Giant's new spring bike range
Most cycling brands change ranges annually. That means every May they start to run out of bikes. ‘The trade’ usually get shown the new range at the launch in about August, and, if we're lucky, the new bikes are in stock with supplier X by the end of October. To be honest, it’s all pretty long winded and inefficient (not that most bike bosses think so).
Not so with Giant. They launch twice a year - road and kids bikes each spring; MTB full sus every autumn. But the best thing about Giant (for us and you) is they bring in the new bikes before the launch. Ingenious! That means they avoid the embarrassing problems that most of the big boys find themselves in every single year – a vacuum of stock.
The ‘new’ which we saw last week is perhaps more a refresh than a complete revamp. Well, if it aint broke... The full suspension line up is unchanged until autumn (and will be called the 2008 range, whereas as this latest catalogue is 2007.5) but the 'lifestyle' MTBs from the Rock to the Terrago disc get new paint and the odd spec change, although it’s mostly cosmetic.
One area which has benefited a great deal is the choice of ladies models. Like other top brands (Specialized and Trek to name just two), Giant are championing women’s bikes and now have over 32 models to chose from. This includes many first-time models like the Terrago disc and the XTC. I think they’ve done a great job on the colour ways and livery but I’m not sure I’m brave enough to call myself qualified to comment.
The ever-popular SCR racers are called ‘new’ again but only the saddle (from Giant to Selle Royal) and chainset upgrade (from FSA to TruVativ) is really different. That said, there's a new entry level in the SCR 4.0 at £350 with aluminium frame and cromo fork, and a gorgeous limited edition (pictured) at £650.
One of the highlights of the line up was Oli Beckingsale's Giant Anthem Advanced carbon fibre rig with 90mm of travel. Doesn’t it look full of pace, even with his hack training wheels on?
