Giant 29″er Hardtail: Update
June 19th, 2009 by Guitar TedThe spies are busy and forwarding juicy tidbits on Giant’s aluminum model 29″ers to Twenty Nine Inches. Check out the following bits from what looks like a sell sheet or perhaps this is catalog copy, we’re not sure which. (Check out a previous post on the Giant 29″ers from our sister site, The Cyclist)
The “XTC 29er 2″ will feature an Aluxx hydroformed frame with a tapered head tube encasing a Marzocchi “Forty-Niner” fork with “TS T2″, 15QR through axle, and 100mm of travel. The bike will also feature Deore shifting and drive train with Alivio disc brakes.
Giant’s “XTC 29er 1″ will be the same Aluxx frame with an upgrade to XT derailluer out back, a better crank set, a Fox 32 F-29 fork with 100mm travel, along with Juicy 3 brakes.
The geometry consists of a 71.5 degree head angle for all sizes except the small which is 71 degrees, and a seat tube angle of 72.5 degrees, except the small which is 73 degrees. The size range will be Small, Medium, Large, and X-Large. Chainstays are a relatively short 17.3 inches on all models.
Other information is limited, but we are hearing that these are hitting U.S. shores very soon. Stay tuned for further updates…
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These are interesting. I love my Giant OCR elite road bike.
Noteworthy is the Giant made Tubeless ready rims, Tapered steerer tube fork, q15 fox fork, and low standover
The singlespeed is missing.
Looks interesting spec wise. However, the graphics and “look” of the bike are terrible in my opinion. I just don’t like that giant “Giant” logo. Something smaller please?
Finally, Giant lives up to its name!
I kinda like the simple graphics, when compared to the rolling billboards that Gary Fishers are hehe!
Basic geometry: identical to the very first Fishers from 2001. Except for the 100mm forks and some slight other basics (like BB heiht and fork clearance) figured out over the years.
I’m happy finally Giant is on-par again. It’s my original favorite brand. I had many of them.
Their heavy low-end steel MTB were wicked fast, at least when fitted with city slickers. I rode some local closed circuit times on a ~1990 Terrago with 1.75 negative profile Conti rubber, which I’m not sure I’ll ever even match on a modern road bike.
These bike will be shipping in 2 weeks. fyi..
The XTC 29 1 is available now, the 2s will be available in a week or so.
super short headtubes and chainstays…nice.
it weighs a smidge over 3lbs.
i hear some carbon frames with sliders and possible belt drive options are coming in august.
I’d wager an Alliance half-and-half version coming out soon, probably with sliding dropouts and XT. Might not be until next year, though I hope it drops much sooner.
Look at the Giant Facebook page. It shows this very thing.
Why 100mm travel? With 29er tires, 80mm seems to enough for a hardtail.
Glenn: I found that to be a glaring difference from what we normally see in offerings at this price level. (Hmm……..perhaps being different was on purpose?
) At any rate, with that travel and the short-ish 17.3″ chain stays, one could almost mistake this for Eastern woods geometry. 
Almost…………
What kind of price points are we talking here for both models?
Mike the Bike: The Xtc 29er 2 MSRP= $1350.00, the Xtc 29er-1 MSRP= $2150.00
was it possible i saw one of these yesterday on the back of an fj on interstate 80 ?
These bikes are out now. We have the 1 in our shop already.
The prices are $1250 for the 2 and $1950 for the 1.
As a side note I just came back from the c-dale 2010 Product launch.. C-dale has sharpened their pencils on 29ers for next season.
Look for a new carbon bike that will knock you socks off. The lightest carbon 29er made.
jdog: I also understand that the alliance 29″ers from Giant are also on the way. C-Dale’s rig should spark a lot of interest as well.
any geometry on the xl sizing. mainly seat tube, head tube and top tube? Cheers
XL: TT = 25″ HT = 4.7″ ST = 22″ CS= 17.3″
Just saw one. wow.
i just bought one last week. i love it.
Looks great! I want to know if it has an eccentric BB, if so the you could single-speed it, and not worry about drop out problems. If I was to get this bike I’d change the head tube angle with a King angle spacer to get it to 72°. I love (rigid El Mariachi) steel so I could never…. But it does look nice.