Editor’s Note: There has been much speculation and interest in the new Anthem full suspension bikes from Giant shod with the big wheels. We sent Grannygear over to investigate, and here is his report with images.

If there was any 29er full suspension bike that had the rumor mills buzzing with excitement this last year, it most likely was a big wheeled version of the Anthem X with Giant’s Maestro short link suspension. Then, once it truly was revealed and seen by spy lenses, etc, it made an appearance at Sea Otter under the control of Carl Decker and won the Super D. If that was not enough, Carl followed that up with a win at Downieville in the Combined AM event, where you need to finish well in both a 27 mile XC course and a 15 mile DH course on the same bike.

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Now, the Anthem X 29er 1, 2, and 3 are hitting dealer showrooms now. We took a drive over to Giant North America HQ and spoke to Andrew Juskaitis about the new bike. Remember that I wrote an opinion piece that put out the thought that 100mms of front and rear travel was the sweet spot for 29ers. That, IMO, is an excellent balance point that, depending on the build of the parts and the angles of the bike’s geometry, you can have a bike that would perform very well in a huge percentage of the world’s riding terrain under nearly any rider.

The intended venue of the Anthem X would be an XC, endurance, race, 24 hour, light to medium duty trails situation. The Maestro suspension has a very loyal following and if Giant did their homework translating that around the bigger wheels, and I imagine they did, then this bike should be a winner. The medium size of the Anthem X 29er 1, with a bottle cage and no pedals (it was a demo bike) with the Maxxis Crossmark 2.1s F/R was 26lbs and a couple of ounces extra. Not bad at all really, considering the price.

There have been some doubts cast on internet forums about the long chain stays (18.2”). If this were a hard tail, I would agree that it would be a deal killer for me, but on an full suspension bike…well, I give that some grace as things are a bit different there. And, in any case, you do need to take the entire bike as a whole before too much judgment gets passed.

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I shot some pics of the rear tire clearance, which is quite generous. You could run a pretty good sized tire back there. This is a Crossmark 2.1 in the photos.

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The front rotor is 185mm across all 3 models, something that I have come to appreciate on 29ers, especially ones that can go as fast as this bike will.

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The hubs are now a DT Swiss based hub as DT Swiss is the new ‘hub partner’ for Giant. That is also a good thing. I was told that the rear hub is compatible with DT Swiss parts for upgrades, etc.

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The rims are a new Giant branded item, the P-XC29 2. I was told it was tubeless capable with Stans tape, etc, but I have not confirmed that with Stans. The last time that was quoted from Giant regarding the rims on the prior test bike, the XTC 29er-1 hardtail, turned out to be a bit off the mark, but those were a different extrusion.

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The shaped rocker is a really good looking and the polished frame on the Anthem X 29er 1 is very shiny-shiny and looks great behind the blue accent pieces of anodized aluminum in the pivots, seatposts, etc. I was told the polishing is done by hand.

We are slated to be riding one version or another of an Anthem X 29er by the time Interbike is over, so stay tuned.