2007 Giant Trance 1 - Need Opinion on Upgrade

[lovelylibrarian]

Hi,

I tried a demo bike yesterday that was a 2007 Giant Trance 1 and it fit me really well. I was hoping the brakes would have been a bit better though.

There is a used bike for sale exactly the same as the one I tried and I'm wondering if I could just upgrade the brakes. Also, the brakes could have just been worn on the demo bike since they tend to get beaten up a bit.

My question is if it's possible to upgrade the brakes on this bike AND how much would it cost? Not exact cost but would it be a huge deal to do it and cost so much that it's not worth the upgrade?

Any feedback would be appreciated. I'm pretty excited because this bike really fit me well and is full suspension. A real step up from my current bike.

Thanks.

[Becky]

What were the brakes on it? V-brakes or discs? Mechanical or hydraulic?

New brakes would be a reasonable upgrade IMO, especially if it fits you well.

[lovelylibrarian]

Hi,

I was able to find out a few things. The brakes on the bike now are Avid Juicy 5 hydraulic w/6" rotors and that would be fine for XC but I'd like to upgrade since I'll be doing a bit more downhill riding and my confidence is greatly increased by better brakes.

I'm told that if I get a larger disc, that would be about $60 but if I upgraded to a more powerful system, it would be closer to $400. I think I'm going to buy the demo bike from the shop where I tried it so I'm going to try to negotiate an upgrade with the purchase price.

Thanks.

[MtnBikerChk]

I think 6" rotors would be fine on a Trance - really how much "DH'ing" will you be doing? If it's a lot, then maybe a Trance isn't the right bike for you. For DH, I'd go at least to a AM frame like a Reign.

(I'm pretty sure the 07 Trance 1 is a 4" travel bike but the 08 is 5" - I could be wrong though - find out for sure)

Juicys are sweet brakes.