hokiefyd 

I use these. My only comment, besides that I like them a lot, is their shape tends to "square" your wrist up to the handlebar. Thus these aren't quite as comfortable on wide and straight bars because your wrists will feel almost like they're being turned in toward the center (though they're really not). I'd like to try a bar with some back sweep with these grips.

I'm beginning to have some second thoughts on my Roam in general, though. My daughter and I have gotten into mountain biking. No weird stuff like you see on YouTube, but just going more off the road on rutty and moderately rocky single track. I'm trying to be careful to not pound the poor 63mm fork into the ground (it's an NEX hybrid fork). I'm starting to think that something like a Giant Talon or Raleigh Tokul (or similar) would be better for my use. I have a very comfortable Trek 750 for hybrid duty.

Do I keep using the Roam until parts break, and just upgrade as I go? Or sell it while it's still pristine and buy something better optimized for trails? Hmm...

finch204

I'm heading the other direction. I'm trying to make my Roam more suited to pavement riding. I'm looking at grips because I want to install the SQ Lab inner bar ends. So I wanted to replace the grips at the same with lock-on grips. Then I'm planning on replacing the stock Giant Crosscut tires with Schwalbe G-One tires for a little more speed on pavement. At the same time, I don't want to do too much and render my flat bar Madone useless. Or maybe I should just get a new flat bar road bike... hmm....

badger1

It all depends! If you like the genuinely 'cross-terrain' nature of the Roam, and want to be able to crossover between pavement/hardpack on the one hand, and up to moderately technical singletrack on the other, then why not simply change the fork to https://www.sram.com/rockshox/products/paragon-gold-rl if and when the NEX packs it in, or even before!

On the other hand, if you want to get into mtb proper, then yes ... if you don't need the Roam for pavement/hardpack riding, get a full-on mtb.

BTW

hokiefyd 

I think my biggest mistake, in terms of using the Roam off the road is buying a large frame when I was right in the middle of large and medium. I can barely stand over the large frame, which is generally fine for roads and paths. A little more standover clearance is usually recommended for trail riding, which may have off-camber situations or other oddities. A smaller frame would probably set me up better for installing a longer fork in the future, if the NEX fork fails (like a 100mm mountain bike fork for example). A longer fork should set the bike up taller, and I can't really go any taller with it.

I've also considered swapping to 27.5" wheels to lower the bike a bit.

But then I would question spending hundreds of dollars trying to make a bike fit a need for which it wasn't really designed. I love the color and style, though. I go back and forth.

badger1

Yes, they (Roams) are 'big' bikes -- many of Giant's models are. E.G. at 5'8" dead on, but with quite long legs/arms for my height, I fit perfectly on Specialized Medium (or 54 road) frames, but with Giant while a Medium road frame is perfect, I need Small in their hybrids/mtbs. Just the way it is. I'm contemplating a Roam (0, discussed briefly above), but there's no way I'd buy the Medium! I 'fit' on it perfectly fine, but it feels like a barn door to me, and (as you say) ... way too little s/o clearance for my tastes. The Small is just right in terms of stack, reach, and s/o clearance.

Re. forks: fwiw I wouldn't consider putting a 100mm fork on a Roam. The frame is simply not designed for it; much better to switch out to a dedicated hardtail mtb. That said, that's why I pointed to the Paragon: that fork, while still only having 60 and a bit mm travel, is based on a previous generation of RockShox full-on mtb forks. So provided one isn't planning a lot of six-foot-drops-to-flat kind of stuff, it would work very well indeed off-road.

hokiefyd 

This is a good example of how frame charts don't really tell the whole story. On paper, my large Roam has the shortest stand-over (30.7") of any of my "main" bikes, the others being a 20" Trek Verve (31.1" stand over) and a 21" Trek 750 (30.9" stand over). In practice, I seem to have the most stand over clearance on my 750, despite it being the "tallest" bike on paper. My Verve feels a little "closer", but the Roam feels the tallest. Of course, swapping the 38mm tires for 50mm tires only adds to the height (6mm nominal increase). I agree with you...Giants do seem to "feel big" for their size.

My local Giant dealer has my identical bike in stock, but in a medium size (Roam 2, Satin Grey color). Half of me wants to go check it out, but I haven't yet. The other half of me wants to sell the Roam and buy something like a Raleigh Tokul 2 (unbeatable value in a MTB). The third half of me (I said I was torn!) wants to keep my Roam and consider 27.5" wheels and tires. I feel that it's too tall as it is...I just have to decide the best approach from here.

There are worse choices to have to make in life, right?

badger1

Yep!

hokiefyd 

I was at the Giant dealer tonight, and they had a Talon 2 in medium that I sat on -- it felt good. I'd certainly have to ride it to be sure. Stand over was still "snug". I wouldn't say that it's significantly different than my large Roam. When I got home, I rode my '15 Verve 3, and I would also call its stand over "snug". Maybe I'm feeling that the Giant is taller than it really is -- when I compare it directly with other bikes, even my own Verve, it's not a ton different.

I came away with potentially a different plan, though. I really don't ride my Verve 3 much any more. I really should sell *that* bike, and replace it with a dedicated mountain bike. Then I'd have the Roam for most riding, and a mountain bike for actual single track. The Verve is such a pretty bike (a beautiful combo of medium blue with pearl black) that it would be hard for me to part with it, but I like *having* that particular Verve (in that colorway) more than I like *riding* it

The bike shop owner wasn't too hot on the idea of replacing the Roam's wheels with 27.5". He said the geometry might end up being different and it'd lower the bottom bracket. All true.

finch204

Did an evening ride last night with the Roam. I noticed that I've been doing only leisurely rides with the Roam, so for last night's ride I decided to ride a bit more aggressively. Locked the front fork and tried to keep my speeds above 10 mph the whole ride. Did a little over 5 miles in less than 30 minutes which was an improvement for me.

My takeaways:

• You can actually push the Roam on pavement and it is a fun ride because it is so comfy.
• The WTB Speed saddle I have on the Roam seems to be a good improvement over the stock saddle. It also seems to feel better if I'm pushing it and trying to bend down to get a little more aero on the bike. Like the saddle is encouraging me to bend forward more.
• I would like narrower handlebars and bar ends.

I was actually planning on getting the Bontrager Isozone handlebars to replace the stock Roam handlebars and use the SQ Lab inner bar ends. After doing some more research, I discovered that I could get the Spirgrips that are also inner bar ends, but its installation doesn't require me to remove the existing grips. So I'm probably going with that first.

hokiefyd 

I'm a lot faster on the Roam than I thought I'd be. Something with the geometry on it -- it just feels efficient to pedal. I've been running with the fork locked more than I used to. Maybe I'll eventually change out the fork to a rigid carbon fork, especially if I buy a dedicated MTB for single track.

finch204

So I spent some time looking for a US based online retailer that sells the Spirgrips bar ends and I cannot seem to find one. There's a European store, Rosebikes, that sells them, but having it shipped here I think makes it pretty expensive, for just bar ends. Even on ebay, the cheapest I could find was like $50 for the bar ends, but shipping was like $22-$23. At that point it is more expensive than buying separate grips and SQ Lab inner bar ends. It even cost as much as the Bontrager Isozone handlebars, that already includes the isozone grips.

On a positive note, I found that some online stores do sell the Giant Connect MAX Ergo grips with bar ends. These are the grips with integrated bar ends that come on the Giant Fastroad bikes.

mwl001

The Ergo Max Plus? I have those on my Roam and like them a lot.

finch204

That's good to hear. Where did you purchase them? As far as I know, they don't come stock on any Roam model, at least not in Giant's US Roam models.

mwl001

I bought them at a local Giant store in my area, they installed them for me.

finch204

Cool! I'll drop by our local Giant Factory store next month. Those grips/bar ends are interesting in that, the Giant Bicycles US website does not list them online. However, if you do a google search for them, you will find a link that will take you to the Giant US website and allow you to buy it online. For a few months I thought there was no way to buy those grips/bar ends separately, until I randomly searched on Google.

Do you know if the angle of the bar ends are adjustable, independent of the angle of the grips? Kinda like how the Ergon grips are?

mwl001

Within reason? I've never owned the Ergon grips. Obviously you can rotate the grips 360 degrees, but not the bar ends.

ColonelSanders

Rose Bikes usually have pretty good prices on all their stuff and their postage costs will be the same or only marginally more if you were to add some other items you want/need, like brake pads, tubes, tyres, various accessories etc.


I pretty much buy everything bike related from German online retailers, I just have to wait till I have multiple things to order, to reduce the postage hit.

finch204

Got it. I will check it out at the Giant store. I've been wanting to test ride a Giant FastRoad anyway. So it will be a good time to also test the grips themselves.

That's good to hear Colonel. I really like how you don't need to remove the existing grips to install the Spirgrips bar ends.

Why do you like buying from German online retailers?

ColonelSanders

I was very close to going that route myself and I may still do so in the future, but I decided to get a set of Surly Moloko bars(not yet in use).

For me in Australia, I just don't have the local choices or Amazon options someone in the USA has, so the German retailers have an incredible range of items and pretty much the best price on just about everything I am after.

Whilst there are many examples I could give, probably the best example is the Racktime range of racks and baskets, which I believe are a clear level above Topeak.

Also the Schwalbe tyres are also so much cheaper than elsewhere.

They are so much better than ChainReaction, it is no longer funny.

finch204

Yes we are spoiled here in the US with a number of good online retailers for cycling, unfortunately no one seems to be selling the Spirgrips. In any case, I trust your word and will not hesitate to order from Rosebikes in the future

jckiser23

jckiser23

hokiefyd 

What tires do you have on it (the 700x50)?

jckiser23

hokiefyd 

Cool -- I'd love to see some pictures of them!

I ask because I have Schwalbe Hurricanes on mine, also in 50-622 size (also marked 29x2"). The casings themselves on the Schwalbes are about 48mm and small knobs are about 51-52mm edge to edge. And there's still room.


IMG_20180530_170340334 by jnjadcock, on Flickr

Those Kenda Kwick Journeys look nice. I have the Kwick Tendrils on one of my bikes and I like them. Somewhat heavy for their size (due to the puncture protection), but they are very smooth.