2017 Anthem 29er wish

[nsr0772]

My wish for the next model year is a carbon 29er anthem with 2 x sequential shifting XT di2 and some of those fancy new inverted rockshox forks. Some house brand carbon wheels would be nice to. Any chance of this bike appearing for me for next year. Giant, are you listening.

[Trevtassie]

I think if I was wishing for that I'd also be wishing for a large bag of cash to drop out of the sky and land in my back yard.

[trailgumby]

My wish is for an XC dual suspension bike that will accept two *full-size* bottles within the frame so I can do longer events without a Camelbak. I am not a koala.

[Duck!]

My wish for the next model year is a carbon 29er anthem with 2 x sequential shifting XT di2 and some of those fancy new inverted rockshox forks. Some house brand carbon wheels would be nice to. Any chance of this bike appearing for me for next year. Giant, are you listening.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the only way you'll get this is to get hold of an existing frame & fit Di2 to it, because the Anthem 29er is now officially a thing of the past.

[trailgumby]

My wish for the next model year is a carbon 29er anthem with 2 x sequential shifting XT di2 and some of those fancy new inverted rockshox forks. Some house brand carbon wheels would be nice to. Any chance of this bike appearing for me for next year. Giant, are you listening.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the only way you'll get this is to get hold of an existing frame & fit Di2 to it, because the Anthem 29er is now officially a thing of the past.

Idiots.

[Duck!]

Just to cover my arse a bit, I'll rephrase that to "it appears the Anthem 29er is dead", on the basis that there is no mention of one in the media release regarding the new frames. They might carry the old one over, but it is getting long in the tooth & running beyond Giant's usual production cycle.

[Trevtassie]

Apparently the Anthem is being moved down in the pecking order into a more trail machine and there will be a new top end 29er cross country.

[Duck!]

Not really; the XTC hardtail has always been the "grand prix" racer. The geometry tweaks to the new Anthem are in recognition of many XC courses actually getting more technical. Additionally, Giant's Maestro suspension linkage geometry, excellent as it is, tends to give a relatively long rear end, which doesn't do the geometrically-challenged 29er platform any favours, and common though it is, the Anthem 29er was widely criticised as being a bit of a slug for a XC rig. The tighter rear end allowed by the smaller 27.5" wheels, further tightened by the new design despite an extra 10mm of travel makes for a considerably more agile rig.

If by new 29er you're thinking of the Fathom, it's not really a racer, it's more of a trail hardtail; more performance-oriented than the recreational Talon series, but less so than the XTC thanks to its apparently slacker front end, and in 27.5" form at least, longer fork.

[Duck!]

There is "likely" to be a XT Di2-spec Anthem of some form in the new range.

[Duck!]

Just to cover my arse a bit, I'll rephrase that to "it appears the Anthem 29er is dead", on the basis that there is no mention of one in the media release regarding the new frames. They might carry the old one over, but it is getting long in the tooth & running beyond Giant's usual production cycle.

Just as well I posted this..... The Anthem 29er hasn't been put out to pasture just yet, but hasn't been given the major rework the 27.5 frames have got. As with last year there are only two models, one SLX-specced and one carbon, specced with SRAM X1.

Contrary to previous info I was given, at present there are no XT Di2 models anywhere in the range. Possibly mid-year additions to the range, but more likely next year's model.