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Giant Bicycles reveal prototype carbon gravel bikegiant_proto_gravel_bike.png

Giant Bicycles reveal prototype carbon gravel bike

Giant set to launch a carbon gravel bike this year?
by David Arthur @davearthur
Thu, Jun 07, 2018 10:57
6

The charge of new gravel and adventure bikes has mostly been led by small brands, but the big guns have their sights set on this increasingly competitive category, and this week Giant Bicycles revealed it is developing a carbon fibre gravel bike.

Via a news post on its website, Giant shared a photo of a prototype gravel bike that was ridden by team rider Carl Decker in the 100-mile Lost and Found Gravel Grinder event in northern California last weekend. The twice winner of this event finished third aboard his new bike.

- Gravel and adventure bikes. Everything you need to know in one place

“This was my first race on this new purpose-built gravel bike, and it was a more than willing partner,” said Decker. “My body was cramping more than I’ve ever experienced and in ways I’d never thought possible, but my back and hands were in better shape than I expected after this brutal day of racing. I’m sure that’s due in large part to the smooth ride quality of the new bike.”

There are no details on the new bike. Bike brands are usually quite coy about new products, not shy about getting them underneath sponsored athletes for pre-launch testing, but they don’t usually share them in this way.

From the photo, we can tell it’s obviously a carbon fibre frame and fork, with a design that doesn’t look all that dissimilar to the Defy - a bike that must be due an update soon? There’s the similar top tube/seat tube junction, dropped seatstays and internal cable routing.

The new bike has a lower driveside chainstay, not quite as radically dropped as the Open Up or Trek Checkpoint though, to increase tyre and chainset clearance.

The pictured bike has Shimano drivetrain with what appears to be an Ultegra CX double chainset - another brand like Trek that has stuck with the front mech and not gone fully down the 1x path.

The frame doesn’t appear to be adorned with all the extra mounts we’ve seen on the recently launched Trek Checkpoint so maybe the focus has been on gravel racing rather than all-round versatility?

The front-end looks high, with a tall head tube, and Decker has gone even further, rotating that handlebars up to put the hoods in an unusual position.

What do you think of it?

 

 

 

Giant bicycles
gravel
David Arthur @davearthur

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes. 

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6 comments

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JF69 | 6 years ago
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Doesn't Giant already have a gravel bike, one that is even more of an all rounder than this one?

The Giant Anyroad also comes in CF, & it seems a very versatile & "go anywhere" gravel bike, like Cannondale's Slate, maybe even more of an all-rounder than the Slate.

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joules1975 replied to JF69 | 6 years ago
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JF69 wrote:

Doesn't Giant already have a gravel bike, one that is even more of an all rounder than this one?

The Giant Anyroad also comes in CF, & it seems a very versatile & "go anywhere" gravel bike, like Cannondale's Slate, maybe even more of an all-rounder than the Slate.

Isn't the anyroad quite a 'relaxed' drop bar bike. 

This new one looks a bit more purposeful.

Also, thanks to it's swooper frame, the Anyroad isn't very 'bikepacking' friendly as fitting a frame bag would be interesting.

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JF69 replied to joules1975 | 6 years ago
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joules1975 wrote:

JF69 wrote:

Doesn't Giant already have a gravel bike, one that is even more of an all rounder than this one?

The Giant Anyroad also comes in CF, & it seems a very versatile & "go anywhere" gravel bike, like Cannondale's Slate, maybe even more of an all-rounder than the Slate.

Isn't the anyroad quite a 'relaxed' drop bar bike. 

This new one looks a bit more purposeful.

Also, thanks to it's swooper frame, the Anyroad isn't very 'bikepacking' friendly as fitting a frame bag would be interesting.

Yup, but the Anyroad compensates by being pannier rack friendly, eyelets included, even in the carbon version. Some people would prefer panniers, others prefer bikepacking.

Depends what one wants of course; there are a number of cyclists using the Anyroad off-road as well as on tarmac often with a simple tyre change if not wheelset change.

If by " looks a bit more purposeful" you mean suited to a very specific task, I agree.
The new one seems to be more suited to winning a gravel race, & looks like a very interesting project.

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joules1975 | 6 years ago
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Looking a bit more at the bike, I'm wondering if this is the love-child of Defy Carbon Disc and the Revolt.

Fork shape/curve looks similar to the Revolt's, and the tyre clearance is presumeably along the lines of that found on the Revolt. The dropped seatstays could be from the Defy or Revolt, while the D-Fuse seatpost and seattube are from the Defy.

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Jimthebikeguy.com | 6 years ago
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I wonder if now that shimano has released a clutch mech, , and an 11-34, and that there are gravel subcompact chainsets, we will see a swing back towards people running doubles. The whole sram 1x thing is great but has drawbacks (weight of the 11-42 cassette, clunking shifts, cadence issues). As always more choice is a good thing.

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joules1975 replied to Jimthebikeguy.com | 6 years ago
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jterrier wrote:

I wonder if now that shimano has released a clutch mech, , and an 11-34, and that there are gravel subcompact chainsets, we will see a swing back towards people running doubles. The whole sram 1x thing is great but has drawbacks (weight of the 11-42 cassette, clunking shifts, cadence issues). As always more choice is a good thing.

Weight of 11-42 cassette isn't really an issue, as the removal of the front mech, one ring, etc easily balances that out. Yes OK it means there's a little extra weight in the rear wheel but nothing to worry about.

I haven't found cadance to be an issue on my 1x gravel bike when gravelling, but it does become an issue when roading, but then that's why I also have a road bike for when I want to stick to tarmac.

As for clunking shifts - not really a problem compared to chain rattling against front mech.

More choice is indeed a good thing, and I wouldn't want to force people down one route or another for their adventure bike, as what suits you may depend on how adventurous you plan to get.

One thing I have found with a 1x is a lack of range. I've been happy to live with this though on my gravel bike and simply run a smaller than normal (normal compared to most standard 1x adventure set-ups) chainring, giving sensibly low gears for bikepacking on (often surprisingly steep and rough) forest roads, at the expense of the ability to pedal at speeds over 25mph.

Again though, if I want to go fast, I stick to tarmac and my road bike.

What 1x has allowed me to do is hook up my redundant left shimano drop bar shifter to a dropper post, for when I want to let my mountain bike side out on my gravel rides.

 

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