My new baby (Giant Peloton Superlite)

This is my new '94 (I think) Giant, I got it from itsafox of this parish and I love it, it is more or less mint except missing shifter hoods and some cosmetic rust on some bolts and spots of it coming through the chrome on the headset cups.
It rides really nicely and has some really nice details, the seat cluster is super tidy and the fork crown is also quite neat. It weighs a bit over 9kg which makes it my lightest lugged steel bike.

I can't find much info about these bike on t'interweb so if anyone knows about their history, where they sat in the range etc it would be great to hear it.

Does anyone know if these shifters (the up and downshift levers are one piece of plastic) take the same hoods as the later pointy top ergos?

Please excuse the photo quality, I crashed with the phone in my back pocket and cracked the lens.



Super early Mk1 ergoshifters


How much room?


Tidy lugs


Frame: Giant Peloton Superlite CroMo
Forks: Giant Peloton Superlite CroMo
Bars: Sakae Custom Anatomic
Stem: Unbranded quill
Headset: Giant Branded by Tien Hsin
Bar Tape: Deda Elementi

Shifters: Mk1 Campagnolo Stratos Ergoshifters
Calipers: Campagnolo Stratos
Front Mech: Campagnolo Stratos
Rear Mech: Campagnolo Stratos 8spd

Saddle: San Marco Rolls
Seat Post: ?
Seat Post Clamp: Integrated

Cranks: Campagnolo Stratos 170mm
Chainring(s): 53/39
Chain: KMC 8spd
Cassette: Early Campagnolo 8spd, none of the funny shaping to aid shifting on later 8spd stuff that i have.
Pedals: Exustar EPS-R
Bottom Bracket: Campagnolo

Front Wheel:
Rim: Unbranded, but pretty light alloy clincher
Spokes: 32
Hub: Campagnolo
Tube: Michelin A1
Tire: 700/20c Michelin Dynamic Classic

Back Wheel:
Rim: Unbranded, but pretty light alloy clincher
Spokes: 32
Hub: Campagnolo
Tube: Michelin A1
Tire: 700/20c Michelin Dynamic Classic

Accessories: Bontranger alloy bottle cages

Weight: ~9-10 kg

Edited now I have discovered what the groupset is.

Those one piece plastic early ergos are from the very short lived Stratos group I think. I have a Duell that has the full group. Low end, but functional and quite rare. I had to change the hoods too and the pointy early ergo ones (EC-RE500) fit fine, but the cutaways to accomodate the horizontal shifters at the back of other early ergogroups don't serve a function, since those are integrated on the front here.

The superlite was pretty high up early Giant offerings I think. I know some people that think very highly of them, and they are apparently indeed light (super even) but haven't tried one myself. Yours certainly look nice and tidy.

As far as I can piece together the bikes from this Taiwanese manufacturer where sold under all kinds of brand since the '70s. In Holland they were imported by Koga Miyata in 1986, who coined the brand Giant alongside their 'own' Koga Miyata line. In 1988 they seem to have sold the name to the manufacturer who used it as a foundation to operate under their own brand. This is just some educated guessing on my part by the way.

Thankyou for that! it is great to know a little more about it.
Having looked at your bike I am now sure that you are correct and the whole group appears to be Stratos, the cranks aren't very pretty but it all works well.

Your Duell is stunning by the way!

looks nice

Nice steed, I feel Giant have always been derided as a mass market "no Soul" type of manufacturer and generally easily dismissed by most fans.
However, they have been around for 40 years plus now, never "bought" or copied someone else's knowhow/competition, unlike Trek and Sram and have always been at the fore front of development for the benefit of riders, with many innovations to their credit.
Despite being one of the first to use Carbon (and still make their own in their own factories) they still also make top frames in Alloy, that will out perform most of the cheaper and mid range carbon frames.

To be fair, I am not the biggest fan of Giant as a company, but I do tend to judge bikes individually, and I fell for this as soon as I saw it despite it being right at the biggest end of what will fit me.
I am so glad I did because it has not disappointed. It is also quite nice being on something a little different. it certainly makes a change from the bikes I see on my club run.

Also
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46672334@N ... 282168437/

Having found this: the Giant catalogue from 1991 it does look like the Peloton Super Lite sat second in the road bike line up below the Cadex.

At that point it was equiped with Shimano 105 downtube shifters (as incidently did the Cadex)

nice ride. i have the speeder lite and it's given two years of very pleasant and comfortable riding. the exage is very reliable and smooth.

i have a full carbon road bike for summer use but i do love the giant when i get to ride it.

here's mine with upgraded wheelset and 11-28T cassette.

Helpfully just after I set of on a ride this morning my right hand shifter stopped working, a bolt had gone loose within the hood and the inside of a plastic piece had rounded out. As a result I now need a new bit, it is the black plastic wheel which the gear cable sits in

see page 8 of this
http://www.campagnolo.com/repository/do ... es94_B.pdf

if anyone knows of any shop which might have such a part please let me know

I shall upload some photos when i get a chance

That Speeder is very nice. What year is it? It does look very like the 91 version.

I discovered some very faint stenciled marks on my rims. It would appear that they are Rigida SHP60 s. It would seem this bike is rammed full of fairly low end but rare kit.

I'm not sure of the year but I was thinking early 90's myself. Groupset is exage 300ex which is fairly low end but it works lovely.