eMTB Options For 2024

e-Noob said:
here I am... dreaming to get a deal on 2020 Trance e+1 pro 😭

cross my mind...
Click to expand...

Here is a deal on a used 2019 Giant Trance E+ 1... $3,463 ;)

www.bicyclebluebook.com

2019 Giant Trance E Plus 1 Pro

Looking for a sold? Look no further, the BicycleBlueBook.com Marketplace has a used 2019 one available for purchase.
www.bicyclebluebook.com www.bicyclebluebook.com

1589488736263.png
 
bob armani said:
Good catch and nice recommendation. I would grab this one with no hesitation if I was in purchasing mode right now! Tempting isn't it... 👍
Click to expand...

Yes, and the 2019 Giant Trance E+ 2 has now dropped to $3,144

www.bicyclebluebook.com

2019 Giant Trance E+ 2

Looking for a de listed? Look no further, the BicycleBlueBook.com Marketplace has a used 2019 one available for purchase.
www.bicyclebluebook.com www.bicyclebluebook.com

1589492430935.png
 
My brother wants the Trance now 😃 I told him the traditional Trance 2 was $2600 and he was genuinely shocked! 😃
He paid $475 for his Giant in 1999...
 
Last edited:
Friends,

I have got the Trance E+ 2 Pro very quickly. I picked up Grace who will take care of the cat Tygra when I am on my short vacation, and instead of driving to my place we took the Trance to my brethren Jacek and Piotr. The brothers did a thorough setup of the bike. I'll show the pictures later.

When we reached home with Grace, I continued the setup. I inflated the shocks, replaced pedals and the saddle.

Then we had a lot of white wine, mostly from New Zealand.

Life's good 🍷
 
@Browneye Chris, it was so funny! Perry from Bikeman is a respected dealer here. Giant sent him the bike immediately after he asked for it. I've got a text message from their office encouraging me to drive for the bike.

When Perry saw me in the store, he seemed to be very surprised.

-- You there?! It will take us an hour to set up the bike!

Then I called another Bikeman store asking for a stem riser. They had it and now my Trance is ready for Cracow 😃
 
The First Day with The Trance E+ 2 Pro

My brother Jacek said he would not let me ride out in Cracow before he inspected and fixed my new mount :D

1589515444050.png

My new ride as collected from one of three Bikeman LBSes in Warsaw. While it is a fantastic e-bike, I didn't like the saddle and the grips. The bike came with no pedals, and my brother asked me to fit the Shimano clipless ones for that day.

1589515686370.png

My other brother Piotr test-riding the Trance. Piotr has a lot of experience in MTBs. He rides a Scott himself.

1589515852507.png

Jacek has installed an 80 mm Ergotec stem raiser. Before, my head was below my behind :D The shocks had been inadequately inflated.

1589516056003.png

Jacek doing stunts.

1589516136992.png

Brethren indefinitely testing the bike. Grace (Margaret) got bored but she met Jacek's wife soon and both had a little drink together.

1589516443365.png

"What else could I do to your bike, Brother?"
"Yes, I can go for rides together with you provided you ride the Giant" -- Jacek said -- "because you won't be able to escape from me on the EU Class 1 e-bike!" 🤣
Jacek got overexcited with the Trance E. I told him the Turbo Levo SL would be the ideal e-bike for him. He is extremely fit, needs a lightweight bike and he believes the Trance E offers too much of assistance to him. He'd use the electric power uphill and upwind only.

@PDoz, there was no trouble with the software update with Android! The Auto mode works like a dream!

1589517028731.png

You have seen this photo already. The 1999 Giant MTB was a novelty at its times. So much has changed over the last 21 years... My brothers were admiring the design of the battery chamber in my Trance E. It is a work of a genius! Down with Specialized!

@PDoz and @Browneye, many thanks for the inspiration! I have found my Holy Grail!
 
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Stefan, great to hear you are enjoying the trance.

If you like the ergos with the higher stem , you may want to consider extending the forks +/- using riser bars instead? You can fit longer internals and get more suspension travel relatively cheaply ($100 oz) . If you're considering bars let me know and I'll try and dig up my pm to brown eye about 31.8 vs 35 mm

I've tried those stem risers on other bikes and find they do weird things to handling - I'm not sure if it's from moving the pivot point backwards, or just because the bike doesn't look as sexy....
 
That is a great looking bike. Photos look better than the factory stock pics - the color looks more like purple than blue.

Here's the PM @PDoz sent some time back about bars. The stock 35mm bars are 800mm wide with a 20mm rise, the stem is flat 50mm on the size L and M.

"Normal tapered mtb bars were 31.8 mm diameter but in 2019 it became trendy for 35 mm diameter because clearly we all need stronger / stiffer bars....So the trance has the 35 mm diameter bars ( and stem to suit) whilst normal bikes " only" have 31.8 mm . ( eg your other bikes / my full e ) Now, if you have a spare normal 31.8 diam stem lying around you can go back to the cheaper old fashioned 31.8 bars and save about 30% on the bars you buy. Not everyone likes the stiffer 35 mm bars - people complain about them transmitting more vibration etc ( yet other people like the extra feel ).

The challenging question is do you pay for a normal 31.8 mm stem or stick with 35 mm and just pay extra for the bars ? Now, if I was intending to go longer of shorter reach on my stem at the same time as getting new bars, I'd definitely be buying 31.8 because everything ends up cheaper. Eg if you go from the stock 25 mm rise up to a 40 mm rise bar but want to keep your stretch to the bars about the same, you might want a shorter LENGTH stem ( eg size l trance has a 50 mm stem, try a 40 mm or even a 35 mm if you want quicker steering / closer bars) .

Nb Most likely, your lbs will have a collection of different length stems out the back that they have taken off new bikes - so if you have a good relationship with them they'll lend you a few lengths to play with. Only a super trendy lbs or a down hill mtb focussed lbs will have a collection of 35 mm stems - perhaps ask them? They might even have a collection of bars to try.

If you look on all the discount parts sites like chainreaction, you'll notice the 31.8 mm bars are a LOT cheaper than 35 mm , for example you can get a perfectly good set of 31.8 mm diameter bars with close to 40 mm rise at $60 oz ( https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/au/en/race-face-respond-riser-bar/rp-prod106582 ) , I use these at $69 oz ( https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/au/en/nukeproof-horizon-riser-bar/rp-prod158773 ) , it's about $140 for 35 mm bars.

Now, about bar width...800 mm or 780 ? Old school narrow 760? Wide 800 mm bars with super short stem ? My head hurts"
 
Stefan Mikes said:
The First Day with The Trance E+ 2 Pro

My brother Jacek said he would not let me ride out in Cracow before he inspected and fixed my new mount :D
View attachment 52448
My new ride as collected from one of three Bikeman LBSes in Warsaw. While it is a fantastic e-bike, I didn't like the saddle and the grips. The bike came with no pedals, and my brother asked me to fit the Shimano clipless ones for that day.
View attachment 52451
My other brother Piotr test-riding the Trance. Piotr has a lot of experience in MTBs. He rides a Scott himself.
View attachment 52452
Jacek has installed an 80 mm Ergotec stem raiser. Before, my head was below my behind :D The shocks had been inadequately inflated.
View attachment 52453
Jacek doing stunts.
View attachment 52454
Brethren indefinitely testing the bike. Grace (Margaret) got bored but she met Jacek's wife soon and both had a little drink together.
View attachment 52455
"What else could I do to your bike, Brother?"
"Yes, I can go for rides together with you provided you ride the Giant" -- Jacek said -- "because you won't be able to escape from me on the EU Class 1 e-bike!" 🤣
Jacek got overexcited with the Trance E. I told him the Turbo Levo SL would be the ideal e-bike for him. He is extremely fit, needs a lightweight bike and he believes the Trance E offers too much of assistance to him. He'd use the electric power uphill and upwind only.
@PDoz, there was no trouble with the software update with Android! The Auto mode works like a dream!
View attachment 52456
You have seen this photo already. The 1999 Giant MTB was a novelty at its times. So much has changed over the last 21 years... My brothers were admiring the design of the battery chamber in my Trance E. It is a work of a genius! Down with Specialized!

@PDoz and @Browneye, many thanks for the inspiration! I have found my Holy Grail!
Click to expand...

I love the iridescent fade paint on your new ride... let us know how you like the Giant/Yamaha drive system compared to your Specialized/Brose. ;)

1589559855236.png
 
Friends,
I was on my first off-road ride with the Monster! Interesting observations but I need to do shopping (and eventually I drive to Cracow tomorrow -- not today). So I will report a little bit later!
PDoz said:
If you like the ergos with the higher stem , you may want to consider extending the forks +/- using riser bars instead? You can fit longer internals and get more suspension travel relatively cheaply ($100 oz)
Click to expand...
I honestly don't understand how it is done. Let me get couple of hundred kilometres to think about the mods.
Browneye said:
Now, about bar width...800 mm or 780 ? Old school narrow 760? Wide 800 mm bars with super short stem ? My head hurts"
Click to expand...
I'm happy with the 35 mm/780 mm bars in the Trance E. Honestly!

My mods are simple: grips, pedals, saddle, smartphone mount, bell, mirror, and the water bottle cage (the one where you can grab the bottle sideways).

As I say, I will report later. The sad thing is the Monster told me my leg input was only 76.8 W. Good news is even the Normal assist mode has a pretty low battery use, and the Eco+ is even better! SmartAssist sucks!
 
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Give it a bit longer in smart assist. Mine was absolutely useless the first time I tried it, and then I spent some time riding up / down my dam wall, within about 15 minutes it started to work. I'm not sure if the inclinometer was stuck or the computer just needed to calibeate.
 
Just a caution for people looking at second hand low km " bargains" at the moment. As well as the minefield of non transferable warranties, keep in mind the potential for inaccurate odometer readings - by either cheating devices , faulty speed sensors, or parts replacement.

This is the odo on my giant full e pro a couple of weeks before running out of warranty - 41 km.....on the new motor. The rest of the bike has somewhere between 2500 to 7000 HARD km - including the battery and most of the running gear. I honestly can't say what the real usage is, because at "2500" km, 2000 km were accumulated whilst my speed sensor was presumably unreliable ( the computer decided my average speed was 7.2 kph over that time - yet for the first 500 km I was averaging 19 kph...). I can't even guess at how far I've ridden - but I've worn out 2 cassettes, 5 chains, 3 sets of tyres. I've replaced bith f+r wheel bearings twice and the suspension bushes were recently replaced....so I expect 5000 km might be closer to the truth.
 

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This is a strange market, @PDoz. Fancy someone has "turned back" a car odometer because the engine was replaced. I'm ignorant but guess it would be a kind of a criminal offence. Yet you have proved yourself it happens to ebikes.

A question: has anyone of you heard of a successful Syncdrive Pro 2020 delimiter? @Browneye, is your speed magnet on a spoke or on the brake rotor?
 
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