stevechow said:
i would like to get a giant ocr1 which comes with shimano tiagra groupset
and not the standard 105. my question is
how do i know is this manufacture in year 2008 or year 2007 or maybe earlier? i would like to get the latest model and manufacture in 2008. the model i saw printed
55 1/2 and manufacture in australia on the frame.
With SOME brands, it is very obvious which "model year" a bike belongs to because the graphics (i.e., decals) and/or available colors for the frame will change ... this is definitely true of TREK's bikes.
I don't know what the situation is with GIANT's bikes.
Compare the info in the brochures (if you have them) OR on their website.
Ask the dealer you are buying the bike from if you can look at the catalogs from last year & for the 2008 bikes, etc.
BTW.
55 1/2 may be the effective frame size ...
So, how much more is the bike with the 105 group going to cost than the one with the Tiagra components? Unless you were planning on switching the shifters to a set of Campagnolo Mirage-or-better, you're probably better off getting the bike with the 105 components.
While almost ALL Shimano components are very-good-to-excellent, there is a definite improvement in design-(and-probably-quality) when you move up to 105-or-better.
So, why are you fixated on the Tiagra components?
While Campagnolo frequently employs a trickle-down policy of (essentially) re-labeling a previously better component group with a lesser name when new stuff is introduced (i.e., recent, pre-2007 Veloce is basically the same as Chorus from 10 years earlier, with intermediate re-labeling of the components), that isn't how Shimano allows their technology to trickle-down. So, while I would like to think that the current Tiagra shifters now house the old 105-mechanism/(or, better), I wouldn't count on it.
Of course, as with automobiles, most 2008 models (frames & components) were actually manufactured in 2007 ... 2007 bikes were manufactured in 2006, etc.
FWIW. If there were TWO Giant OCR1 bikes in a shop, and one was a 2007 & one was a so-called 2008 which were equipped with the SAME components, then I would opt for the 2007
because it would presumably cost about 20% (or, more) less than the 2008 model. A similar bike from the 2006-or-earlier model year should/could be as much as 40% less.
Why pay more?!?
