Scott G wrote:
>> It's funny that you mention that... the Giant NRS is dead, too,
>> replaced by the Giant Anthem for 2006. I'm going to go out on a
>> limb and say the primary motivation for doing this is to avoid the
>> Specialized/Horst patent licensing fees.
>> --
>
> Just Googled the Anthem...doesn't look much like NRS at all. Why not
> just pay the fees?
Giant needed to jump on the "new suspension design" bandwagon. Specialized
has the Epic, Cannondale's doing something stupid and proprietary as usual,
Trek got big into the freeride stuff, and Giant wanted a coherent line that
people could identify with and upgrade along, hence the "Maestro"
suspension.
Before, people never really knew what a VT or AC was unless they knew the
Giant line. NRS, yeah, maybe. But they've gotten away from the acronyms
and started using real names so people will remember them. Think about
it... how many times have your loved ones talked about the "UBS sockets" on
their computers?
I personally feel that it's mostly a load of ****. And I love Giants, so
that's saying a lot. Maybe I'll give the Anthem 2 in the shop a test ride
on a real trail sometime.
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training