Gear

Spotted: Giant’s new prototype road frame

Giant's new prototype road frame is being used by several Rabobank riders

June 17, 2011 Nick Legan

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Giant — Giant had several Rabobank riders at the Dauphine and the Tour of Switzerland aboard black prototype frames. The most obvious change is internally routed cables.

The — The new Giant has a massive head tube and bottom bracket areas. The top tube and seatstays are quite slender though.

The — The fork is broad from the side and nice and slender from the front. It looks like carbon dropouts are bonded to the carbon blades.

Like — Like the fork, the rear dropouts are carbon bonded into the carbon stays. The internal cable routing has a large exit that is stepped down for cables but large enough for Di2 wiring. Ten Dam was riding a stock Dura-Ace rear derailleur and not the aluminum jockey wheel cage version that some riders have.

Just — Just a guess, but the fork/head tube are likely the same full-carbon OverDrive system currently on TCR Advanced frames.

The — The down tube is flattened where it meets the bottom bracket for maximum lateral stiffness. That’s the beauty of composites, they can be manipulated into shapes that other materials can’t manage as easily.

Like — Like current TCR Advanced SL frames, the new model has a Pressfit bottom bracket. This one uses some FSA parts (look closely between the crankarm and the frame).

The — The seat junction area is sculped beautifully. It appears that the seatstays are bonded separately to the union with the seat tube and not molded as one piece.

Like — Like the prototype Vittoria tires, Laurens Ten Dam was also riding a prototype (or possibly early production) Giant frame at the Tour of Switzerland.

Other — Other than several riders on the new Giant frame (easily identified by its black color), one rider in particular, Bauke Mollema, has a very peculiar preference for his bike: no brake hoods.

Here's — Here’s race shot of Mollema getting it done without brake hoods. It takes all kinds … but then he rolls up his knicks while he races too …

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