No NRS? What's in store.

[Yeti]

Well for all that have and havent heard, giant wont be making the NRS range of bikes for 2005....and the future.

This year, from what the new catalogue states, giant will be using the Trance as their main XC bike, a little heavy, really heavy compared to the NRS composite frames......so what's the deal?

Not only have giant made a downhill maestro prototype (now named the giant "Glory") They have also put two new frames into prototype stage...this being the Trance Composite and the Anthem.

The anthem is a new frame on the maestro range...not sure on anything at the moment....ill give giant a ring and find out on monday...but from what i gathered...3.4"of travel using maestro link....may be in carbon fibre prototype stage aswell...and looks extremely like an ironhorse...more pics coming after this weekend at eurobike.

So giant really havent made up their mind quick enough...or just released to early...who knows...lets just hope that one of these bikes gets back onto the XC race circuit like the NRS did.

And for anybody that wanted a new giant this year for a XC bike....bring on the XTC Composite at $4999...or the Trance 1 at $4999.

 

[roasted]

I like the look of that.


lowish weight, simple, clean.

I want one.

 

[M@DM!KE]

NRS <-----it's still here, isn't it?

As far as I am aware:
the NRS will still be available in ALL of its glory for 2006 range. The maestro range will replace other dualies in the Giant line up.
New maestro DH bike,
the Faith (1,2,3) freeride range - The AC is still available in 1 entry model, the Reigns (1,2,3) replace the VT's, and
the Trance (1,2,3) range sit above the NRS for travel and weight.
The only change in the hardtails is a carbon XTC to my knowledge.
I'm led to believe the NRS will be still shreding trails in 2006 in all it's weight weenie carbon and alloy forms. I imagine this will be the case until the composite Trance and Anthem frames are ready for production lines in time for the release of 2007 range (August 2006 or so)
I may stand corrected though.

 

[Yeti]

As far as I am aware:
the NRS will still be available in ALL of its glory for 2006 range. The maestro range will replace other dualies in the Giant line up.
New maestro DH bike,
the Faith (1,2,3) freeride range - The AC is still available in 1 entry model, the Reigns (1,2,3) replace the VT's, and
the Trance (1,2,3) range sit above the NRS for travel and weight.
The only change in the hardtails is a carbon XTC to my knowledge.
I'm led to believe the NRS will be still shreding trails in 2006 in all it's weight weenie carbon and alloy forms. I imagine this will be the case until the composite Trance and Anthem frames are ready for production lines in time for the release of 2007 range (August 2006 or so)
I may stand corrected though.

and you do.

faith 1 and 2 only.

no NRS this year at ALL.

and Maestro dh bike (Glory) is now looking promising...release date...unknown.

 

[scratchy]

Those Taiwanesse! I have an inside source who claims that they absolutely hated paying Renault Race Engineering $4 USD a frame for the frame design. Add the $1USD for the Horst linkage patent to Specialized and every frame that went out the factory was $5 USD to someone else. The Taiwanese are pretty new to the copyright thing (not being racist ppl, I lived there and worked in the industry), and I know they bent over backwards to trying to figure out a way of doing the same thing without paying either. The NRS was a great frame for Giant. When it came out they were getting spanked by all their competitors, the FSR was THE bike. Giant came out with the NRS and got Bike of the Year from Mountain Biking. It was often the example ppl used when arguing that FS could be viable race alternative to a HT. Note it was also these design payments that meant that the AC featured neither the Horst of the Renault F1 teams suspension design. (incase you weren't there, Giant commisioned the smarts of the Renault F1 engineering team to design a bike that would lock out under pedaling).

It was also a great halfway bike for HT riders dabbling into FS . With more active frames the flavour nowadays (and for casual riding a frame that doesn't become rigid under braking is much better!) Giant would have been more than happy to dump there NRS design and save $5 USD per frame.

If it hadn't been for this, I would suspect that Giant may have kept the NRS (like Specialized has done with the FSR) as it has built up a loyal following.

 

[aaron01]

Nice 1 Giant

I heard similar to eskimo no NRS for 06 but the possiblilty of seeing the carbon trance mid way through the year & the anthem closer to the end of the year, Looks like giants got it going on this year the bikes look & feel great & the prices are reasonable.
I have even heard rumours that the reign may even be released in 07 wth a carbon rear end to help thoose enduro riders out.

 

[JohnJohn]

really heavy compared to the NRS composite frames

Is the Trance frame really that heavy? (Or the glue/hair Not Really Suspension really that light?)

According to http://www.wrenchscience.com/WS1/Giant/Bikes.html:

GIANT NRS Lite Composite
Frame info - WEIGHT: 5.84lbs

GIANT Trance
Frame info - WEIGHT: 5.4lbs

Working the necessary hard points to include suspension into a glue and hair frame seems to blam the weight up.

 

[Yeti]

page no work.

 

[Brado_man_88]

and you do.

faith 1 and 2 only.

no NRS this year at ALL.

and Maestro dh bike (Glory) is now looking promising...release date...unknown.

So they aren't shipping any more Faith 3's? But they were such good value! I don't know if that would be such a good idea to cease sale of them, they were quite popular for the 2 weeks they were available...

 

[Grover]

Is the Trance frame really that heavy? (Or the glue/hair Not Really Suspension really that light?)

According to http://www.wrenchscience.com/WS1/Giant/Bikes.html:

GIANT NRS Lite Composite
Frame info - WEIGHT: 5.84lbs

GIANT Trance
Frame info - WEIGHT: 5.4lbs

Working the necessary hard points to include suspension into a glue and hair frame seems to blam the weight up.

That weight for the NRS frameset is right but their totally out on the trance weight. Actual weights range from 6.4lb to 6.7lb. Very porky indeed.

Hopefully the carbon version drops half a pound and the Anthem (proper replacement for the NRS) drops a bit more. The trance has a very beefy plate on its linkage that is not used on the Anthem so look for a couple of hundred grams gone there.

OH, and that link doesn't work because WS don't allow direct linking. Just go to www.wrenchscience.com and click on GIANT down the left hand side.

 

[majura]

I was wondering if anyone heard hanything about the Reign range for 06? Out of the growing All Mountain genre, the Reign 2 is sitting on the top of my list. I did a search and found some stuff off Phantomcycles.com.au (go to their Dual Suspension link and they're all on the 2nd page.

By the looks of things Giant are changing specs- like on the Reign 2, no more Manitou! Plus higher spec drive train and the Easton stuff

Frame: ALUXX FluidFormed Aluminium w/ Maestro 6in Travel
Forks: Rock Shox Revelation 426 Dual 130mm
Shock: Manitou Swinger 3
Sizes: Small, Medium, Large
Colour: Midnight Blue
Front Derail: Shimano Deore XT
Rear Derail: Shimano Deore XT
Gear Levers: Shimano Deore XT Rapidfire 9spd
Brake Levers: Avid Juicy 5 Hydraulic
Brakes: Avid Juicy 5 Hydraulic Discs w/ 6in Rotors
Cranks: RaceFace Evolve XC X-Type Integrated 22/32/44T
B/Bracket: RaceFace Evolve XC X-Type Integrated
Hubs: DT Cerit Disc 28H
Rims: Mavic XM-317 Disc Specific
Spokes: Stainless
Tyres: Hutchinson Bulldog Airlight 26x2.1
Free Wheel: SRAM PG-950 11-34 9spd
Handlebars: Easton EA-50 Riser
Stem: Easton EA-50 Forged Alloy
S/Pillar: Easton EA-50 Micro-Adjust
Saddle: WTB Rocket V
Pedals: Shimano PD-M520 Clipless
Chain: Shimano HG-53

But I've checked out the EU sites which have "06" stuff on, except it's the same spec as 05???

 

[Cúl-Báire]

Heres a few pictures of the beast at Eurobike...



http://vrm.vrway.com/projects/Eurobike_Friedriechshafen/preview/dscf3024.jpg
http://vrm.vrway.com/projects/Eurobike_Friedriechshafen/source/147.html
http://vrm.vrway.com/projects/Eurobike_Friedriechshafen/image/dscf3026.jpg



I find the design quiet interesting- it's nothing new though, Iron Horse used a similar design on their Hollowpoint's and Mountain Cycle on their Zen... Knowing gint though, the frame will be a lightweight no frills frame, it certainly looks like a good race type bike.

More Euro bike pictures can be found at:
http://vrm.vrway.com/projects/Eurobike_Friedriechshafen/index.html

 

[aaron01]

The first 3 pics aren't working Cúl-Báire

 

[M@DM!KE]

Well i guess it is lucky that the giant sponsored riders won't have to wait as long as us common folk to get a new, lightweight giant XC bike. These carbon Trance frames and Anthems had wanna be brilliant if they want people to keep riding Giant XC bikes, because the tried and true NRS was a podium worthy XC bike.
Otherwise it would want to be a butter smooth track to run a carbon XTC, because as fun as the trance are to ride - they definately aren't world cup XC podium hunters. I think that this is pretty poor management at the top from Giant. Hopefully someone is getting their fat arse dragged across hot coals so they don't make another f'up like this any time soon.
I'm sure there will be Giant XC pros riding NRS's for a while to come yet, until the Anthems are all go.

 

[craigb]

bang for ya buck was the nrs thats the reason i purchased a nrs2 for my girlfriend a month back. at the price i paid i could not have gone wrong i do hope giant doent screw up

 

[scratchy]

I think that this is pretty poor management at the top from Giant. Hopefully someone is getting their fat arse dragged across hot coals so they don't make another f'up like this any time soon.
I'm sure there will be Giant XC pros riding NRS's for a while to come yet, until the Anthems are all go.

M@DM!KE ya godda be kidding, the guys been given the corner office. As I stated before and every a NRS frame went out the factory was $5 USD to someone else. I know they bent over backwards to trying to figure out a way of doing the same thing without paying either.

Dribbling the change over a couple of years would have made a statement that the NRS was still a relevant design. GIANT don't want to produce the NRS, so the best thing to do is announce that the new design is superior hence that's why they aren't producing the NRS. The NRS has served it's purpose for GIANT as a company.

C'mon conspiracy theorys are always sexier!

 

[M@DM!KE]

Yeah true, i don't argue with your point Scratchy: he probably does have a corner office now. When they actually are able to sell these new designs 9after production) they'll be grinning from ear to ear. However, there is a big time gap in there somewhere. They are shit out of NRS's and not too many high end XC racers are gonna run out and buy the much gheavier Trance in the meantime.
Even though Giant were shelling out a big five US clams for each frame they punched out, they would still be making squillions from the NRS design. They are gonna be loosing a stack of sales in the meantime before these new XC race specific frames are in full production. No lightweight alternatives for a while means losing more $ from no sales than a few gold coins they were tossing away with the NRS. I think if they were a little smarter they would have looked at their timelines a little closer, that's all.

 

[Yeti]

were not talking two years...anthem should be coming in april/may.

as for the carbon...who knows...we might be getting a nice suprise...

 

[Bodin]

As I stated before and every a NRS frame went out the factory was $5 USD to someone else. I know they bent over backwards to trying to figure out a way of doing the same thing without paying either.

...so they found a different design to copy this time. Why wait for the new Giant stuff? If you really need that kind of linkage, just find a dealer who can give you a good deal on an Iron Horse Azure.

 

[Farkinmad]

I can't wait for the carbon version of Trance & Anthem. Though, I'm not sure which one to buy. Go for race carbon or trail carbon, uhmmmm
Either way, 2006 bikes are looking good. Perhaps, I will wait until late next before I buy my next FS bike & see what happens.