Giant Cypress SX, Any Input??

Gimpdiggity said:

Hello everyone.

I'm planning on buying a new bike in a couple of weeks, and I want something that is comfortable to ride but has some roadbike type features.

The only bike shop in my area that I trust carries Schwinn, Trek, Giant, and Cannondale as it's main brands.

I've decided that I will be riding the bike on paved paths or roads 95% of the time or more. I simply don't have much access to anything other than paved areas, so I have basically decided that the type of bike that I am looking at is a hybrid.

When I went into the shop today to look, the guy that was helping me seemed to be steering me towards the Giant bikes. They had quite a few of these and quite a few Treks in stock. He said that he prefers the Giants and that he feels you get a bit more "bang for your buck" with the Giants. He told me that if I decided on a Trek that would also make a great purchase, but that he owns a Giant and really loves it. My parents also own Giant Comfort bikes, so I figured that the Giant would probably be the way to go.

I like the looks of the Cypress SX. It has quite a few of the featueres that I am looking for in a bicycle, and is in my price range. Granted, it's at the absolute top of my price range, but I really like the looks of it...

Does anyone have any experience with this machine?? If so, what are your impressions of it??

Also, if anyone else knows of any similar bikes by any of the above listed companies that would be similar, let me know. I've found the Trek 7700 to be similar, but it's quite a bit more expensive.

For what it's worth, I do own a dedicated roadbike right now, and am finding it to be very strenuous on my back. As such, this is one of the main reasons for me moving in the direction of a hybrid bike that has a more upright seating position and would be a bit more comfortable...something that I can ride daily for short distances and do some commutes to work and such.

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

probably cheaper to have a professional fit for your road bike and ride it off into the sunset ... if it can be fitted to you, sounds like you have issues with your back, but not explained if caused by the current fit or something else....

In my quiver (now n+1=6) I have a Cypresse Giant Hybrid, I ride it rarely, but to make it more of a decent ride I replaced ( immediately) the 700x36h Kenda Kwests with 700x30h Vittoria Randonneurs and added 5klms ph to my average speed around the place, then found that the rims had nasty production weld marks that caught the brakes and were jerky, so I had some new rims (FIR Zeniths) and some old Campag record hubs mated up at the LBS with an 8speed Marchisio Cassettte (and some 700x23 road tyres), plus tossed the stock pedals for some Shimano SPDs with rigid plastic cages(double sided) and swapped the old very heavy Bar for a freeby Kevlar/Carbon straight bar ( fraction of the weight) put on some Zoom bar ends and double taped them with old ITM bar tape, tossed the Velo seat away for a Selle Italia Saddle and it became a decent ride...but still cost an extra $500+ over the original price...after lights 'puter and tweaks...
just had to firm up the shocks and stop the seat post suspension from moving... it is still not a patch on the road bikes I have (custom Kennedy's) but it is good to toodle to the post office or ride a CM at the end of the month...kind of upright, but not too much and bar ends permit some position changes for comfort and the stem angle adjustment can help that too.

But IMHO all this was not really worth it at the end of the day, but it is now a much better bike than as built, I had to learn the hard way. Mass produced bikes are built to a profit formula, we as consumers dont figure in that except we pay at the end and then go off and buy upgrades and stuff after market... just like cars...

I can't get the Fuji fit for me. It is literally too big. When I'm riding, it's not big deal, but when I come to a stop I can only get one foot down on the ground without having to lean the bike way over to the side between my legs.

Gimpdiggity said:

I can't get the Fuji fit for me. It is literally too big. When I'm riding, it's not big deal, but when I come to a stop I can only get one foot down on the ground without having to lean the bike way over to the side between my legs.

I don't have the Cypress, but I do own a 4 year old Giant Sedona DX. Sedona is basically the same as a Cypress, except for 26" wheels instead of 700C.

If I were to buy today, I would choose the Cypress, but the Sedona has done me well.

I have well over 2,000 miles on it, including a couple of metric centuries and it has mostly been on road, or gravel rail trails.

One change I have made was to switch to narrower slick tires about 1,000 miles ago, and so it is a little more like the Cypress...

I have had a broken spoke, but no other issues.

Last year I did have the suspension fork replaced with a rigid fork, and went threadless for that reason. I like the handling better without the suspension fork, and when I did have it, I always had it adjusted to the stiffest setting. I also went with Crank Brothers Candy C pedals and clipless shoes this year.

So, 4 years, 3,000 miles and one broken spoke... not bad as far as durable. By the way, I weighed 365 pounds when I bought it, and dropped down to 300... I am up a little now... So if I can ride that sort of mileage on my Sedona with only a broken spoke, I would say the very similar Cypess is likely to be a reliable ride.

Enjoy riding whatever you get.

dgregory57 said:

I don't have the Cypress, but I do own a 4 year old Giant Sedona DX. Sedona is basically the same as a Cypress, except for 26" wheels instead of 700C.

If I were to buy today, I would choose the Cypress, but the Sedona has done me well.

I have well over 2,000 miles on it, including a couple of metric centuries and it has mostly been on road, or gravel rail trails.

One change I have made was to switch to narrower slick tires about 1,000 miles ago, and so it is a little more like the Cypress...

I have had a broken spoke, but no other issues.

Last year I did have the suspension fork replaced with a rigid fork, and went threadless for that reason. I like the handling better without the suspension fork, and when I did have it, I always had it adjusted to the stiffest setting. I also went with Crank Brothers Candy C pedals and clipless shoes this year.

So, 4 years, 3,000 miles and one broken spoke... not bad as far as durable. By the way, I weighed 365 pounds when I bought it, and dropped down to 300... I am up a little now... So if I can ride that sort of mileage on my Sedona with only a broken spoke, I would say the very similar Cypess is likely to be a reliable ride.

Enjoy riding whatever you get.

Sweet man, that's the kind of stuff I like to hear!!

I've pretty much decided that the Cypress SX is going to be what I go with. I'm HOPING that I might be able to get a good deal on a 2006 model in a couple of weeks when the '07s come out...unfortunately, the SX is not a bike that my shop stocks regularly. They can get one within about 2 days, but they don't keep them on the floor. They have every other model of the Cypress, and all of the models of the Sedonas...but not the SX for some reason. That makes me think that if I'm gonna have to order one, there's not much chance that I'll end up getting a good deal on an '06...but that's not going to stop me from trying!!!

I just looked at the SX specifically, and I think it looks like a nice bike...

The only thing I would take with a grain of salt from my Sedona review, is I suspect the 36 spoke 26" wheels I have are more bullet proof than the 24 spoke 700c on the Cypress SX.

However, unless you are extremely large, or hard on bikes, I wouldn't sweat it.