Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Today Amber, Taylor, Benjy and myself had the opportunity to visit with the folks at Giant/Liv.  We got to see much of the new 2017 bikes and gear.  We also got to ride!  I spent some time on the newly revised Anthem first.  Giant has made some cool updates: boost hub spacing allowing up to 2.8 inch tires, mods to linkage and shock mount take it to a 110mm rear travel and 120 fork with 34mm stanchions.  Considering my currently missing left ACL the new XT 46 tooth cog was very welcomed on some steep stuff.  The bike was fun, very smooth and stable considering its more of a cross country build.
Next up, the new TCR Disc.  I was excited to ride this as I wanted to see how the fit felt as its a bit different than my current bike and I'm thinking of a new toy.  This bike also has thru axles which is fairly new to the road scene but the norm in off-road.  One word: BULLET!  The bike is very stiff, very quick, but stable, never felt like it over-steered.  I've been on road disc for several months, and I have no plans to go back, but Benjy and Taylor didn't agree until today.  While neither are rushing to get a disc road bike, they are on board with the idea as having merit.
Some of the more exciting stuff was the pricing.  In an age where the new models always mean a price increase, Giant prices almost across the board are down!  Couple that with better spec and WAY better paint schemes and we are pretty happy to bring you Giant for 2017.  Look for more as models show up on our Facebook page.