Tested: Giant Trance X

“Is that a custom titanium bike?” The other rider was clearly impressed as I spun the brushed aluminum Trance X up the access road. “Nah, actually, this thing is super affordable!” I responded. And it is. The complete Trance X barely costs more than the carbon, frame-only Transition Smuggler I wrote about last year. In fact, it’s one of the more affordable bikes I’ve reviewed. It’s also got a whole bunch of adjustment chips, a handy in-frame storage compartment, and a pretty solid build. So how does it perform on the trail?

Giant Trance X in a Nutshell

• Travel: 140 mm (rear) 150 mm (front)
• Wheel Size: 29” or mixed 29”/27.5”
• Size Tested: Large
• Head Tube Angle: 64.8°
• Bike Weight: 34 lbs (15.42 kg)
• Partial build weight (complete bike without wheels, tires, rotors, or cassette): 22.88 lbs (10.38 kg)

The Giant Trance X is available now.

Giant Trance X Review

Giant’s naming conventions can be a little confusing at times, but the Trance X I reviewed here is pretty straightforward. It’s the equivalent bike to the women’s Liv Intrigue X that Julia introduced (with a much more affordable build), and has a very similar feature set and intentions. That means it’s a pretty classic trail bike meant to go up, down, and across mountains. The baseline Trance X, without any “Advanced” behind the name, is the most affordable aluminum build.

At $3900, it’s the entry level bike of the line with a solid, if subdued, spec. 140/150 mm of travel, modern geometry with lots of adjustment potential, in-frame storage, and Giant’s dual link Maestro suspension are all ingredients for success, and I’ve had an absolute blast rallying the Trance X around my local trails for the last few months. However, I did do some experimenting and made a few component swaps to dial in the experience.

Frame Details

Affordable bikes are so. dang. good. these days. The Trance X’s frame feels very well-considered: it sports generous chain and downtube protection, logical cable routing, plenty of space for a water bottle, and a generally complete or “premium” feature set.

This is also the bike I had in mind when I wrote about my love of chips. The rear triangle flip chip delivers .7° of head tube angle adjustment and 6 mm of bottom bracket height.

The adjustable headset gives riders the opportunity to counter the effect of those adjustments on the bike’s reach or dial it in for their body with 10 mm of adjustment. It’s so cool to see these options on a sub $4K bike.

The rear triangle chips are also really easy to swap. I never found myself fumbling, cursing, or dropping parts while swapping them around, and I spend a lot of time doing all three of those things with most bikes. They’re so easy to swap that I could probably do a full geo swap trailside in the time it takes most folks to pull up their kneepads, take a sip of water, and get ready to descend. Chips are great; easy to use chips are even better.

The Trance X might just have the most robust downtube protection I’ve seen on a review bike this year, as well as decent in-frame storage. It feels like the box wars are heating up, with more brands experimenting with closure systems, gaskets, and wider openings. And in those regards, no, this is not the biggest, most “premium,” in-frame storage option - but it’s completely adequate and a lot better than nothing. Thank you, Giant!

There are two small specs on the Trance X that do deviate a little from my proclivities. First, Giant uses a 30.9 mm seat tube. Give me the girth! I’d much prefer to see a 31.6, or better yet a 34.9 mm seat tube on this bike, but it’s really not that big of a deal, especially because Giant specs a full 200 mm length dropper on the size Large, so there’s no need to swap in a longer dropper for most folks. Again, thank you Giant!

Second, Giant is still on the pressfit BB train. I had no issues with the Trance X’s bottom bracket and, generally, it feels like brands have dialed in the pressfit standard and their tolerances. But I’d still prefer threaded. Again, two very small niggles with an otherwise excellent and affordable frame.

Geometry and Sizing

Giant’s sizing and geometry for the Trance X is generally “normal.” Head tube angles range from 64.4 to 65.1° depending on chip orientation. Reaches range from 430 mm to 510 mm over 4 sizes, and are further adjustable by 5 mm in either direction using the included headset cups. Chainstay lengths do stay the same for all sizes, at 439 mm in the “neutral” position.

At 6’2” I rode the size Large, and got along well with its 480ish mm reach. I did do some headset experimenting, which I’ll get into later.

Build and Price

The Trance X’s build is a pretty solid budget combination of Shimano SLX drivetrain, Fox Performance level suspension, and house brand parts. Shimano absolutely owns the lower-priced drivetrain and brake market right now. The SLX drivetrain shifted quite nicely, and it’s easy to upgrade to an XT shifter if you desire a crisper feeling. I do wish the chain was Shimano, not KMC. Those Shimano engineers put so much time into dialing in the interface of chain and cassette, it’s a shame not to lean into their hard work.

Shimano’s Deore four piston brakes with 203/180 mm rotors slow things down; these are another great budget choice that I’d choose over “R” spec SRAM brakes every day of the week.

I’m a sucker for that Performance level Fox 36 up front. It’s so easy to set up, and provides a very predictable ride. No, it doesn’t feel quite as refined as their Grip 2 options but, for the price, it’s so good.

The Float Performance shock did a fine job. I do think it contributed a little to the less damped/more reactive ride quality I noticed from the Trance X. I ended up closing the rebound circuit all the way to slow the rear end down, which helped it feel a little more controlled on lips and landings.

While most of the Trance X’s build kit is very strong, I did have beef with a few of the house-brand parts. The Giant Romero SL saddle is one of my least favorite options, ever. Similarly the Giant grips felt really cheap. I swapped off both touchpoints immediately, and felt so much better on the bike. For some reason, stem sizes grow with frame sizes for the Trance X. That means my Large came with a 50 mm stem. I swapped on a 40 mm version, along with some higher rise bars, to set myself up for success.

I went on one ride with the stock saddle, stem, bars, and grips, and it was a revelation how much better and more capable the Trance X felt after I swapped them out. These are relatively affordable changes to make, and the end result was a much more modern-feeling ride.

The stock EXO casing Maxxis DHF and Dissector tires make a lot of sense, and the house-brand wheels stayed remarkably round while I ran them into things.

Giant does offer an SX build of the Trance X which swaps in a 27.5” rear wheel, and a 55 mm Marzochi Bomber Air shock for 145 mm of rear travel, along with a 160 mm fork. Personally, if I was buying this bike, that’s the build I would go for, but unfortunately it’s not available in the US.

For $3,900, the Trance X is a good, if not absurd, deal. Excluding current sale prices, an alloy Transition Smuggler is going to run you $100 more, for an inferior NX level build. $3,625 gets you an alloy Cannondale Habit LT 2 with a similar build. That said, the direct to consumer brands have a definite edge here, where $300 more than the Trance X’s price will get you a carbon Canyon Spectral 8 CLCTV complete with a pretty baller build.

Where does the Giant Trance X shine?

Trail bikes are supposed to be good everywhere, and great nowhere, right? And the Trance X is. Mostly. It’s one of my favorites to ride on my local flow-ish trails because it’s so much fun to jump and pump. I found myself reaching further on every lip, and pushing to milk extra speed out of corners on every ride on the Trance X. The rear end provides a really supportive and responsive platform to load and pop. I felt like it was significantly more “poppy” than the Transition Smuggler, and I loved doing my best dual slalom racer imitations on this bike.

When it comes time to pedal back up for another lap, the Trance is fairly efficient, but it places more of a premium on traction than a motionless pedaling experience. I found myself reaching for its climb switch anytime I was climbing gravel or pavement - although, to be fair, I tend to do that on most bikes and seem to use my climb switch more than most of my friends.

Giant doesn’t lean as much into the “our bikes are jib machines” marketing persona that so many brands have embraced of late, but this Trance X is actually a prime candidate for that sort of advertising campaign, especially with the smaller rear wheel installed thanks to those flip chips.

This bike is really, really fun on fast trails with lots of lips and side hits, and plenty of opportunities to get creative. It feels taut and bouncy, like a trampoline. Load it, pump, and launch over the net.

How about those chips?

Have I mentioned I love chips? I started out with the Trance X in the neutral reach position, and the middle rear end position. And it was fine. It felt normal, like a trail bike. Lots of people will like it here. But then I dropped it into the low position, and it felt remarkably more capable. I found myself seeking out steeper trails, that are usually the purview of longer-travel bikes. And then I found myself going a little faster, and wanting a little more stability. No worries, swap the headset cups, and regain the 5 mm of reach that the rear chip took away. In full 29” guise, for my 6’2” height, the Large Trance X in long and low mode is an absolute hoot. If I still lived in the Rockies, this would be my preferred configuration.

And then I put on a 27.5” rear wheel, and bumped the rear end back up to the middle position, and made my throat hoarse with all the hooting and hollering I was doing on our local trails. I love this bike as a mullet. It’s so easy to get into the air, get sideways on, slap corners with, and generally just get wild. If you have even an inkling of temptation to mullet this bike, do it!

Where does the Giant Trance X make some compromises?

Maybe thanks to that smaller, less damped shock, or maybe it’s inherent to the Trance’s suspension design, but this is not the most traction-forward, glued to the ground, compliant bike in this travel bracket. The Smuggler feels notably more supple in this regard, and even the Cannondale Habit LT felt a little more traction-forward. Even with softer tires, the Trance X tended to skitter over roots, rather than find traction on them. It’s not a problematic trait, I really enjoyed using this as an excuse to loft over choppy sections of trail rather than try to plow through them, but it’s worth noting for prospective buyers. You could probably ease this handicap a little with a larger volume air shock or a coil.

Tied to that “not so supple rear end” is that fact that, for me at least, the Trance X didn’t feel like a particularly “fast” bike. It’s very quick on familiar trails, but if I was racing an enduro or trying to go fast on blind trails, it wouldn’t be my top choice in this travel category. It’s not an enduro bike hiding behind shorter travel numbers.

I also think that the Trance X could sell itself short to some prospective buyers. If I had merely done the classic bike shop brake squeeze and fork squish, I would not have come away impressed thanks to the grips, saddle, and cockpit.

Putting my own shorter stem, thicker grips, and higher rise bars on the Trance really elevated my experience riding it, and I really recommend any potential buyers consider doing the same.

In Conclusion

I smiled a lot while writing this review. I smiled a lot while riding this bike. Some bikes I come away from the review reminiscing on all the sketchy lines I tried on them. Others I remember the long solo rides they enabled. And still others leave an aftertaste of party trains at sunset with friends. With the Trance X I was lucky enough to experience all three sorts of rides, and in every scenario, I went home so, so happy with this versatile bike. It just does the dang thing, and that’s pretty excellent.