That rear rack is centered way ahead of rear axle - about 6cm (compare to 8cm radius of brake disc). Combine with 43cm chainstays (only 0.5-1cm longer than std mtb chainstay) and you can expect heel strike if you have anything but tiny feet and/or average size pannier.
Clearly bike was designed by someone who's never rigged/used a tourer. The rear rack placement is just plain bad - you'd have to trash it and buy a conventional rack, then utilize the rear dropout eyelet (see pic) to mount it. Don't know why Giant doesn't see this design flaw.
Last edited by seeker333; 04-17-08 at 02:49 PM.