1998 Giant Once -- info/worth it?
 

Hi guys,
First time poster!
I have this opportunity in my area, listed at $425, but I can't seem to find any info on this particular model...any help or thoughts? Much appreciated!
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=515295

the only thing that would scare me is condition of the shifters and wheels.. but that DA stuff is nice.. im still riding some of their SPD peds...
im not really much a fan of the 9sp DA though... but if it works.

Says 8 speed.

Looks like a Giant OCR. Nothing special about the bike. If the Dura Ace group is in nice shape that might fetch $350 on ebay still so bike may be worth $425 if you like it

It's not a 1998. It's a 1999 TCR Team. It doesn't have the original parts. New it came with Campy Record 9 speed, a cool aero seatpost and Record hubs with Campy Moskva rims. It cost $3000. But they probably sold it as a frameset as well.

Oh and as far as the worth, it depends on the condition. If everything is mint condition you could probably part it out on ebay and make a profit, especially with that DA 8 speed stuff.

Laurent Jalabert '99 Giro

https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/insp...68-cropped.jpg

On the contrary, that is the very first modern road bike, the primogenitor of the road bike as we know it. That is the first compact geometry road frame, born from mountain bike DNA jumping the trail to the pavement. As a matter of interest to cycling affizzionati, particularly those with a historical tack, that is a very special bike, perhaps the most special road bike ever, because it literally ushered in a completely new era.

To Lazyass's point, they're correct it's not completely original. However, having such an interesting piece of cycling history, even in modified condition such as it is, is really kind of cool, IMO.

Keith Bontrager made the first compact road frame in '95 I think. There's a nice one for sale in the vintage section. But yeah the Giant really kicked off the whole compact frame craze. I remember when it came out it was like the most popular bike.

Charlie Cunningham made a few, too, and before Bontrager, but in evolutionary terms, any of those road bikes coming out of MTB builders' shops in the early days were dead-ends. The Giant TCR not only developed from it's own branch, it brought the design beyond a small corner of California and to a global, international audience, and equally importantly, established the Asian construction model that dominates today, so much so that even American brands which could have had an evolutionary link to the Cali pioneers, for example Specialized, are designing and selling road bikes directly descended from the Giant TCR, not from Cunningham or Bontrager. Same for venerable Euro brands like Colnago and Scott, but of course the greatest irony is that Keith's frame lineage didn't even live on at Trek, which acquired Bontrager in '95 or so.

Don't get me wrong, I have tons of respect for Keith as a pioneer and visionary! He did so much cool stuff, and really drove bicycle development. I remember buying a Switchblade for my GT MTB after he licensed the design to Tange, and later bought a Bontrager Racelight which was pretty sweet. I wanted a Road Lite, but never got one. As an MTB guy, the Road Lite looked right to me in a way the classic road bike never did, so I had no problems accepting the dominance of compact geo as so many in the roadie world did. Boy, did the roadies hate it...!

Great thread/knowledge about the first generation TCRs so ask for your thoughts...do you ever see any Team ONCE TCRs in anodized grey like ridden by Laurent Jalabert rode in Tour de France 1998...which I believe is the first year Giant became Team ONCE sponsor? I ask as I think I have one and am in earch of more info...

...1st time post...so need to post 10 times before I can add any photos btw

Most members here will rather you join in on some of the current conversations rather than reviving long dead threads just to add adulations.

The mods sort of frown on really lame posts just to get your count up.

Welcome to BF!

As a coincidence, Mike Burrows, the designer of the Giant TCR passed away today or yesterday.

To reiterate for the OP: the bike is the TCR model, not the "ONCE". This particular bike is a team replica in ONCE livery. ONCE was a great, dominant Spanish pro team in the 90s and early 00s. ONCE is pronounced "Ohn-Say" and the title sponsor is a Spanish non-profit. Much of the organization of ONCE went on to found the current Astana team.

This is a very important bike in the history of road bikes. The design was revolutionary at the time and changed how road bikes look permanently. This bike was designed by Mike Burrows, who also designed probably the most iconic track bike in history the Lotus 108. The "compact" design of the TCR allowed manufacturers to get away from making lots of different sizes and just make a few. Even though this bike is aluminum, this reduction in available sizes became very important with carbon frames. With carbon frames, each frame size requires a separate, expensive mold and limiting the available sizes dramatically reduces production costs. Every road bike today has some DNA from the original TCR in it.

i see this as an old thread, but i had a TCR i bought new in '01

I never could get the sizing to work for me - had a medium and to ride it, i needed to use a conventional Dura Ace post as the stock carbon one was just too long (i found out later you could get shorter posts) -- then had to use a shorty stem that goofed up the handling

I think a medium was equivalent to a size 55 and my conventional steel bikes were all 53's or 54's

So it was close, but no bueno ------ even so, i got on a "weight weenie" kick with the bike and had it down to a ridiculous for the time 15 lbs or so ready to ride - it was a feather.