Giant TCR carbon, Maestro Suspension and sub-brand Liv
Giant sponsort het Spaanse wielerteam ONCE Deutsche Bank nog tot 2003 dat vanaf 2001 ONCE Eroski heet en daarna volgt het Duitse Team T-Mobile met kleppers als Jan Ullrich, Alexandre Vinokourov, Erik Zabel, een jonge Mark Cavendish, André Greipel en Andreas Klöden.
In 2003, the revolutionary TCR frame has now it's first model in carbon and is marketed as the TCR Composite range.
The Giant TCR in carbon from Team T-Mobile in 2004
In 2004 Giant introduced into the world of Off road his Maestro Suspension Technology. This innovative design has four pivot points to neutralize pedaling and braking forces and keep the suspension fully active on all types of terrain.
In 2006, a frame of higher quality carbon fibers follows which gets the name Giant TCR Advanced-frame en wordt gekenmerkt door een geïntegreerde zadelpen (ISP). Nieuw aan dit model is dat de zadelpen op het nieuwe frame precies moet worden gesneden in functie van de grootte van de renner.
In 2008 Giant launches the sub brand Liv / Giant with products aimed exclusively at the female bicycle market. In 2014 this sub-brand will be renamed LivThe re-branding is intended to make the Liv brand products completely independent of the existing Giant products and to tailor them entirely to women.
Als onderdeel van de rebranding worden speciale Liv-winkels en Liv-zones geïntroduceerd binnen de meeste Giant-retailers.
Giant sponsor of Team High Road and Rabobank
In 2008 the T-Mobile team changed to Team High Road after T-Mobile withdraws from the cycling world due to doping problems. The new sponsor will be High Road, which will later be assisted by clothing manufacturer Columbia Sportswear and later still by HTC. The name of the cycling team therefore changes a few times in a short time.
De sponsoring van Giant stopt eind 2008 en er wordt gezocht naar een nieuwe wielerploeg. Het wordt het Nederlandse Rabobank. The bikes used are the Giant Advanced SL Iteration with Dura Ace groupset.
The Giant Advanced SL Iteration of the Team Rabobank
Voor de 1ste keer wint Giant een rittenwedstrijd: de Giro d’Italia in 2009, dankzij de Russische renner Dennis Menchov die bij Rabobank rijdt. Ook wint Giant Milaan San Remo 2010 dankzij Oscar Freire alsook diverse etappes in de Tour de France vooral dankzij de spurter Mark Cavendish bij Team High Road – Columbia.
The 2010s: Giant launches the models Giant Propel and Giant Defy
De sponsoring van het professionele team Rabobank gaat door tot eind 2013. De naam is ondertussen veranderd in Belkin – Pro Cycling Team. Hetzelfde jaar wordt de Giant Propel gelanceerd, een aerodynamische fiets die vooral in de vlakke ritten wordt gebruikt waar pure sprinters meestal zegevieren.
The Giant Propel Advanced
In 2014 a new Dutch cycling team is sponsored, Giant Shimano, with a lot of strong talented riders such as Marcel Kittel, Tom Dumoulin, Michael Matthews, Warren Barguil and John Degenkolb. The team immediately achieved a lot of success in the 3 grand tours and this mainly thanks to the spurt bombs Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb on their Giant Propel.
The following year the name of the team changed into Giant Alpecin and now victories are also booked in the classics. John Degenkolb wins Milan San Remo on a Giant Propel in 2015 and Paris Roubaix on a Giant Defy. The robustness of both bicycle models was immediately proven.
The sponsorship will continue until the end of 2018, team Giant Alpecin is now called team Sunweb en in 2017 is er de overwinning van Tom Dumoulin in de Giro d’Italia bijgekomen. Giant is ondertussen meer dan een gevestigde waarde in het professionele wielrennen geworden en sponsort nu ook zelfs vrouwenteams.
From 2019 Giant sponsors the Polish Team CCC including Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet and European champion Matteo Trentin.
The current range of Giant
The current range of Giant bicycles is very extensive and divided into:
- Racing bikes
- Mountain bikes
- Gravel & cross bikes
- Electric bicycles
- Children's bicycles
In alle categoriën zijn er dan heel wat onderverdelingen zoals in de categorie racefietsen triathlon, fitness, electrische racefietsen, …
In addition to the numerous carbon bicycles, the cheaper aluminum bicycles are still made with 6061 (Aluxx) aluminum alloys. The range has now been expanded to 6 sizes (X-Small, Small, Medium, Medium / Large, Large and X-Large).
In 2018 Giant will launch its 1st gravel bikes: the Giant Revolt Advanced and the Giant Toughroad SLX
The Giant Revolt Advanced Gravel bike
In addition to bicycles, Giant also produces components (wheels, handlebar holders, handlebars, saddles, pedals, ...), cycling clothing (gloves, shirts, shoes, helmets, ...), equipment (bicycle rollers, water bottles, bicycle pumps, bicycle computers, ...)
The latest novelty is the launch of Giant Cadex midden 2019. Deze naam werd reeds gebruikt in 1987 voor Giant’s eerste carbonfiets en wordt nu terug gebruikt voor hun kwaliteitslijn van fietscomponenten, wielen, banden en afwerkingssets.
Before the brand was officially launched, the components were already used as prototypes under the brand name #overachieve at the UCI WorldTeams sponsored by Giant (Team Sunweb in 2018 and CCC Pro Team in 2019).
The bicycles of the CCC team with Cadex wheels
