Okay, finally got home, got some dinner, bike is in the garage. Whoot!
Thank you everyone for so much input and ideas, opinions. I got a pretty quick education on these things, so when we wandered into this little bike shop out at the beach, and they only had one eMTB - this leftover '19 Trance E+2, it seemed too good to be true. I did not realize there was such a model. I did a quick search for reviews and comment on my smartphone, and sure enough, this model was the middle line for 2019, and outstanding reviews on it. The sales guy immediately said they would drop the price as a close-out, $4099 out the door with a pedal set and sales tax, all in. That's quite a savings from similarly styled bikes we've been looking at here, and just a tad more than the mail-order ones.
I mulled it for a bit, trying to figure out how I would pay for it - we have some $$ hanging around but not that much, but plenty of credit card limit. Wife said 'just get it if you want it'. I took a quick parking lot demo and wow, it's really great. I was thinking that I really wanted the updates that you get on the 2020 E+1, but in the end I decided to enjoy the savings.
I've seen enough of these things to realize what I was looking at - Fox 36 fork, Shimano middle-line 11spd gears, a nice dropper seat, and the familiar Yamaha PW-X drive. I really did want a Yamaha drive - I know what they are, I like them, and they seem to be bulletproof. I guess these Maxis Minion and Rekon tires are pretty good too. So not a lot of upgrades needed, just go out and have some fun with it. I thought if I didn't jump on it someone else would, although these bikes don't seem to sell too fast - not a lot of buyers walking around ready to drop four grand on a bike. These are all sold out on the Giant factory website, so kind of a last-chance deal.
I just LOVE the blue and black color, with lots of blue trim on the forks and wheels, it's really sharp.
I did notice it had the non-straight pull spoke hubs, not like the E+1, but they look the part and I'm not jumping this one anyway, I think I'll be okay. The rear wheel has the riveted spoke holes. They are 35mm wide Giant-brand rims which are a plus for the 2.6 wide tires. Seems the DT Swiss are all the rage, but surely more money. It comes with the kit to convert the tires to tubeless.
This is obviously a price-point offering, but I think adequate for the most part for what I'll do with one.
Nice choice, giant 1/2 is a sweet spot between cost and components - the 3's are let down by budget constraints and 0's arguably get spec more suitable for boutique brands. Shimano 11 sp cassettes will be cheaper to replace than sram 12 and offer more than enough range, you'll be happy with that bike
Thanks! I thought so. We hadn't talked about this one so it was a surprise to me when I saw it, I didn't even know it existed. It turns out for 2020 you can get the +1 or the +3 here in the US - and yes, exactly what you said here, it's right in the middle. I was going to go with the +1, but this was over a thousand less, and looked good, so done deal.
I need a suspension pump and some knee and elbow guards. Can't wait to try it out.
@FlatSix911 - thanks for the PDF spec sheet - very helpful!
![](https://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b35/cjdirtbiker/Bikes%20and%20Bicycles/TranceE2Pro.jpg)