New Giant Bikes

What's wrong with them putting a semi-recumbent together?

There are a lot of potential benefits to recumbents; one major drawback is their relative rarity
and, thus, high prices. If a major bike manufacturer like Giant wants to build a recumbent, more
power and good luck too them.

My LBS has sold a few this year.

(Badger South) said:

I was looking up some brands of Giant Mtn bikes for comparison shopping and was startled to see
this strange bike on their homepage.

Is this for real, or has Giant flipped out? <grin>

ISTM, this is up there with that autoshifter you see sometimes on late night TV. Can anyone here
imagine that this is gonna be the 'bike of the future'.

I don't know a lot about it besides watching the video on the site, but it seems they've put a lot
into this, especially to have it featured on the main page. (Except for their already good rep, I'd
wonder if this wouldn't this turn away potentially serious riders)

-B

"Badger South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was looking up some brands of Giant Mtn bikes for comparison shopping and was startled to see
this strange bike on their homepage.

Is this for real, or has Giant flipped out? <grin>

ISTM, this is up there with that autoshifter you see sometimes on late night TV. Can anyone here
imagine that this is gonna be the 'bike of the future'.

I don't know a lot about it besides watching the video on the site, but it seems they've put a lot
into this, especially to have it featured on the main page. (Except for their already good rep,
I'd wonder if this wouldn't this turn away potentially serious riders)

Um...to what are you referring? (OK, I gather it's a recumbent from first replier, but a link would
have helped.)

Bill "not everyone will go find Giant site to see what you mean" S.

In article said:

What's wrong with them putting a semi-recumbent together?

There are a lot of potential benefits to recumbents; one major drawback is their relative rarity
and, thus, high prices. If a major bike manufacturer like Giant wants to build a recumbent, more
power and good luck too them.

My LBS has sold a few this year.

Nothing 'wrong', really, just a light-hearted query, wondering if you can do serious riding with
these, that's all.

-B
--
Email Replies to johnson<nospm>01j <att> ntelos <dott> net

(Badger South) said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Luigi de Guzman

Quoted message said:

What's wrong with them putting a semi-recumbent together?

There are a lot of potential benefits to recumbents; one major drawback is their relative rarity
and, thus, high prices. If a major bike manufacturer like Giant wants to build a recumbent, more
power and good luck too them.

My LBS has sold a few this year.

Nothing 'wrong', really, just a light-hearted query, wondering if you can do serious riding with
these, that's all.

well, you're not UCI legal and you won't be hitting the singletrack with it anytime soon....

But it'll get you from point A to point B as fast as you would care. And serious depends on you,
I guess....

Quoted message said:

-B

In article said:

"Badger South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was looking up some brands of Giant Mtn bikes for comparison shopping and was startled to see
this strange bike on their homepage.

Is this for real, or has Giant flipped out? <grin>

ISTM, this is up there with that autoshifter you see sometimes on late night TV. Can anyone here
imagine that this is gonna be the 'bike of the future'.

I don't know a lot about it besides watching the video on the site, but it seems they've put a
lot into this, especially to have it featured on the main page. (Except for their already good
rep, I'd wonder if this wouldn't this turn away potentially serious riders)

Um...to what are you referring? (OK, I gather it's a recumbent from first replier, but a link would
have helped.)

Bill "not everyone will go find Giant site to see what you mean" S.

Sorry man, my bad. I normally would have put a link, but didn't want to seem presumptuous or insult
anyone's cred being on a cycling group. ;-)

giant-bicycles.comgiant-bicycles.comOpen ↗

HTH.

Best, -B

--
Email Replies to johnson<nospm>01j <att> ntelos <dott> net

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

(Badger South) said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Luigi de Guzman

Quoted message said:

What's wrong with them putting a semi-recumbent together?

There are a lot of potential benefits to recumbents; one major drawback is their relative rarity
and, thus, high prices. If a major bike manufacturer like Giant wants to build a recumbent, more
power and good luck too them.

My LBS has sold a few this year.

Nothing 'wrong', really, just a light-hearted query, wondering if you can do serious riding with
these, that's all.

well, you're not UCI legal and you won't be hitting the singletrack with it anytime soon....

But it'll get you from point A to point B as fast as you would care. And serious depends on you, I
guess....

To some people, the lower height-of-eye on a recumbent bothers them when riding in traffic. Others
have no problem with it. Depends on what you like...

--
Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

"David Kerber" <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But it'll get you from point A to point B as fast as you would care. And serious depends on you,
I guess....

To some people, the lower height-of-eye on a recumbent bothers them when riding in traffic. Others
have no problem with it. Depends on what you like...

I rode one the other day. The semi-recumbent position keeps your head up, though not as high as an
upright, it's pretty close.

These things are not geared high enough to be speed demons. I found myself wanting two or three more
to go faster.....

It takes a bit of getting used to. The geometry makes it squirrelly if you put weight on the bars.
You have to ride like you are driving a car with power steering. A light touch will do.

Neat bike for a Sunday cruise around the neighborhood with the family. But pretty much worthless
everywhere else.

-Buck

Assuming you're writing about the "Revive", I actually saw a television commercial for these a while
ago. Not sure how long ago, it might even have been while watching the TDF coverage on OLN.

Looks like Giant is going after the "I'd like to ride a bike but . . " crowd. If I see one in a bike
shop, though, I'll definitely ask for a test ride.

(Badger South) said:

I was looking up some brands of Giant Mtn bikes for comparison shopping and was startled to see
this strange bike on their homepage.

Is this for real, or has Giant flipped out? <grin>

ISTM, this is up there with that autoshifter you see sometimes on late night TV. Can anyone here
imagine that this is gonna be the 'bike of the future'.

I don't know a lot about it besides watching the video on the site, but it seems they've put a lot
into this, especially to have it featured on the main page. (Except for their already good rep, I'd
wonder if this wouldn't this turn away potentially serious riders)

-B

"Badger South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was looking up some brands of Giant Mtn bikes for comparison shopping and was startled to see
this strange bike on their homepage.

Is this for real, or has Giant flipped out? <grin>

Electra, the cruiser people, have a new bike for this market as well.
electrabike.comhome new.htmlOpen ↗

It's more conventional looking but the geometry seems to be a lot like the Giant's. Electra makes
much of the riders' ability to reach the ground with their feet, and their theory seems to be that
this is a significant barrier to some people taking up cycling. I suppose that's true. You certainly
see a lot of awkward-looking people riding bikes with the saddles far too low for this very reason.

RichC

(Badger South) said:

Is this for real, or has Giant flipped out? <grin>

Try one some time.

We have one at the shop, and it's an absolute blast to ride.

Barry

In article <[email hidden]>, Rich Clark

Quoted message said:

"Badger South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was looking up some brands of Giant Mtn bikes for comparison shopping and was startled to see
this strange bike on their homepage.

Is this for real, or has Giant flipped out? <grin>

Electra, the cruiser people, have a new bike for this market as well.
electrabike.comhome new.htmlOpen ↗

It's more conventional looking but the geometry seems to be a lot like the Giant's. Electra makes
much of the riders' ability to reach the ground with their feet, and their theory seems to be that
this is a significant barrier to some people taking up cycling. I suppose that's true. You
certainly see a lot of awkward-looking people riding bikes with the saddles far too low for this
very reason.

RichC

Sounds about right. Heh, even though I had some experience riding in my teens and early 30s, I had
my seat way too low for about a month.

Had to raise it two inches several weeks ago. Dain Bramage; yeah that's the ticket. ;-) I -still-
think I have it too low, but it's better. I raised it another 1/2 inch today and shaved a minute off
the part of my course that I time (about 3-4 miles)

The interesting thing, though is I'm working harder now, even though there's less stress on the
legs, breathing harder, spinning faster. I was working at -very- low efficiency, apparently, and the
perceived exertion was such that I couldn't spin right, or really push it.

Of course I've also lost a bit more weight due to the head cold and harder workouts in the
past months.

I haven't seen those Giant bikes anywhere to test 'em. My Trek shop says they're Chinese made, and
don't have the lifetime warranty so they won't even carry Giant. Just Trek, Fisher (made by Trek, I
think), and some others I'm not familiar with, probably customs.

-B
--
Email Replies to johnson<nospm>01j <att> ntelos <dott> net

In article <[email hidden]>, B a r r y B u r k e J r .

Quoted message said:

(Badger South) said:

Is this for real, or has Giant flipped out? <grin>

Try one some time.

We have one at the shop, and it's an absolute blast to ride.

Barry

OK, where's your shop? ;-)

I imagine it _is_ fun to ride, but have you made it so easy and efficient that you've taken the
'exercise' part out of the biking equation? <g> That's just -rong-!

They did a nice job on the video at their site, and it sure makes a lot of sense, upright posture,
better ergonomic angle for the legs.

Do you think anyone besides comfort riders will purchase one? I just have trouble seeing it as
becoming mainstream, although it does seem like it has the potential to step ahead of the classic
recumbent.

-B
--
Email Replies to johnson<nospm>01j <att> ntelos <dott> net

(Badger South) said:

OK, where's your shop? ;-)

Middletown, CT

pedalpowerct.compedalpowerct.comOpen ↗

Barry

In article <[email hidden]>, B a r r y B u r k e J r .

Quoted message said:

(Badger South) said:

OK, where's your shop? ;-)

Middletown, CT

pedalpowerct.compedalpowerct.comOpen ↗

Barry

OK, that's a bit far for me. Maybe if we go skiing next winter, though? ;-)

-B (ps site wouldn't load for me...)
--
Email Replies to johnson<nospm>01j <att> ntelos <dott> net

Quoted message said:

Do you think anyone besides comfort riders will purchase one? I just have trouble seeing it as
becoming mainstream, although it does seem like it has the potential to step ahead of the classic
recumbent.

Giant's made recumbents for a while. I think they did most of BikeE's production (the lower priced
models). BikeE sold a decent number of bikes -- they just didn't make any money.

To me, this looks like the same market (not the same bike). The BikeE was very comfortable, if not
fast. It was also pretty much one-size-fits-all. A 5 second adjustment was all it took for my 4'11"
daughter to ride it (I'm 6'3"😉. A lot of the people who think they'd like a cruiser or a comfort
bike would probably be interested in trying this. Let's face it -- comfort riders (hybrids,
sports-comfort bikes, cruisers) ARE the mainstream. The internal gearing means there's little for
the user to maintain, you'd probably put a thick commuter tire on the back so there'd be few flats,
and since there's one size the bike shops don't have to keep much inventory and the buyer doesn't
have to worry that they bought the wrong size.

I don't know whether it will sell or not, but it certainly looks like an interesting thing to try.
Every so often, you need something new to get some excitement into the industry and get some people
into the showrooms [reference to the auto industry intentional].

--
reply address: MikeKr at AOL dot COM

I'm a comfort rider and have been considering one, but I should need to test ride it. It has the
Shimano Nexus automatic gear-shifter that I want, plus the very low step-through. The stability of
being able to have both feet on the ground at a standstill would have been a major argument in its
favor a year ago when I was learning to ride. Now I can manage with a normal bike and the seat
raised high, but I hate traffic lights that force me to stop and perch on tip-toe and restart in an
inappropriate gear.

I deplore the lack of an integrated anti-theft device. Crazy to leave something that conspicuous and
obviously expensive on a parking lot with only a chain to protect it!! Also, the angle of the
handlebar makes it look unsuitable for the fixing of a basket, indispensible for a shopping bike.
There is no skirt guard, and since the seating is extra-low, even a shortish skirt could very well
trail into the back wheel. And the wheels are small - doesn't that make it much less efficient than
a bike which normal sized wheels?

How do you think it would fare for an 11 km commute, with some tough uphill passages?

Elisa Francesca Roselli Ile de France

Badger South said:

Do you think anyone besides comfort riders will purchase one? I just have trouble seeing it as
becoming mainstream, although it does seem like it has the potential to step ahead of the classic
recumbent.

"Rich Clark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

It's more conventional looking but the geometry seems to be a lot like the Giant's. Electra makes
much of the riders' ability to reach the ground with their feet, and their theory seems to be that
this is a significant barrier to some people taking up cycling. I suppose that's true. You
certainly see a lot of awkward-looking people riding bikes with the saddles far too low for this
very reason.

Ain't that the truth. I spent this past weekend at the LAB rally in Madison, Florida. I was riding
sweep on a ride Saturday with a 66 year old lady who could not seem to figure out how to get off of
her bike. She would not remove her rear from the saddle until the bike came to a stop.

I finally got her to raise her seat a little and demonstrated how to stand on the pedals, move
forward, and stop. She finally figured out that it was much easier to ride with the seat higher and
getting some leg extension. Dismounting continued to be an adventure throughout the ride.

I also had the opportunity to ride with several recumbent riders. They look like fun but they were
scary to ride with. The folks on short wheelbase bikes seem to have a lot of trouble keeping them
headed in a straight line.

[censored] Durbin

Buck said:

"David Kerber" <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But it'll get you from point A to point B as fast as you would care. And serious depends on you,
I guess....

To some people, the lower height-of-eye on a recumbent bothers them when riding in traffic. Others
have no problem with it. Depends on what you like...

I rode one the other day. The semi-recumbent position keeps your head up, though not as high as an
upright, it's pretty close.

These things are not geared high enough to be speed demons. I found myself wanting two or three
more to go faster.....

It takes a bit of getting used to. The geometry makes it squirrelly if you put weight on the bars.
You have to ride like you are driving a car with power steering. A light touch will do.

Neat bike for a Sunday cruise around the neighborhood with the family. But pretty much worthless
everywhere else.

-Buck

So how much does it cost?

In article <[email hidden]>, "Buck" <s c h w i n n _ f o r _ s a l e @ h o

t m a i l . c o m said:

"David Kerber" <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But it'll get you from point A to point B as fast as you would care. And serious depends on
you, I guess....

To some people, the lower height-of-eye on a recumbent bothers them when riding in traffic.
Others have no problem with it. Depends on what you like...

I rode one the other day. The semi-recumbent position keeps your head up, though not as high as an
upright, it's pretty close.

These things are not geared high enough to be speed demons. I found myself wanting two or three
more to go faster.....

I hope Elisa is still reading this thread. There are two reasons this thing is so low-geared: the
first is the intended audience; the second is because you can't stand on hills. That latter point
may or may not be a deal-breaker.

Quoted message said:

It takes a bit of getting used to. The geometry makes it squirrelly if you put weight on the bars.
You have to ride like you are driving a car with power steering. A light touch will do.

Neat bike for a Sunday cruise around the neighborhood with the family. But pretty much worthless
everywhere else.

giant-bicycles.com030.050.000.aspOpen ↗
alercountry=&lYear=2004&bikesection=8814&range=134&model=9972

Oof.

tinyurl.comrwfsOpen ↗

For some riders, that's enough. My wife (telling secrets out of school...) has obvious balance and
confidence issues on our regular bike-path rides. She just hasn't ridden a bike very much, and finds
starting and stopping awkward because she can't put her feet down very well. Something like this
Giant Revive could make all the difference to her.

BTW, the bike is available with a Nexus hub drive or a Sora derailleur with a twist-grip SRAM
shifter. the Nexus ("DX"😉 version also has composite wheels vs. spoked, drum brakes vs. V-brakes,
and an aggressively rerouted chain (from the looks of it the lower chain run is pulled up beside
the chainstay (or swingarm, to use the fitting motorcycle terminology) by an idler wheel near the
front ring.

The DX looks cleaner and more practical, but is probably a few pounds heavier.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club