Giant Bicycles — BrandWiki

Giant Bicycles

Overview

Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

type	Public
founder	King Liu
industry	Bicycle manufacturing
products	Bicycles
production	6.6 million (2014)
foundation	Dajia, Taichung, Taiwan, 1972
location city	Xitun, Taichung, Taiwan
num employees	10,001+‡R1R‡
parent	Giant Group
homepage	http://www.giant-bicycles.com/

Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (commonly known as Giant) is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer, recognized as the world's largest bicycle designer and manufacturer.[2][3] Giant has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Netherlands, China and Hungary. They have future plans for Vietnam to be the fifth location.

History

Giant was established in 1972 in Dajia, Taichung County in Taiwan (now district of Taichung City), by King Liu and his partners. 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 increased 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 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 the China Bicycle Company to produce bikes in Shenzhen, Giant, under new president Bill Austin (formerly vice-president marketing at Schwinn), established its own brand of bicycles to compete in the rapidly expanding $200-and-above price range.

Technologies and innovations

In 1987, Giant introduced the CADEX carbon fiber road bike. Giant became the first bicycle maker to apply computer-aided design and volume production techniques to the production of carbon road bikes.[21]

In 1995, Giant designed the first road bicycle with a sloping top tube featuring a smaller rear triangle. 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.[22] With more responsive cornering and improved acceleration, as well as improved aerodynamics, the Giant design became largely 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 road frames were originally made of 6061 (ALUXX) aluminium alloy and were also characterized by bladed forks and seat posts to reduce air resistance. Frames came in three sizes (small, medium, and large), with riders fitted through the use of stems and seat posts of different lengths. By 2018, Giant road frames were available in up to six sizes (X-Small, Small, Medium, Medium/Large, Large and X-Large). In 2003, the Total Compact Road (TCR) frame was offered in carbon fiber construction and marketed as the TCR Composite range. In 2006, Giant added a higher-grade carbon fiber frame marketed as the TCR Advanced frame, which was characterized by an integrated seat post (ISP). These frames were most notably raced at the Tour de France by T-Mobile's professional team. Using this design, the seat post on the new frame must be cut precisely to fit the owner by a trained Giant dealer. The TCR Advanced SL frames with ISP continued to be raced internationally, most notably by the Rabobank team (2009–2013), Team Giant-Shimano (2014), Giant-Alpecin (2015–2016) and Team Sunweb (2017–2018).

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.

In 2014, Giant introduced the D-Fuse seat post, it features cylindrical front side and flatten rear side, according to Giant, is designed to absorb shocks and vibrations to give flatter experience for cycling, and increase maneuverability on complex grounds. It was first used on TCR frames, later adopted on some cyclo-cross and gravel frames as well.

In late 2016, Giant announced the Road-E+ e-Bike, which features: E-Bikes have become an increasingly popular type of bike of late. They now come in many different offerings, just like Giant offers with their normal bikes. The main three types are sorted into categories which are: Electric Road Bikes, Electric Mountain Bikes, Electric Adventure Bikes.

As of 2025, Giant categorizes its bicycles by user:

Within each category are several uses, such as Adventure, Race, Endurance, City & Hybrid, All-Rounder, etc.

HCT (Hybrid Cycling Technology) drive system
500 watt 80Nm Yamaha mid drive motor
400Wh or 500Wh EnergyPack integrated frame battery
PedalPlus 4-sensor technology
RideControl[23] display & control pad with Bluetooth integration.[24]

Road bikes
Mountain bikes
Cross & Gravel bikes
Electric bikes
Kids bikes