Giant Bicycles

Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

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Type	Public
Traded as	TWSE: 9921
Industry	Bicycle manufacturing
Founded	Dajia District, Taichung City, Taiwan, 1972
Founder	King Liu 劉金標
Headquarters	Dajia District, Taichung City, Taiwan
Products	Bicycles
Revenue	US$1.8 billion (2012)
Website	www.giant-bicycles.com

A Giant head badge

A Giant TCX Cyclocross

Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Chinese: 巨大機械工業股份有限公司, commonly known as 捷安特) is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer that is recognized as the world's largest bicycle manufacturer. Giant has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Netherlands, and China.

History

Giant was established in 1972 in Dajia, Taichung County (now part of Taichung City), by King Liu and several friends. A major breakthrough came in 1977 when Giant’s chief executive, Tony Lo, negotiated a deal with Schwinn to begin manufacturing bikes as an OEM, manufacturing bicycles to be sold exclusively under other brand names as a private label. As bike sales leapt in the U.S., and after workers at the Schwinn plant in Chicago went on strike in 1980, Giant became a key supplier, making more than two-thirds of Schwinn’s bikes by the mid-1980s, representing 75% of Giant’s sales. When Schwinn decided to find a new source and in 1987 signed a contract with China Bicycle Company to make bikes in Shenzhen, Giant, under new president Bill Austin, established its own brand of bicycles to compete in the rapidly expanding $200-and-above price range. In 1984, Giant also set up a joint venture, "Giant Europe," with Dutch race cycle pioneer Koga-Miyata from Andries Gaastra. In 1992, Giant became a full shareholder of Giant Europe.

By 2014, Giant had sales in over 50 countries, in over 12,000 retail stores. In 2007, its global sales surpassed 5 million bicycles and US$820 million in global revenue, and by 2012 it had reached 6.3 million bicycles and revenue of US$1.8 billion.

Models

Giant Halfway

The bike that Alexander Vinokourov used at the 2005 Tour de France

In 1995, Giant designed the first sloping bicycle, featuring a smaller rear triangle and sloping top tube. The tighter chainstay-seatstay configuration is said to be inherently stiffer than a more conventional frame design, and because less material is used, the Compact Road design is also said to be lighter. Add to that more responsive cornering and improved acceleration, as well as improved aerodynamics, and the Giant design became much imitated.

By 1998, with Mike Burrows, Giant refined the design for racing by the professional ONCE team. This was only after initial resistance by the Union Cycliste Internationale and subsequent amendment to its regulations to allow for bicycles with a sloping top tube.

Giant frames were originally made of 6061 (ALUXX) aluminium alloy and were also characterised by bladed forks and seatposts to reduce air resistance. Frames came in three sizes (small, medium and large), with riders fitted through the use of stems and seatposts of different lengths. Another Mike Burrows innovation that was featured on the original TCR bikes included a height-adjustable stem, later removed from road racing bicycles due to flex under heavy loads.

In 2003, the TCR frame was offered in carbon fibre construction and marketed as the TCR Composite range. In 2006, Giant added a higher-grade carbon fibre frame marketed as the TCR Advanced frame, which was characterised by an integrated seatpost (ISP). These frames were most notably raced at the Tour de France as the pink and black chariots of T-Mobile's professional team. Using this design, the seatpost on the new frame must be cut precisely to fit the owner by a trained Giant dealer. In 2010, the TCR frames with ISP continued to be raced internationally, most notably by the Rabobank team.

In terms of other innovations, Giant also introduced its Maestro suspension in 2006. Maestro Suspension, according to Giant, is designed to deliver an efficient rear suspension power transfer. Maestro utilizes a setup of four pivot points and two linkages to create a floating pivot point that is designed to reduce pedal bob and enables the rear wheel to travel vertically.

Giant currently categorizes its bicycles into seven groups:

• Road - Training, advanced and professional road bikes
• Mountain - Includes bikes for various riding styles, from casual single-track to race-specific downhill bikes.
• Comfort - A range of casual city bikes
• Mode - Designed for teens
• Indoor Cycling - Indoor fitness bikes
• Family Cycling - Designed for children
• Speciality - HALFWAY and the CLIP are the only bikes in this folding bike group

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Competitions

Giant currently sponsors international cycling teams. The most famous are the Team Giant-Alpecin team and the Global Giant Mountain Bike Team, as well as many national teams.

See also

• List of companies of Taiwan

External links

• Giant Bicycles Corporate Site
• Giant Bicycles USA Site
• Giant Twitter Feed