What is it with Giant?

Brendo said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with
Giant? Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal
opinion? The are like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

They're ok, I was just stirring a few people here who ride them.

Bleve said:

Brendo said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with
Giant? Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal
opinion? The are like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

They're ok, I was just stirring a few people here who ride them.

Hey, I resemble that remark!

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

Bleve said:

Brendo said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with
Giant? Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal
opinion? The are like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

They're ok, I was just stirring a few people here who ride them.

They get lumped in with other mass producers like Trek, doesn't have
the same cache as exotica bling.

PiledHigher said:

Bleve said:

Brendo said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with
Giant? Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal
opinion? The are like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

They're ok, I was just stirring a few people here who ride them.

They get lumped in with other mass producers like Trek, doesn't have
the same cache as exotica bling.

My cache is full of Trek bling 🙂

Brendo said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with
Giant? Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal
opinion? The are like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

I see it as a ford/holden thing - they are both just fuggin cars!

I have 5 (yes, 5) Giants in my collection... started with an OCR1 back in '04, went to a TCR in '05 and loved the frame so much I got a few more. The size/etc of the 53.5 suits me perfect. Remember the 'Giant' part of the bike is only the frame and fork... the rest is standard same as everything else,.

Giants are extremely competitive for pricing when going for a whole new bike. End of year run-outs will get you a full CF rig, Ultegra, good wheels etc for close to (or in some cases, well under) AUD3k.

anyhow, just my 2c. Who knows, next week I might be riding something else.. but right now, Giants suit me just fine. It is the legs and lungs that really count 🙂

lama - who's Holden service just cost $2067 - and its now dumping oil! [censored] cars!

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

Quoted message said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with Giant?
Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal opinion? The are
like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

brendo

Ahh you can tell that Xmas is just around the corner.......lotsa LBS's are
stocking up on kids/family cheapies to stow under the Chrissy
tree.......only to be 4 sale on ebay before the next xmas. (or council
clean-up days)

DJ

Brendo said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with
Giant? Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal
opinion? The are like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

brendo

My take on it:

Giants are sort of like Toyota Camrys. They're value for money and
they're everywhere. Giant have their high-end and their low-end
models,same as most other brands. I don't have personal experience with
Giant, but I don't believe they could make a *bad* bike considering
they sell that many units.

The name matters to some. You could go out and buy a TCR Advanced 0. It
would be like buying a Lexus GS430 - it's still just a Toyota.

gplama said:

lama - who's Holden service just cost $2067 - and its now dumping oil!
[censored] cars!

--
gplama

My car cost me less than that (to buy!) but I probably drive it as many
k's as that in a year...

Harng Goh said:

Brendo said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with
Giant? Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal
opinion? The are like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

brendo

My take on it:

Giants are sort of like Toyota Camrys. They're value for money and
they're everywhere. Giant have their high-end and their low-end
models,same as most other brands. I don't have personal experience with
Giant, but I don't believe they could make a *bad* bike considering
they sell that many units.

Flawed logic (not that this means Giant don't make good bikes though
.... just that your logic is broken). Eg: Huffy sell more bikes than
any other brand in the western world, but they do not make any "good"
bikes. All the Huffy's are [censored].

FWIW, Giant, in terms of market, are where Shogun were maybe 10-15
years ago. Too many distributors, flooded market, everyone has to sell
them on price alone (you all shop for the cheapest deal you can get on
an OCR3, or whatever model it is ... I dunno ... the cheapy Giant
roady).

As such, any LBS that sells Giant, will get burnt regularly by the
wholesaler or the bigger LBS's with containers of the things to dump at
end of season (remember the elcheapo prices on the Giant roadies from
TFM etc in June/July? Watch this space, it'll happen again next year,
the smaller LBS's with stock will have to match the prices or get no
sales - ouch).

It's kinda the nature of the beast, Giant churn out a lot of reasonable
roadies, reasonably cheap, but their wholesaler's practice burns
smaller LBS's (and the bigger ones too ... very few people buy Giants
on LBS service, they buy on price alone, thus killing the LBS's
margins). Inexa, Learsport, Bauer etc all do the "build it bloody cheap
in Taiwan, forget the frame & forks, just whack on random bits of a
high end groupset and call it "ultegra-equipped" trick too, and the low
end market for roadies is very cutthroat at the moment.

So, sooner or later, the LBS's get sick of getting burnt, and shy away
from them (happened with pac-dunlop's brands, happened with Shogun
etc).

Quality-wise, Giant's high end stuff is slowly becoming half decent,
their forks were notoriously flexy up until a few years ago (the best
upgrade for a Giant roady of more than 3 years age is a new fork,
you'll notice this ....). They're desperate for t-mobile to actually
win something significant, and their advertising campaigns are ... heh
.... anyway ... "Giant, cheap Ultegra!, who cares about the frame?".
Their low end roadies are ok, some of their component choices are
questionable, but they're catering to gumbies with them, and they build
very much to a price. For what it's worth, we (the LBS I work at, who
is not a Giant dealer, but we do get to repair and maintain a lot of
them, so I get to ride them regularly, and fit people to them) are
always happy for people to testride anything, (even a Giant!), and then
come and see us, and testride a cheap Trek (1000-1400) or Cannondale
(Synapse etc) to compare how they feel. We sell our fair share of Treks
& Cannondales in this way.

Quoted message said:

The name matters to some. You could go out and buy a TCR Advanced 0. It
would be like buying a Lexus GS430 - it's still just a Toyota.

I don't think it's name so much. The 'name' buyers are still stuck on
"Italian good, everything else bad", despite the fact that most
"Italian" bikes these days come out of the Giant factory. I think it's
the design and componentry of the bikes. Because Giant has no real
pedigree as such they're resorting to gimicks (the integrated seatpost
etc), and that's possibly a bad thing for them to do. If they
concentrated on building a really good bike, rather than a
gimick-stricken bike, they'd do better at the high end of the scale,
IMO.

What Giant *do* do very well is kids bikes and hybrids and that sort of
thing. They really know that market and they make good examples of
these bikes, at prices that sell well. Trek, by comparison, makes kids
bikes which are very good, but probably too good (thus, too expensive)
for kids. Mum & Dad won't spend $300 on a bike for little johnny that
he'll grow out of in 18 months. Giant, Apollo etc are quite strong in
this part of the market, so that makes them look bad to the 'elite
roady' buyers. Colnago doesn't make a hybrid! (Colnago doesn't make
Colnago, Giant does .... heh ... [censored] 🙂 ).

IMHO opinion it all comes down to the "simple" transaction of
purchasing, for which there are so many elements:
- what does my LBS stock and promote
- what brands (if any) am I predisposed to buy
- what fits me
- what looks good
- what appears "value for money"
- how important to me is it to ride some exotic brand
- how does it feel
- etc. etc.

So when I bought my current road bike I was predisposed to Cannondale
and a couple of others. But when I rode the TCR Composite I just really
liked the feel. It fitted. And for <$3000 I bought a 100% Ultegra bike
which I really love. I did ride others that felt as good, like a $4.5K
Specialised S-works. But many other "good" brands just didn't fit me.

So if you get on a Giant and you like it and it feels good that is
great, because you are getting excellent value for money. On the other
hand if something else feels better, that's fine too.

Patrick Keogh said:

IMHO opinion it all comes down to the "simple" transaction of
purchasing, for which there are so many elements:
- what does my LBS stock and promote
- what brands (if any) am I predisposed to buy
- what fits me
- what looks good
- what appears "value for money"
- how important to me is it to ride some exotic brand
- how does it feel
- etc. etc.

So when I bought my current road bike I was predisposed to Cannondale
and a couple of others. But when I rode the TCR Composite I just really
liked the feel. It fitted. And for <$3000 I bought a 100% Ultegra bike
which I really love. I did ride others that felt as good, like a $4.5K
Specialised S-works. But many other "good" brands just didn't fit me.

So if you get on a Giant and you like it and it feels good that is
great, because you are getting excellent value for money. On the other
hand if something else feels better, that's fine too.

I am currently in the market looking for a bike. They all look the
same to me, cept some are $200 and some are $5000. I am not trying to
win the olympics, so that extra 150g weight saving on carbon fibre V
aluminium is not worth $5000. However, from what I have sat on in the
shops, its quite clear that the $700 V the $200 bike provides a much
more comfortable ride. I also notice that some bikes seem to suffer
from less friction?? (Better bearings perhaps??).

SO at the end of the day, there seems to be a clear difference. The
Giant V the Fluid V the Kona V the local bike shop custom all depend
on how you are going to use the bike. I am not in it for comp, so a
hoffy would probably do me (if they sold what i wanted). So far I
think that the Anaconda fluid bike is the best value for money based
on what I am looking for. The giant seems no better, but cost heaps
more.

Just my 2c from a non bike rider who is going to ride from brisbane to
cairns next year.

Andy.

The Real Andy said:

Patrick Keogh said:

IMHO opinion it all comes down to the "simple" transaction of
purchasing, for which there are so many elements:
- what does my LBS stock and promote
- what brands (if any) am I predisposed to buy
- what fits me
- what looks good
- what appears "value for money"
- how important to me is it to ride some exotic brand
- how does it feel
- etc. etc.

So when I bought my current road bike I was predisposed to Cannondale
and a couple of others. But when I rode the TCR Composite I just really
liked the feel. It fitted. And for <$3000 I bought a 100% Ultegra bike
which I really love. I did ride others that felt as good, like a $4.5K
Specialised S-works. But many other "good" brands just didn't fit me.

So if you get on a Giant and you like it and it feels good that is
great, because you are getting excellent value for money. On the other
hand if something else feels better, that's fine too.

I am currently in the market looking for a bike. They all look the
same to me, cept some are $200 and some are $5000. I am not trying to
win the olympics, so that extra 150g weight saving on carbon fibre V
aluminium is not worth $5000. However, from what I have sat on in the
shops, its quite clear that the $700 V the $200 bike provides a much
more comfortable ride. I also notice that some bikes seem to suffer
from less friction?? (Better bearings perhaps??).

SO at the end of the day, there seems to be a clear difference. The
Giant V the Fluid V the Kona V the local bike shop custom all depend
on how you are going to use the bike. I am not in it for comp, so a
hoffy would probably do me (if they sold what i wanted). So far I
think that the Anaconda fluid bike is the best value for money based
on what I am looking for. The giant seems no better, but cost heaps
more.

Just my 2c from a non bike rider who is going to ride from brisbane to
cairns next year.

Andy.

I've always argued that the money we spend on light-weight bikes would
be better spent on Jenny Craig meals and a personal trainer. There
wouldn't be many of us riding around at our optimum weight, most of us
could do with a few less kilos. (Do sports people use liposuction?)
I suppose dieting lacks the bling of a spunky carbon bike.
We need a six pack photo comp to get ourselves motivated.

Friday

Friday said:

I've always argued that the money we spend on light-weight bikes would
be better spent on Jenny Craig meals and a personal trainer. There
wouldn't be many of us riding around at our optimum weight, most of us
could do with a few less kilos. (Do sports people use liposuction?)
I suppose dieting lacks the bling of a spunky carbon bike.
We need a six pack photo comp to get ourselves motivated.

Friday

Speak for yourself, at taper for big events usually get to less than 8%
body fat. The kind of training that gets you there would not be doable
on a calorie.

The hrm estimate of just training work in the biggest (excluding basal
and non training exertion) ends up at ~13000 kcal for the week. That's
another whole persons ration of food just for training effort.

PiledHigher

Harng Goh slandered:

Quoted message said:

Giants are sort of like Toyota Camrys.

And wtf is wrong with a Toyota Camry?!?! *grrr!!*

Abby (sorry, that was for Lotte's benefit...)

In article <[email hidden]>,

Bleve said:

remember the elcheapo prices on the Giant roadies from
TFM etc in June/July? Watch this space, it'll happen again next year

I hope you're not trying to suggest that retailers of other brands,
including Treks, don't get caught up in the same end-of-model thing -- I
saw plenty of cheaper Treks around at model run-out time this year, and
the price cutting was clearly being done at the wholesale end. The whole
industry is rife with it, which I suspect is one reason lots of bike
shops don't last.

--
Shane Stanley

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

Quoted message said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with Giant?
Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal opinion? The are
like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

brendo

Brendo,

I've got an OCR3 that has served me well to get back into cycling. I've done
nearly 7000kms in the last year or so. That's no record by any means,
compared to some of the exploits you can read about here. But I have enjoyed
most of it, and lost a lot of weight along the way (my main objective).

Whilst I'd love a Cervelo, I can't justify the dollars involved in getting
one. But I am thinking an OCR C1 would be nice at around the $3000 mark for
an upgrade, once the company bonus pay comes in.

I'll happily look at other brands of bikes such as Trek, Felt etc... in the
end it will come down to fit and comfort first, component quality and price
second. Giant may sell a lot of bikes and be somewhat common. Why do you
think that is? Perhaps they're actually quite good...

In finishing, the more you ride, the more you know what to look for, and
what feels right. In the end, that's all that counts.

Cheers,
Christo.

On 25 Oct 2006 03:11:12 -0700, "PiledHigher" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Friday said:

I've always argued that the money we spend on light-weight bikes would
be better spent on Jenny Craig meals and a personal trainer. There
wouldn't be many of us riding around at our optimum weight, most of us
could do with a few less kilos. (Do sports people use liposuction?)
I suppose dieting lacks the bling of a spunky carbon bike.
We need a six pack photo comp to get ourselves motivated.

Friday

Speak for yourself, at taper for big events usually get to less than 8%
body fat. The kind of training that gets you there would not be doable
on a calorie.

The hrm estimate of just training work in the biggest (excluding basal
and non training exertion) ends up at ~13000 kcal for the week. That's
another whole persons ration of food just for training effort.

PiledHigher

Ahhh, but you are in it for the competition yes??? So for you it may
well be worth spending the extra $$$ for that little more performance.

My chosen sport is sailing, and to be competitive you often need to
spend the money on the exotic materials to get that extra half second
(or less).

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:51:13 +0800, Brendo <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with
Giant? Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal
opinion? The are like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

If you want a budget carbon bike and you're never going to go fast,
OK. But, you'll (usually) have to compensate for such things as
terminal speed wobble as soon as you get to around 50km/h. 80km/h can
get very interesting and 100km/h is positively dangerous.

--
Regards.
Richard.

I've got two Giant mountain bike and my old training bike was a Kronos
(until a semi trailer took it out).

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

Quoted message said:

PiledHigher said:

Bleve said:

Brendo wrote:
> Just seen Bleve's thoughts on [censored], and what is the deal with
> Giant? Are they [censored] bikes in general, or is it just personal
> opinion? The are like [censored] around here, every LBS has them.

They're ok, I was just stirring a few people here who ride them.

They get lumped in with other mass producers like Trek, doesn't have
the same cache as exotica bling.

My cache is full of Trek bling 🙂