Giant Training - Part 1

Posted by PeterD Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:16:00 GMT

John and Berry went to Santa Cruz a few weeks back to attend the Giant Maestro Suspension training event. Here is what Berry had to say about the event:

They had sales and tech info in the morning, the lunch & dirt demo in the PM at DeLaveaga Park, where they had Anthems (3 1/2” Race bike), Trance Xs (5” trail bike), and Reign Xs (6.7” freeride bike) available to ride. I rode a Trance X and a Reign X. Loved the Trance X, the rear suspension truly worked very well; if it had had a Vanilla RLC on it, would have tried to take it home. It weighed 26lbs.

The Reign X is too much bike for me and the riding I do, but when going DH, it inspires lots of confidence.

The presentation in the morning was much as you’d expect and included some descriptions of their manufacturing process and techniques.

One thing that was quite a surprise for me was to find out that the make their own aluminum! It allows them to be in total control of the whole process from concept to delivery. They use Press Forming to create most of the frame components, typically the bends and bell shaped tubing ends. The rest of the shaping is done by Fluid Forming, a hot process, for both the blank tube and the fluid itself. The blank is in a mold and high pressure fluid forces the blank to conform to the inside of the mold. The combination of these two processes allow them to make the frame as strong as needed in any part or location without having to add gussets or to weld on additional material, which would add weight, be labor intensive and costly, or both.

They are the largest bike manufacturer in the world and the second largest seller (300K+) of bikes in the US (Trek is # 1 in US).

Part 2 coming soon…