Bike magazine recently published its annual buyer’s guide, which it calls “The Bible of Bike Tests,” and features several Giant models among the year’s best mountain bikes. Making the list in the XC category is the 2017 Anthem Advanced.
In its review, veteran Bike magazine journalist Mike Ferrentino describes the updates to the latest Anthem range, including increased suspension travel, refined geometry, and the new trunnion-mount shock technology. He also writes about Giant Factory Off-Road Team rider Carl Decker’s win streak at the Downieville “All-Mountain Worlds,” an event in the U.S. that combines traditional XC with aggressive trail-riding skills, and how Decker’s bike of choice, the Anthem Advanced, has evolved with the sport.
“Giant’s Anthem has long been the brand’s staple XC platform, and this latet incarnation shows that the company is paying attention to the changing times,” Ferrentino writes.
As for the Anthem’s performance during Bike’s test sessions in Arkansas, Ferrentino writes: “Benefitting from some upgrades to the Maestro suspension—carbon rocker link, trunnion-style upper shock mount, larger shock body and the resulting lower air pressure and lighter damping rates—the Anthem did an exemplary job of soaking up bumps, while remaining active but indifferent to pedaling inputs. This is a surprisingly light and agile race bike.”
To read the full review, pick up a copy of the Bike Magazine Bible of Bike Tests, available now. Or check out a digital version, along with a video roundtable discussion with some of the Bike magazine testing crew, at the Bikemag.com website. And to learn more about the entire 2017 Anthem range, click here.
