2012 sees a raft of improvements to the Giant performance level road range, most of which are nearly invisible. There have been no wholesale changes to the look of the bikes (besides more subdued paint schemes), and yet the frames are significantly lighter, steering is stiffer and the overall ride more comfortable. In Part 1 we look at the first of these new innovations; OverDrive2.
Perhaps best summarised by BikeRader: "The...major improvement comes in overall handling precision, which makes a significant jump with the move towards an even more oversized 1 1/4-to-1 1/2in tapered front end called OverDrive2."
Overdrive2.
The tapered OverDrive2 front end produces what Giant is calling an up to a 40 percent increase in "steering stiffness" with essentially no increase in weight. Brilliant!
While Giant are not the first bike manufacturer to move in this direction, they are the first of the large brands to do so - which raises the question of after-market/spare parts. The good news is that Giant are already producing stems with 1 1/4in clamps to support this new standard, as are a number of other major component manufacturers.
Better still, the head tube size hasn't changed, meaning owners of older OverDrive front-ends can upgrade to OverDrive2 by simply swapping out the fork, upper headset, stem and spacers.
See OverDrive2 in action below:
All images sourced from BikeRadar.
Read more about the new technology being incorporated into Giant's 2012 road bikes on BikeRadar's excellent coverage of the global product launch here.
