Build list

Frame   -   Trance Advanced 29er (large)

Rear shock   -   Fox DPX2

Front shock/fork   - Fox 34 FIT4 @ 130mm

Handlebars - Ritchey carbon flatbar

Stem - Syntace 109 in 60mm, ti bolts.

Headset  - Stock Giant headset

Grips - Giant lockon grips

Saddle - San Marco Aspide Super Leggerra Carbon

Seatpost - Giant SL dropper with top cradle and Ti bolts from my previous carbon seatpost

Front brake - XTR M9000 race brakes

Rear brake - XTR M9000 race brakes

Cranks - Cannondale Hollowgram SiSL Hollowgram SiSL

Chain - KMC X11SL

Pedals -  Xpedo XMF08TT

Front derailleur - N/A (for the moment)

Rear derailleur - Shimano XTR M9000 medium cage

Front shifter - N/A

Rear shifter - Shimano XTR M9000 rear shifter

Cassette -  Shimano XTR 11-40

Front hub -  Tune King 15mm non-boost 32h

Rear hub - Tune Kong 135mm non-boost 32h

Front rim -  Stans NoTubes Crest Mk3 29er 32h

Rear rim -   Stans NoTubes Crest Mk3 29er 32h

Spokes - DT Swiss Revolution

Nipples - DT Swiss 12mm

Tyres - Continental X-King 2.4 Racesport front and Racing Ralph 2.25 rear.

Tubes - Tubeless with homemade sealant

Total weight   - 10.6kg

Fit and finish

Paintwork and overall finish on this bike is superb.  I really can't fault it.

Custom mods

Giant Contact SL Dropper Post

I replaced the stock top-cradle and bolts with the ones off a lightweight seatpost I used on my previous Trance X 29er ( more info ).

Fitting Cannondale hollowgram cranks

In an attempt to re-use the DUB bottom bracket that came with the bike, I did the following:

• removed the DB bearing spacers - this leaves the bearings which have 30mm ID, so perfect for the hollowgram spindle;
• ordered a 137mm bottom bracket - A3009-137L (the 132mm bottom bracket is a fraction too short and you get every so slight binding on the DB BB shell);
• machined up some spacers that work with the DB bearing seals.

Custom spacers

The outer bearing seal on the DUB bearings has an additional sealing edge that seals up against the vertical face of the plastic DUB bearing insert.  This means, that to stop unnecessary friction you need a slightly different step than what's available with the standard Cannondale spacers.

137mnm wide bottom bracket

Original bike

This is how it came from the factory:

• Giant Contact SL 35mm diameter handlebar, stem and saddle;
• SRAM GX Eagle 12 speed cassette (XG-1275 10-50T), shifter and rear derailleur;
• Truvativ Descendant Eagle, DUB, 30T crankset;
• SRAM Guide T hydraulic brakes with 4 piston calipers;
• Giant TRX 1 29 Hookless Composite, DBL, 28h wheels with what look to be DT Swiss 360 compatible hubs;
• Maxxis Minion DHR II, TR, 3C, EXO, Folding, 29x2.3” front tyre and Maxxis Minion DHF, TR, 3C, EXO, Folding, 29x2.3” rear tyre.

Weight was a pretty respectable 12.8kg without pedals.

If you're looking to upgrade your Advanced Pro 1 then here is a table of component weights for some of the stuff I removed:

Rear shock

The Trance 29er uses a trunnion metric shock with eye-to-eye of 165mm and 42.5mm stroke.  In the big thread on the Trance 29er on MTBR it seems some have had success with using the more "regular" size 165mm x 45mm stroke shock.  This will provide a little more suspension travel.  Clearance might be an issue on full bottom out.  Check your actual frame before going down this path!!!

Fox DPX2 Performance Elite

This is the shock that the 2020 Advanced Pro 1 comes with.  Tune designation on the air can is "DXL2". Air can is the Evol Extra Volume.  If your bike comes with a Fox shock and you're interested in more details then start by putting the four letter code (eg. DXL2) into the Fox website; For DXL2, the Fox site returns the following information:

2020, FLOAT DPX2, P-Se, A, 3pos-Adj, Trunnion, Evol LV, Giant, Trance Adv Pro 29 1, 165, 42.5, 0.6 Spacer, CM, RLA019, Rezi A F M, TA-2509 Matte/TA-2509 Matte Logo

You can instantly see that we've got the code right as the first bits of info match our bike.  We can also see that the shock has:

• 165mm eye-to-eye measurement;
• 42.5mm stroke;
• comes with the 0.6 air can spacer fitted (0.6 Spacer);
• has a medium compression tune (CM);
• has a light rebound tune with special manufacturer code A019 (RLA019).

Suspension bearings

Unlike some of the Giant's, the bearings on the Trance  Advanced 29er are all standard types/sizes as follows:

Frame:

• 2 x 6802.

Rocker:

• 2 x 6900; and
• 2 x 63800.

Lower link:

• 2 x 6802

Swingarm/rear triangle:

• 2 x 6900;
• 2 x 6902.

To order a total set of bearings you need 12 bearings in total:

• 4 x 6802;
• 4 x 6900;
• 2 x 63800;
• 2 x 6902.