Bike Nirvana
Yet another cycling blog
Custom build: Giant Anthem, part 2
June 15 , 2016
Today is the day!
I headed over to Life Cycle after work and found my Anthem lined up with the rest of the display. She's done and I'm excited to hit the trail.
But I forgot my pedal, damn it! The pedal in the picture is not mine and is a demo pedal I borrowed when I was test fitting the bike. Percy was quick to tell me that they have new arrivals that included pedals that are Shimano SPD compatible. The brand is VP Components and since I plan to get another clip-less pedal, this is the opportunity.
The VX-6000 model is lighter than my Crankbrothers 5050 so I'm game. They look and feel nice and this is my introduction to the brand.
After installing the pedal I weighed the bike and I discovered it got heavier than my calculation. It is now a hair above 12kg.
I bid adieu to the folks at Life Cycle and headed to Heroes Bike Trail.
Ride, first impressions
Compared to the Niner, the Anthem is riding lower as the crank hit rocks and roots a couple of times during the first lap at Stage 3. If I can use cars as an analogy, the Niner is like a sport SUV, offering a taller and somewhat "safer" but inspiring ride. The Anthem though is more engaging, like a lowered drift car.
I am pleased to know both offer a different kind of ride, as having two bikes with the same characteristic isn't going to be good. This is exactly what I was hoping for.
My test was concluded with three laps of Stage 3, two laps of Stage 1, and one lap of Stage 2.
I broke my Stage 3 personal record that I set previously with the Niner, so how can I complain?
Build impressions
Mang Boy and Ruben did a splendid job with the assembly. During the build, Rubern suggested that the rear brake hose take the internal route and guaranteed that there will be no cable rattle. He delivered on that promise. The shifting is perfect and I didn't miss a gear. The bike feels solid and there's nothing loose except the one riding it.
Overall, I am pretty pleased.
Here's the final configuration:
Issues
It wasn't all that perfect of a ride as I suffered from really embarassing squeal from the brakes. Initially, I would like to attribute the noise to bedding in, but the front brake didn't stop howling I was scared I am disturbing the spirits already.
The entire bike is microphonic, so the noise gets amplified even more.
The rears did settle down midway of the second lap at Stage 3, so I was treated what it is like using the Ashima Ai2 rotor.