Originally Posted by
veganbikes
The low end is worse. Having sold similar bikes with similar specs at the same time in similar enough quantities the Giant bikes were brought in 2:1 over other stuff and we were mostly dealing Specialized. I remember their higher to mid range stuff having the goofiest stem containing hydraulic fluid so instead of using full cables or going for the early but existing Shimano hydro STI levers they did something on their own which was quite silly and unneeded. Yes I will grant that every brand does silly stuff but usually in regards to comfort and some sort of Cush or mush to make it better.
They do lack brand kudos but they also make a product that isn't quite as good the higher end is better in comparison especially these days but the low end is still quite low.
I’ll take your word for it on the low end bikes. Sounds like they just extend their range lower down. On the higher end bikes you seem to have cherry picked a specific feature they did badly at some point in the past. My 2019 Defy Advanced Pro has a slightly quirky box stem design with integrated brake hoses which is not the most elegant solution, but otherwise works fine and the frame is as good as anything else in it’s class. I noticed they redesigned the stem a couple of years later and the revised version looked much neater.