Dear Sir/Madam,

I’m not really one ever to write to a company to complain but I am going to do so on this occasion just to point out something which I reckon you will see anyhow reflected in bike sales in the uk, which actually has really frustrated/angered/disappointed me.

I love cycling..its been a passion of mine for 20 years plus both road and mountain bike…I have spent a lot of money on both over the years.

I particurlarly enjoy mountain biking and spent what is a considerable amount of money in my eyes on a full suspension mountain bike about 4 years ago on a cannondale rize 140mm (I have had a Specialised Hard Rock, Giant NRS3 and Giant Anthem,Rocky Mountain ETSX50 in the past) , on which I have pretty much upgraded everything.

I bought a giant defy road bike earlier on in the year for touring. I considered myself a big spender on bikes and kit over the years and after having spent more than 2.2k on a custom built steel road bike and a 5″ travel full suspension mountain bike. Prices now have become too high for me to consider to buying a suitable replacement and my choice is now being limited. I dont want a lower spec bike to the one I’m currently ride.

I borrowed a friends Trance X 2012 model last year and rode it …I loved it..I was very impressed…I had my heart on buying a frame and moving my kit onto it …..but Now I can’t as you’re only doing 27.5″ bikes now….

Well I have to tell you that I didnot sneer at 29″ when they came out, I rode one and guess what I didnot like it….in fact where I ride it was simply rubbish in my opinion.

I have picked up a giant trance X2 27.5″ in the shop, I love the way the frame looks and its heavy in comparison to what I currently have and the top model would cost me nearly £4k…money I can’t warrant spending on a bike now.

But more importantly I like my 26″ mt bike and its what I WANT TO stay with, and I am not alone, most of my friends actually are rather annoyed as being forced down the 27.5″ route…not just by yourselfs but by other companies and are all saying the same thing which I can’t print in English as its considered bad language.

I’ll be staying with 26″ but unfortunately it won’t be with Giant which is a shame as I would have bought an Advanced carbon trance x frame and paid the price provided it was less than 2K.

Is the frame in a 26″ still available to buy in another country ?? You cannot surely be destroying all your tooling for 26″ bikes just yet ??

I just wanted to let you know that you have lost my possible business unfortunately and am unlikely to buy a 27.5″ at even under 2K as the bike weighs 29-30lb as I asked to weigh one in my local shop…..I would then have to buy new lighter equipement to fit….is not my ideal way to buy a new bike and be told that my old gear is now effectively redundant.

I don’t see many tyre adverts in 27.5″ either in the magazines nor forums I visit.

Yours disappointed a lost Giant Trance X (frame) possible customer in 26″

I imagine they will not give a monkeys.

Small fish. Doubt they’ll care about selling you a frame.

Some cut/paste marketing bullshit if you’re lucky

(bit of a whiny email though – just tell ’em straight, “your 650s are heavy and expensive and you smell of poo”)

I suspect they will immediately realise that 650b/27.5 is a fools errand and will immediately cancel orders on the rest of their 2014 range and go back to making nice, sensible 26″ bikes for the Luddites in the u.k.

Or not.

I hope you didn’t waste too much time writing it.

Not really Mr Glover….just annoyed at being told whats good for me…nothing to do with being a Luddite either 🙂

No offence, but the lack of grammar in the first paragraph put me off reading any further. I’m sure they will feel the same.

That must have been quite cathartic, writing all your frustrations and annoyances. Its good to vent like that – necessary and often sufficient IME.

Happy trails

I can imagine the reply being

**** off you old get

anyone who’s been riding 20 years isn’t our target market disposable income or not, our target market isnt the old giffer who has been going in the local mom and pop bike shop he remembers lusting after a bike in when he was a lad ,after all there shouldn’t be many of those left due to internet cowboys and our big brand trying to compete with each other concept stores, you know the ones that only sell our brand

The young naive Ipad generation is our market now …they dont know what a wheel size is and flock into our brand stores like a tourist homing in on the apple store……cuz its cool innit

as you are neither young or naive and your possibly past it old bean i suggest the ping website and a subscription to golfers weekly be more suitable use of your time than writing emails to us

regards

They will just see you as jumping on the moaning bandwagon.

650b would have virtually passed me by if it wasn’t for all the whinging on here.

you’re not been forced into buying a 27.5er, why be loyal to Giant?

If anything all this new wheel size business works in your favour. The market will be flooded with top end 26 inch wheeled bikes at bargain prices.

Maybe this will help?http://m.wikihow.com/Douche-for-Feminine-Hygiene

Why are you even bothered? This switch is great for you. The classifieds well be flooded cheap frames when every fashion victim sells their 26er.

please dont call them 27.5 as it is nothing like half way between a 26 er and 29 er hence they spin that name
its 25 mm larger than 26 and 38 mm smaller than 29 er – it is not half way between the two and that name is closer to a lie than marketing IMHO

Does the purple section in that ven diagram represent those who ride 26inch wheeled bikes and are afraid of 650b? I expected it to be bigger, I guess all the whiners have marketed themselves so much they have conned us all into expecting a bigger group.

That diagram means bugger all.

I have a ‘650b’ wheelset & the tyres measure 28″.

See this vid from the ‘toe curling 650b marketing guff’ thread. In which Giant admit 29ers aren’t so great after all and that they therefore won’t be bothering to make any more. If you bought a Giant 29er, it’s officially crap and you must replace it pronto with a 650b, because actually they are the best.

That diagram means bugger all.

I have a ‘650b’ wheelset & the tyres measure 28″.
I think we all know some tyres are bigger than others
The point is that 650 b IS NOT half way between 26 er and 29 er
I dont know why you say shwos “bugger all” tbh but I remember why i dont bother discussing tyre size , apparently even facts get arsey replies

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your letter. I passed it to someone who made it past the third paragraph and they told me to say this –
The MTB market in China is booming and we have many stores there these days. We realised we won’t sell so many 29ers there despite some ergonomic data showing the ‘short Asian people’ stereotype isn’t true. Anyway, we saw the flat sales in the UK and decided you can keep your steel hardtails with 150mm forks, we just don’t get you lot after many years of trying. We have bigger markets to be involved with these days and we think in 5 years no-one will care about 26″ anyway.

Sorry. There’s loads of choice for everyone still, even if it’s not from us. Be happy about that, it’s not communist-era Russia. Even China has pretty good choice now.

Hugs,
Giant

Wanna buy a 2010 Tramce X2? 😉

Giant Customer Services meeting tomorrow morning

😆

I want to know – like the endowment mortgage mis-selling, and the ppi mis-selling – have I been mislead in buying an anthem x 26er last year, because giant seem utterly convinced they aren’t fit for purpose to the extent they aren’t even making them any more. How much compensation am I due? Should I set myself up to process claims on others behalf and skim 30% off of any future payments?

That letter is too long for me to read. I bet Giant think the same.
Succinct – briefly and clearly expressed.

Great thread ,with some top input,thanks OP 🙂

That letter is too long for me to read. I bet Giant think the same.

In summary…

Dear Giant

Legitimate waaaaaaaaa!

Regards,

Jo Public

Giants reply

Dear Sucker,

Suck it.

Regards

Giant

p.s SUCKER!

The OP, on leaving the LBS Giant Dealership:

Fair play to the OP, I do actually think you have a strong point.

Op you’ll get over it and in a couple of years I’ll bet you own a 650b bike 😉

That diagram means bugger all.
I have a ‘650b’ wheelset & the tyres measure 28″.

I have a ‘ 26″ ‘ wheelset & the tyres measure 27″.

you know there are other bikes available?

Uh-oh! It looks like Giant have got to Mike!

Dear Rumbelows

I have been an avid movie watcher for 20 years and walked into my local shop yesterday to discover that you are no longer willing to sell me a VCR. Needless to say I put my foot through the nearest Walkman and stormed out.

I didn’t get where I am today by innovating and bringing fresh ideas to the market place.

CJ

Sunshine Desserts

wheel size whinge / moan / complain / haven’t even tried it / zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 🙄

mikewsmith – Member
you know there are other bikes available?

POSTED 42 MINUTES AGO #
Jamie – Member
Uh-oh! It looks like Giant have got to Mike!

If it was something other than a Giant I could care a bit 🙂 Why bother shouting at a big corp about 1 sale go find a nice bike somewhere else and reward a company for selling what you want.

they wont care. get with the times chief. Leave snarky comments on their facebook page.

2012 sales 54,041,401,000 in Taiwanese Dollars – they probably don’t understand that if you convert that to UK£ it’s a much much smaller number £1,136,684,706

So you rode a 29er and didn’t like it, do they must all be rubbish, and you picked up a stock bike and it was heavier than your own bike, that you spent loads on…

Yep, stuff seems more expensive nowadays, and maybe it isn’t just inflation… Hardly Giant’s fault though.

Edit- sorry, didn’t answer your original question.