Need advice on rebuild project: Giant OCR3



dlevine

New Member
Mar 6, 2006
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I would like to rebuild this cheapo Giant OCR3 that is showing lots of wear with only 2000 miles on it. Sure, it was only a $500 bike so I'm not that surprised, but the guy at the shop where I bought it says that it's a pretty nice frame and is worth putting nicer components on. It came with really low end Shimano stuff. I don't want to spend more than I paid for the bike on new components, but I would like to upgrade it. Any advice, or things to avoid? I think I need new derailleurs and chain, and maybe new chainrings and/or crank.

thanks, Dave
 
dlevine said:
I would like to rebuild this cheapo Giant OCR3 that is showing lots of wear with only 2000 miles on it. Sure, it was only a $500 bike so I'm not that surprised, but the guy at the shop where I bought it says that it's a pretty nice frame and is worth putting nicer components on. It came with really low end Shimano stuff. I don't want to spend more than I paid for the bike on new components, but I would like to upgrade it. Any advice, or things to avoid? I think I need new derailleurs and chain, and maybe new chainrings and/or crank.

thanks, Dave
I believe the OCR3 comes with sora components and alex rims. For under $500 you could put 9sp. 105 on there and that would greatly improve the bike. If you want some good wheels, try looking for deals on handbuilt ones.
 
badkarma said:
I believe the OCR3 comes with sora components and alex rims. For under $500 you could put 9sp. 105 on there and that would greatly improve the bike. If you want some good wheels, try looking for deals on handbuilt ones.
Thanks for replying badkarma-

You're right, Sora. I'm too new at this to know what you mean by "9sp. 105". Is that chainring and cassette? Are derailleurs less important than I thought? And where would one look for deals on handbuilt wheels? Maybe a better question is would wheels make that much of a difference to someone who rides about 2500 miles/season (northern New England)?

Dave
 
dlevine said:
Thanks for replying badkarma-

You're right, Sora. I'm too new at this to know what you mean by "9sp. 105". Is that chainring and cassette? Are derailleurs less important than I thought? And where would one look for deals on handbuilt wheels? Maybe a better question is would wheels make that much of a difference to someone who rides about 2500 miles/season (northern New England)?

Dave
I hate to be the guy to bring this up but a brand spankin' new 2005 OCR 1 AL bike is only $1000 MSRP U.S. price. Rather than go to all of the trouble to rebuild an OCR3 with Sora, I would suggest selling it on ebay and perhaps finding a new (if you can still find one) or used OCR 1.

This is especially true if you aren't familiar with the basic terms of "9 speed 105" and whether or not it applies to a chainring or cassette. Not trying to jab at you heare but you're going to be in over your head in no time.

To put anything other than Sora on your frame you're going to have to buy a lot of 9 speed bits and that's going to get pricey if you have to pay a bike shop to do it. Unless you already have the tools and the DIY skills it's just not going to be worth it, even though it is a good frame. The OCR3 frame is the same as the OCR1 frame.

If you spend $500 fixing it up PLUS the $500 of the original purchase price you just went though a lot of hassle and you still won't have a $1000 bike, unless you can do it yourself and buy the parts dirt cheap. Sorry.
 
Doctor Morbius said:
I hate to be the guy to bring this up but a brand spankin' new 2005 OCR 1 AL bike is only $1000 MSRP U.S. price. Rather than go to all of the trouble to rebuild an OCR3 with Sora, I would suggest selling it on ebay and perhaps finding a new (if you can still find one) or used OCR 1.

This is especially true if you aren't familiar with the basic terms of "9 speed 105" and whether or not it applies to a chainring or cassette. Not trying to jab at you heare but you're going to be in over your head in no time.

To put anything other than Sora on your frame you're going to have to buy a lot of 9 speed bits and that's going to get pricey if you have to pay a bike shop to do it. Unless you already have the tools and the DIY skills it's just not going to be worth it, even though it is a good frame. The OCR3 frame is the same as the OCR1 frame.

If you spend $500 fixing it up PLUS the $500 of the original purchase price you just went though a lot of hassle and you still won't have a $1000 bike, unless you can do it yourself and buy the parts dirt cheap. Sorry.
Dr Morbius,

Thanks for your honesty- that's just what I was looking for. I'm not much of a bike mechanic, yet. But I'm pretty mechanical, and I can see with the take apart and cleaning I've done so far that quality level of the OCR3 is marginal. I guess I figured that out after the way it was riding after only 2000 miles (over 2 yrs with bike shop tune ups).

I have another bike, an older, much nicer Fuji Touring bike that someone gave me last year. It's got Speedplay pedals and forced me to buy shoes and cleats, of which I now see the extreme value! Also it more suits the kind of riding I like to do- distance more than speed. But I want to fix up the Giant enough so that my daughter can ride with me, and even in my inexperience I was beginning to get the idea that it was not worth putting that much money into. I will learn more as I replace the chain and clean everything up, but I guess I'll stick to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Thanks again for your candor.

Dave
 
dlevine said:
I will learn more as I replace the chain and clean everything up, but I guess I'll stick to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
Always a good philosophy. Upgrading drivetrain parts that are still relatively new won't give you a huge improvement, especially if this is your backup bike. You mentioned wheels and Northern New England, and a good set of hand built wheels that are light enough for the hills and strong enough for the frost heaves can make a significant difference.
 
dlevine said:
Thanks again for your candor.
You're welcome.

As Artmichalek stated, wheels can be a good investment. Also, if your bike(s) all use the same size then you have a handy second set. Or if you decide to buy a new bike with all the bells and whistles someday then you'll have them handy. Often bike manufacturers will skimp on wheels to cut costs. This is especially true of low to mid grade bikes.
 
OK guys, that's interesting. This kid in one of my local bike shops said once that wheels would make a surprising difference. Where does one find these hand-built wheels? What kind of money are we talking about?
 
dlevine said:
OK guys, that's interesting. This kid in one of my local bike shops said once that wheels would make a surprising difference. Where does one find these hand-built wheels? What kind of money are we talking about?
The best place to start is asking around local bike shops. There are also a number of internet shops that build custom wheels, but I haven't dealt with any of them directly. You can do very well in the $250-$350 range.
 
I have 2000 miles on a cheap Giant (Sedona DX) and have no signs of wear on any components except for tires (which I replaced). It came with Alivio, which I understand is roughly the Mountain Bike equivalent of the Sora road group (or maybe a step up).

Isn't anyone surprised that the Sora components are worn out in 2000 miles? They should just be broken in well... They'll never be DA, or even 105, but I know with the positive owner experiences for OCR3's on the forums etc that they must surely be expected to last more than 2000 miles.
 
Hi dgregory,

I didn't mean to say that it was all worn out, but rather showing more wear than I was happy with. Having returned to cycling fairly recently, I bought an entry level road bike, and I guess I'm just an old cheapskate. $500 doesn't get you the quality and durability in 2004 that it got you when I was a youngster! Duh! When I hit the lottery I will get the bike I really want! In the meantime I want to use the OCR3 to teach myself some basic mechanical skills as well as rehab the "backup" bike.

thanks, Dave
 
I'm just an old cheapskate too... I ride a $400 bike.

I even considered updating my Sedona to be a 26" wheeled road bike, but by the time I would pay for the STI to go with the drop bars and replace the suspension fork with a solid fork, and perhaps a reasonable wheel set... I am suddenly up near the OCR3 price range. I was considering relabeling my bike as an OCR4... or OCR Pi as part of making it a drop bar road bike.

I do appreciate your response, and it does reinforce my thoughts that if I buy a new bike, I will look a step up from the current OCR3 component set. I was actually liking the OCR2, but with a "downgrade" to the OCR3 wheels if I can work a deal with the LBS. I think I would prefer the OCR3 wheels since I am a large rider and would appreciate the greater number of spokes, and don't care about bike weight too much.
 
Hi dgregory57,

Nice to hear that my ramblings were of some use to you. I guess what made me dissatisfied with the OCR was when I got the old Fuji touring bike gifted to me by a much more experienced rider who owned a few very fancy bikes. The Fuji was so solid and impressive that it made the Giant look puny. Before that I was quite happy with the OCR3 and it suited the type of riding I like to do. My return to biking over the past 5 years started with mountain bikes, and when I got the Giant I impressed myself with riding 1000 miles in a season. Now I've doubled that, and someone that I rode with last summer told me about a ride he and a friend had done somewhere in the midwest. They ran into this really old lady riding some kind of Walmart bike. They were amused to run into her again in another town 100 miles and many hills later. So maybe the bike doesn't matter as much as we like to think sometimes ...