rear but its mostly loose over hard, rocky stuff where I live and am afraid to throw it on the front. Currently running a aspen/ardent race combo.
You should listen to the podcast with Alex Wild episode 269 around 36 minutes in. He mentioned getting faster descending not by training on his XC bike, a fully rigid bike, a hard tail or whatever else, but rather by practicing/riding on a longer travel trail bike with a dropper post. At 42:00 Jonathan mentioned Katerina Nash, a world champ level athlete, and how she started riding “big enduro level bikes” and found that was the best way she gained skill, confidence and speed. Nate mentioned the “big bikes” as a great way to develop skills and Jonathan “completely agree(d).”
Watch Sam Hill and Richie and the rest of the gravity guys talk about line choice and it’s much more involved than most XC guys will ever consider and they are on 160-200mm travel bikes. My point being you don’t need to be on a hard tail to care about line choice and free speed.
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Finally got mine done and tested it out. Thoroughly impressed with the E13 cassette compared to the GX Eagle cassette on my Ransom.
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You’re lucky. Mine went straight back to backcountry. Couldn’t get it to play nice at all. Running xtr 11 now.
Interesting though as Jared Graves has talked about riding XC bikes with proper XC tires to make him a faster rider as it forces you to take better lines and use skills better. I personally think you’re forced to use skills on a short travel bike compared to being able to mask them on a big bike. However if you’re lacking confidence, a big travel bike will definitely instill that and let you push hard and send some big stuff if you’re not used to doing so.
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I love the Aspen front and rear in mn.
In South Dakota I ran ardent race front and rear as it’s very gnarly terrain out there.
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Not necessarily true. With this theory, you aren’t taking into account that your speed will be greatly reduced if you’re hammering through stuff vs. Searching for smoothest line.
Every rock and root takes x Km/h off your speed that you would then need to spend energy to gain back through re-acceleration. Plus you’re reaccelerating a heavier FS bike.
I’m not saying that FS bikes don’t have their place (they do) just saying your ‘shortest distance between two points is a straight line’ argument is garbage. Even DH racers know this and they carry the most amount of suspension of all disciplines.
Just think about it for a second…this is just logic
I don’t disagree, my point was that under-biking forces you to be smart with line choice, FS bikes allow you to be lazy.
I’ve listened to the podcast and recall the part you’ve mentioned…as a concept under-biking has been around for decades and it’s commonly accepted that if you’re riding less bike than you’d need for a given terrain, then skill needs to bridge the gap when suspension can’t get you there.
The longer travel theory is relatively new to me and I haven’t thought through all the pros / cons yet to determine how it would apply to my real-world situation.
I’m not one to adopt something because I heard it on some podcast or because a couple of pros do it. Under-biking works for me and a ton of other regular-joes out there who have been employing this technique for years.
Jury is still out in the long travel bike to built handling skill theory…
Not “garbage”… I did say undulations…all dependent on the situation…most pro XCO riders ride .FS…all dependent on the terrain, tbe rider, and the conditions…right tool for the trade.
I’m sure both over and under biking both give benefits.
What about riding ss to pick up flow?
Jeez dude…take it down a notch.
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