I went out on my first trial on the stumpjumper and found it didn’t suit me at all, when taking it back to the shop they had an anthem 2 also on trial so I decided to give that a go as well.
Going from my FSR (with 100m) I thought that I would like a bike with more suspension (stump jumper 140mm) but I found that the epic and the anthem suited me more and I found that the smaller ... more
Anthem 1 £1800 Anthem w (Women specific) £1800 Anthem zero £ 2999 Anthem Advanced £4699
There are also two frames
Anthem £899 Anthem Advanced £2260
I recently decided to trade up from my specialized FSR Comp, I was looking to buy an specialized stumpjumper or an epic. Both these bikes were available for a trial at my local bike shop so I booked to have a go on them both. While I was there I picked a Giant catalogue up.
I went out on my first trial on the stumpjumper and found it didn’t suit me at all, when taking it back to the shop they had an anthem 2 also on trial so I decided to give that a go as well.
Going from my FSR (with 100m) I thought that I would like a bike with more suspension (stump jumper 140mm) but I found that the epic and the anthem suited me more and I found that the smaller suspension did not stop me doing any of the things I did before.
As soon as I got on the bike I just felt that the bike was a lot faster. It is more of a race bike but I found it comfortable to ride.
I always thought that the race style bikes were quick up hill but not as easy to ride downhill, I have not found this with this bike.
After trying out all the bikes I decided to go for the anthem, the epic was good but I thought the anthem suited me a little better. I decided to go for an anthem 1, just because my budget could go up to that bike.
From someone who was dead set on a specialized I was surprised that I decided to go for a Giant because at first looking at the Giant catalogue I didn’t like any of the bikes, it just goes to show that you show always try and have a go on as many bikes as you can before you buy.
I would definitely recommend an Anthem to anyone, a quick bike and good all round XC bike.
From the most demanding XC race courses to epic all-dayers on sweet singletrack, Anthem is built for speed. 3.5 inches of Maestro travel mated to Giant’s lightest, racebutted ALUXX aluminum, the Anthem series is the standard by which all other dual suspension race bikes are measured.
