Advice GIANT OCR 4 06 new

roverjoyce

I am about to buy the above bike for €365 is that good value?

http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=3888&categoryID=48

I am a road cycler and interested in doing triathlons and it is the cheapest bike that i can find and i would not like to spend more than €400.

It is coming from England and I am wondering if any of ye had any dealings with http://www.cyclestore.co.uk. I have been in contact with them and they seem fine.

Also are bikes in Ireland very dear as I can find no cheap decent bike in Ireland.:(

Ghost Rider

Dunno much about road bikes but the cheapest I've seen a new Giant OCR for in Ireland is €450. Have you factored in the shipping cost?

roverjoyce wrote:

I am about to buy the above bike for €365 is that good value?

http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=3888&categoryID=48

I am a road cycler and interested in doing triathlons and it is the cheapest bike that i can find and i would not like to spend more than €400.

It is coming from England and I am wondering if any of ye had any dealings with http://www.cyclestore.co.uk. I have been in contact with them and they seem fine.

Also are bikes in Ireland very dear as I can find no cheap decent bike in Ireland.:(

roverjoyce

yeah i have included delivery in that price. Is the bike worth buying. Thank you

Quigs Snr

The girlfriend got one of these a couple of months ago from Wiggle to start out a few triathlons on. Similar price. Long and short of it, faster than a mountain bike or Hybrid. Quite heavy for a roadbike though.

Not very upgradeable, 7speed is not compatible with much of the rest of the Shimano range sadly and the bike is so low end that its probably not worth upgrading truth be told. Pedals are rubbish, mountainbike pedals, get yourself a set of clip ins, biggest upgrade you can make, failing that at least get pedals with toeclips if you are doing a triathlon.

I found the paint quality to be very soft as well, easily chipped, plus I do a bit of bike racing (not triathlon) and I am used to grinding out a 53-11 gear on the downhills, so when I test rode the OCR4 I found whatever gearing is on the Giant (cannot remember offhand, maybe a 53-14) a little lightweight for competition. However if you are a beginner at triathlon, that should not be an issue for quite some time if indeed ever. Maybe its a good thing because I found the brakes poor too, but then again I am comparing them to top of the range Dura Ace that I have on my own bikes, so its probably fine.

Overall, you are getting what you are paying for. A decent entry level bike is about 700 (Specialised Allez / Trek 1000 etc...), the Giant will do the job for half the money and get you into it. If you are starting out, it won't hold you back. If you get into it you'll be wanting to change bikes in the future. I reckon go for it, its a decent looking bike that will do what you need it to do. If you don't stick with it but keep the bike in good shape you will easily sell it around here and not lose too much on it either. Likewise if you love the sport and want to take it further you should be able to sell on to fund the upgrade with minimal losses.

roverjoyce

Thanks Quigs Snr for that advice summed up exacly what i am feeling. If it doesnt work out i havent lost a fortune.

E@gle.

thats a good price for it.

DirkVoodoo

I recently bought an SCR 2.0 from the UCD bike shop, there is no longer info on Giants webiste about the OCR and rob in the bike shop (ok, not always the most even-tempered) hates the OCR frames.

Quigs Snr

No probs. One thing about buying online, you need to do a little assembly yourself, i.e. fit the pedals, handlebars to be tightened etc... easy enough (do NOT over tighten the handlebars). The one I got the missus came with both wheels very slightly out of true. Normally a bike shop would sort that before they sell it to you, and one of the back brakes was rubbing. I was able to get one of my clubmates who is a bike mechanic to make sure the wheels were perfect (they were rideable, just not perfect), and I was able to tighten up and position the brake myself. Just be aware that buying online you might be 100% fine but you might also sometimes need to do these little things, and factor in that you might have to throw your local bike shop 20 or 30 quid to sort a few minor things like that for you.

Dirk, people are divided on frames, but at the end of the day, having ridden the OCR myself, its stable, solid and unspectacular, handles very dependably (noticeably more so than my very, very twitchy, sub 15lb carbon race bike) and it doesn't go too badly all things considered, the missus was hanging on to me at 43kph on a flat last night !

milod

OP, the price is good and you'd struggle to get better. Trouble is it won't stand up to much of a battering and you'll spend a lot of time adjusting those derailleurs...

If I were you I'd try to scrape a few more quid together to get something a little better - as Quigs said it's very low end - it's got the older 6061 aluminium frame (which you can buy for €99) - not as rigid as the new ALUXX frame. It's also got low-end Shimano Sora mechs