Waingro wrote:
Last year, I was offered an insane deal on their top end TCR Advanced SL with DA Di2 everything. Seller was a super rich guy with whom I share a mechanic, and he just didn’t care what he got back for it. It was a half size too big for him and he rode it just a couple times. I had a similar reaction to the brand—kinda like buying a Toyota or Honda.
But the thing is phenomenal. Just flawlessly engineered and perfect for me. I love the bike now, and view the brand as having an almost reverse cache to it—someone riding one of their top end bikes may be more about the quality than whatever the paint on the frame says.
In terms of brand cachet, Giant does as well as Hyaundai. In terms of actual quality, Giant is like Toyota/Lexus.
Except in terms of reality, most of the carbon and aluminum bikes, including those from mass market brands with more cachet (cough cough Specialized) is made by either Giant or Merida. A corresponding comparison would be something like BMW contracting out most of its production to Toyota.
None of this stuff is inherently rational when one digs into it