Edward Wong
July 13th 03, 11:36 PM
Today Sunday I decided to do a little local touring on my Scooterbike
and wound up riding to Winter Park. This is a beautiful suburb of
Orlando...in fact it's a city in it's own right with a mayor, a
cityhall, police department etc. The area is affluent and is home to
Rollins College which is considered to have one of the best
MBA/business progams in the nation.
Anyway on Fairbanks Ave near the corner of Park Ave, there is a bike
shop called LoCo Motion. I stopped by and was pleasantly surprised to
see that they had several Giant Revives on the showroom floor! They
had both the base and the high end model called the Revive DX. This
last one has the intergrated cyclometer on the handlebar, fully
enclosed drivetrain, rollerbrakes and a Shimano Nexus 7 speed hub.
One of the shop's employees whose name is Travis was kind enough to
take some time and explain the features of the DX. This young man who
is a BMX/MTB enthusiast had a very good recumbent awareness as I call
it. He has ridden many bents will here recognise such as several
models from RANS, BikeE, Easy Racers, Vision etc.
After showing me how easy it is to make adjustments on the DX, I took
it for a spin. Wow...all I can say is that this thing is a hoot to
ride. It felt much like an upright but relaxed as a recumbent. The
pictures of the prototype showed a seat that seemed to be copped off
one of their beach cruisers but the one on the bike I rode was much
wider...I say at least 12 inches across and cradled my behind quite
well. The back rest is also larger than the original. Adjustments
were handled by quick releases. I don't believe you can adjust the
tilt but then again I could be wrong.
In my short test ride, I determined that in spite of the wide bottom
bracket to seat ratio, the seating position along with the back rest
allows you to generate quite a bit of power and torque. You get that
feel of being "in the bike" much like a full recumbent unlike the "on
the bike" sensation when riding a wedgie. Handling was a bit quick
but very control-able. Stopping and starting was a snap and very
confidence inspiring. This is great while ridding in city traffic.
The only issue I had with the DX is the fact that I felt that the bike
was a tad overgeared. Giant uses a pretty good sized chainring in
this drivetrain. First gear allowed me to reach 8-10 mph and I wasn't
even spinning the crank very fast. While it won't be an issue for the
terrain here in Orlando, anyone who buys this bike and lives and rides
in hilly terrain will be begging for lower gears. And besides this is
a comfort bike and it should be easy to pedal. Travis explained to me
that changing out the chainring for a smaller one is no issue.
Prices have been lowered which is a good thing. The DX was selling
for $800 and the base model was $600. There is a possibility that
these could be had for $50 less than these prices.
Overall I was quite impressed with the DX. The fit and finish was
good though the weldings were not the best but who cares as long as
the bike works good which it does. One of the most recent a.r.b.r.
discussions on these Giant semi bents had someone say that it is a
"failed attempt". My counter to this is, a failed attempt at what?
Giant never said that it is trying to reach the audience that is
attracted to bikes like the P-38 or the Gold Rush replica. If it were
then the Revive would be a "failed attempt". In fact it is not
calling it's bikes "recumbents" so we're not talking an "apples to
apples" comparison here. On the other hand, a high BB SWB machine
would be a "failed attempt" in the market Giant has been pitching with
it's Revive. These bikes are really very inviting and non
intimidating.
Edward Wong
Orlando, FL
and wound up riding to Winter Park. This is a beautiful suburb of
Orlando...in fact it's a city in it's own right with a mayor, a
cityhall, police department etc. The area is affluent and is home to
Rollins College which is considered to have one of the best
MBA/business progams in the nation.
Anyway on Fairbanks Ave near the corner of Park Ave, there is a bike
shop called LoCo Motion. I stopped by and was pleasantly surprised to
see that they had several Giant Revives on the showroom floor! They
had both the base and the high end model called the Revive DX. This
last one has the intergrated cyclometer on the handlebar, fully
enclosed drivetrain, rollerbrakes and a Shimano Nexus 7 speed hub.
One of the shop's employees whose name is Travis was kind enough to
take some time and explain the features of the DX. This young man who
is a BMX/MTB enthusiast had a very good recumbent awareness as I call
it. He has ridden many bents will here recognise such as several
models from RANS, BikeE, Easy Racers, Vision etc.
After showing me how easy it is to make adjustments on the DX, I took
it for a spin. Wow...all I can say is that this thing is a hoot to
ride. It felt much like an upright but relaxed as a recumbent. The
pictures of the prototype showed a seat that seemed to be copped off
one of their beach cruisers but the one on the bike I rode was much
wider...I say at least 12 inches across and cradled my behind quite
well. The back rest is also larger than the original. Adjustments
were handled by quick releases. I don't believe you can adjust the
tilt but then again I could be wrong.
In my short test ride, I determined that in spite of the wide bottom
bracket to seat ratio, the seating position along with the back rest
allows you to generate quite a bit of power and torque. You get that
feel of being "in the bike" much like a full recumbent unlike the "on
the bike" sensation when riding a wedgie. Handling was a bit quick
but very control-able. Stopping and starting was a snap and very
confidence inspiring. This is great while ridding in city traffic.
The only issue I had with the DX is the fact that I felt that the bike
was a tad overgeared. Giant uses a pretty good sized chainring in
this drivetrain. First gear allowed me to reach 8-10 mph and I wasn't
even spinning the crank very fast. While it won't be an issue for the
terrain here in Orlando, anyone who buys this bike and lives and rides
in hilly terrain will be begging for lower gears. And besides this is
a comfort bike and it should be easy to pedal. Travis explained to me
that changing out the chainring for a smaller one is no issue.
Prices have been lowered which is a good thing. The DX was selling
for $800 and the base model was $600. There is a possibility that
these could be had for $50 less than these prices.
Overall I was quite impressed with the DX. The fit and finish was
good though the weldings were not the best but who cares as long as
the bike works good which it does. One of the most recent a.r.b.r.
discussions on these Giant semi bents had someone say that it is a
"failed attempt". My counter to this is, a failed attempt at what?
Giant never said that it is trying to reach the audience that is
attracted to bikes like the P-38 or the Gold Rush replica. If it were
then the Revive would be a "failed attempt". In fact it is not
calling it's bikes "recumbents" so we're not talking an "apples to
apples" comparison here. On the other hand, a high BB SWB machine
would be a "failed attempt" in the market Giant has been pitching with
it's Revive. These bikes are really very inviting and non
intimidating.
Edward Wong
Orlando, FL