Quoted post said:Originally posted by Charlie Parker
What does Lance ride? Which race does Lance occasionally win on that bike? O.K. so Giant make the low-end TREK alu frames, they also make pretty much everybody elses low-end alu frames, but they don't design them, the geometry is TREK, a low-end TREK frame is not just a Giant frame with different decals, I have to say that is a really dumb attitude to take. Also consider how much more money goes to the oppressive Communist Chinese regime when you buy a Giant. Remember Tibet! TREK bikes are assembled in the U.S.A. by people who can speak freely and vote for who they want, that has to be worth a few extra bucks even if nothing else is.
Lance rides a Trek because he is sponsored by Trek\USPS. I'm sure if Giant came around in the late 90's and sponsored Lance when nobody else would, he would be riding a Giant TCR Composite right now. BTW, Lance will no longer be sponsored by USPS next year.
Taiwan is not communist. China is communist. Taiwan and China are two different countries despite China's claim that Taiwan is still part of China. They are a Republic much like the US. The money does not go to support communism but democracy.
I own several Treks and Giants in the past and the low end Giants are a better value. You can get an '04 OCR1 with Ultegra\105 components for under $1k at Performance bicycles. Giants are not sold over their website but if you live near one, you can get one at their store sometimes with 0% financing depending on the time of year.