1992 Giant Granite

[benjabbi]

Re: 1992 Giant Granite (Exage ES reappears)

Jimo746, haha, yes it looks amazing in the photo's, bit more 'patina' in the flesh!
The Exage has surprised me, chainrings are the same as LX/DX of that year (93), Cantis are the same as LX bar the colour. The biggest surprise is the shifter feel, I think they feel more positive than m900 shifters with a clickier click! Ok there is a lot more pressed steel in the construction of the mechs and it won't ever win a weigh in, functions perfectly though. Well it will when I've toed in the front brake pads, it has a nice high pitched whine at the mo!

 

[firedfromthecircus]

Re: 1992 Giant Granite (Exage ES reappears)

@firedfromthecircus, I swapped the bits from this to the Orange,apparently it languishing upstairs for years as a frame and forks, even surviving a shop move, but was only reassembled at the end when they were trying to offload everything in the building! (RIP Oakley Cycles). My current boss decided to buy it all, mainly for the workshop contents and Mike (old boss) very kindly pointed out it used to be mine, was worth peanuts, so they might as well give it back to me!! Result

That is cool indeed!

 

[Captain Stupido]

Yeah, man!

 

[benjabbi]

Been out on this today. It's not a fast bike but for general pottering about it's great! Exage works well, if someone told me I could only have this one I wouldn't be too disappointed!

 

[modzius]

@benjabbi - I want to ask you about frame size. How I see from description it is 16" frame. What is you body height? I am interested in this model of bike. My height is 178cm. How do you think such a frame size will be suitable for my height?

 

[benjabbi]

Hello modzius, welcome to Retrobike!
I'm 169cm or 5' 6"ish with a 74cm/29" inside leg measurement and a negative ape index. This bike has a pretty short top tube and an upright riding position, which suits me fine. I think you at 9cm taller, would probably be better off with the next size up, obviously you could ride it but I think you'd end up in a cramped position unless you add a really long stem, which makes the steering weird.

 

[modzius]

Hello modzius, welcome to Retrobike!
I'm 169cm or 5' 6"ish with a 74cm/29" inside leg measurement and a negative ape index. This bike has a pretty short top tube and an upright riding position, which suits me fine. I think you at 9cm taller, would probably be better off with the next size up, obviously you could ride it but I think you'd end up in a cramped position unless you add a really long stem, which makes the steering weird.

Thanks for your reply.
Damn, it so difficult to find Giant Granite in my country. Only this 16" model I found on my local market.

 

[benjabbi]

Granite to Gravel. Didn't last, the stem was too short.

 

[mtbjunke35]

Thanks @k-rod, it's one of two (with the Prestige as the other one) that I'll never sell, worth nothing and the sentimental value is high! It rides well, and once I've done the regulation shifter flush out the Exage works better than expected! (I will admit to being a bit of an XT/XTR snob ).

This is pretty much where it started for me, this was the first bike I owned that was actually the right size (the Topanga that preceded it, would still be too big now!) rode it for a year or so before trading it in for an Orange Prestige.
It was also the starting point of this retro obsession, about 10 years ago the bike shop I work in now bought all the old stock off of the shop I used to work in as they were closing down, my boss wheeled the old bike out of the van and said he'd been told to 'give this one to Ben'. I hadn't seen it for 15 years and it was thrown together with a right mish mash of bits but the memories came flooding back and it lead me to this place!
Over the last 10 years it has been built up in many different ways, usually ending up specced well over the top for what, was and is, a pretty basic frame (it has Cromo main tubes )
Anyway a couple of years ago I picked up a complete Exage ES group shoved it in a box and forgot about it! Over the weekend and spurred on by the disappearing groupset thread, I found the box and got the spanners out, this is the result.

Granite to Grave

Hi

Fattest tires you can put on Giant Granite? Thanks​

 

[benjabbi]

Hi, it's currently wearing 2.125" slickish tyres and full size mudguards, I reckon a 2.3" would fit depending on the size of the side knobs.