Good point on the demo rides.
Norco is going to be at the Gorge on Friday from 3-8pm with bikes to demo.
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Definitely a good idea to demo a few bikes before buying.
I’d recommend the Stumpjumper FSR in either 650b or 29er for the type of riding you’re planning. I’m currently on my third one, more than enough travel when keeping your wheels on the ground and climbs very well.It has also been redesigned for 2019.
Check out Sweetride cycling in Mahone bay, Ideal Bikes in Halifax, or Valley Stove & Cycle in the valley. They all carry Specialized.
Now you’ve got another option to consider:
I’ll be really looking forward to demoing one of those next time Giant rolls through town. I think for trail riding around here the numbers that bike has are pretty spot on.
Darn it. I’m going to have to test ride one again. This might be what make me like the Trance lol.
I have a '17 Trance 2. It climbs just fine so far as I can tell. I could outclimb some XC 29ers at Elgin last year. The Trance is a bargain for the build spec in my opinion.
Edit: obvs for the woods roads climbs I flipped the shock into firm but almost goes without saying.
The 3000 usd starting point puts this in a class of bikes that hopefully it can hang with. Any word on a specs/component list?
My “trail bike” is my dh bike. An 09 Atomik with 180mm front and back. Been xc’ing it through gorge, irish and res on the regular.
Cant wait to get a real trail bike this fall 
I’d still have to recommend the knolly endorphin. 150 front 130 back if i recall. Rider owned company’s cater to riders needs better than corporate ones in my opinion
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Don’t they also offer a 130 130 bike. That could be the bees knees around here.
To be fair, you could probably use a kids tricycle and outclimb the majority of the users on this site.
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Beat me to it!
You got yer motor and you got yer chassis.
These are two very different things!
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Bit of an old topic now, but I ride the RM Instinct A70. Love it. A very capable machine. It’ll allow you to expand what you normally ride, and can climb the hills too. As for the carbon question… an extra $1000 for what? Less than a pound of weight savings? Not worth it.
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Thanks to all who posted their opinions on here. It was helpful to have the suggestions. I now own a 2019 Giant Trance 2. I’m mostly looking to have fun and be comfortable and so this seemed like a good option for the trails within an hour’s drive of Halifax. I also really liked the Rocky Mtn Instinct Alloy 50 but it was quite a bit more $ and I didn’t like the 11sd Sram GX it comes with nearly as much as the SLX kit on the Trance. The 2019 model comes with full SLX and tubeless 2.5" front / 2.4" tires already set up and ready to go. It’s basically ready to take to the trails and is just over $3K.
Also. If anyone is in the market for a dropper. I had to swap out the 150mm dropper that comes stock for a 125mm. I’ve got a brand new 150mm Giant Contact dropper in the original package. Usual retail is $249. I’m asking $145.
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Congrats, I sure you will love it.
Is the dropper internally routed?
I’m in the market for a dropper. What size is it? I need a 30.9.
30.9 and internally routed. It’s this one:
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/ca/contact-switch-seatpost-black
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Nice Shawkins, I knew you would find something. I think we talked last week and you were going to wait awhile. Lol…
Sorry, thought it wasn’t somebody else.
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