Giant XTC 4.5 2007 Review

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4 stars
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tallsteve's Review of Giant XTC 4.5 2007 Mountain Bike

17th Jul 2007

Overall Rating

4.5 stars
  • Value for money
    4.5 stars
Good Points

Fabulous hydraulic disk brakes, excellent Rapidfire shifters, good quality forks, light weight


Bad Points

It is possible to fade the brakes under extreme duress; large diameter centre part of handlebar is too big for accessories designed for standard bars


General Comments

After 17 years, decided to replace my trusty Giant Granite and couldn't see any reason to change brand. Excellent spec for the price - hydraulic disk brakes, Shimano gears and shifters, RockShox forks. The brakes are excellent - I've only faded them once, and that was coming back down Ditchling Beacon. They are particularly good off road where they don't get covered in mud and water the way that rim brakes do.

The forks are well set-up, with adjustments for preload and damping, and an easy to use lockout for hills. The riding position is good, although personally I moved the seat forward about an inch and that improved things greatly.

The gears are Shimano Deore and are excellent. I had some reservations about the finger shifters (17 years of using my thumbs...) but it all came quite naturally. Also, the brakes are so good that it doesn't matter if your index finger is covering the gears; just use your middle finger for the brakes.

I did have some brake squeal after about a month. A thin smear of Copaslip on the back of the pads did the trick. It's also worth whipping out the bottle holder bolts and doing those too, as mine had a few spots of rust after washing it.

Would I recommend it? Oh yes.

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