Anyone racing on a Giant MCR? I have a frame that I’m debating on building it up for Tri/TT or just keep it as a collectors item since you never see them anymore. Any good or bad things about the frame and if you have pics to share that would be great.
I have an MCR frame hanging up, i keep meaning to get it down and rebuild it. It was very fast and way ahead of its time IMO.
The biggest negative I can recall with it was the noise, the roads here are a rough chipseal and the hollow frame would amplify road noise, forget sneaking up on an opponent, or trying to psyche them out with the woosh of a disc.
I rode one from 1997 to 2005 and put several thousand miles on it. Although somewhat heavy (19lbs with a lot of lightweight components) for a carbon bike, it was very comfortable and extremely aero. I would still have it but it had high speed wobble issues that I could not cure (new forks, stem, etc.) and with no top tube it made it tough to bring back under control. The wobble only occurred on chip seal pavement at 40+ (Nasty Grade at WF and Yellow Lake at IMC) but it happened exactly where you did not want it. It was never an issue on smooth pavement. I did discover that a Campy aero water bottle was just tall enough to touch to dampen the vibration.
The stock aero wheels were extremely heavy and had some rear hub issues. Also, the seat tube angle is 74 degrees, so if you ride very steep (78+), it would be tough to dial in your position.
Although I took some abuse at first for buying a “girl’s bike,” I loved the fact that it was so unique and rare. It was rather noisy especially with a Hed 3 and a disc, but people heard you coming and some of my competitors/training partners learned to know the sound well.
Dean Wilson
www.anaerobiczone.com