Hybrid Bicycles - New Giant Escape RX 0

I'm like a little kid at Christmas time. Just before the holidays my wife and I decided to replace our trusty 95 Mongoose Crossway 850's with something a little newer. The Crossways now have around 30,000 miles or so and are starting to need more work each year. So after trying out different bikes we decided on a Giant. It helped that the LBS is fantastic and also a Giant dealer. He didn't have any of the model we wanted in stock so they needed to be ordered. The Giant warehouse was shut down during the holidays so the bikes were shipped on the 3rd. Well I received a call..... ok I called the shop :lol: to find the bikes showed up today. The good news is that he is quite busy so the shop should be in business for a while. The bad news is I will have to wait until Weds. to get my hands on the new ride. Oh well. We took mine out of the box just to see the frame. I can't believe how light it they are. Looking forward to tomorrow:thumb: Here's an out of the box type shot. More to follow later in the week.

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=15226

30,000 miles WOW! You guys deserve new rides, enjoy.:thumb:

nice ride / should always post link it makes it easier for us to comment

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-in/bikes/model/escape.rx.0/11566/56057/#overview

30,000 miles WOW! You guys deserve new rides, enjoy.:thumb:

Thanks but that was over the past 18 years. It does go to show if you buy a quality bike (and back in 95 Mongoose made one long before they sold out to WallyMart) it should give you years of service. The old Crossways have been from the Confederation Trail on PEI to the South Rim Greenway @ The Grand Canyon. I'm sure the new bikes will old last me (currently 63).

Sorry NJsteve, still quite new on this board and didn't know about posting the link. Thanks for doing that.

nice colors

That is an awesome bike. Don't forget to post pics!

Thanks our mtn bikes are 2001 Mongoose Pro Triomphes with a raw titanium frames. After 11 years of hard use the bikes still look almost new, except the stickers. Gotta love the no paint chip look. So when looking for replacement hybrids I thought why not go for a raw finish again this time in Alum.

Picked up the bikes this afternoon. The weather was a little warm for this time of year.... 82. We had done a 24 mile ride this morning on our old bikes so only did 10 with the new today. Here is a pic of the two of them on the NV rack before and additions. To night with need to add the back racks and the gps mount. I am still waiting for the up stands. They should be in later this week. Looking forward to a nice ride in the am. So far these bikes are awesome.

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=15230

ENJOY, that ride tomorrow, have FUN! :)

Niiiiiice looking bikes! And a nice looking rack too. I'm impressed you got 30k miles out of the Mongoose; that's kind of low end brand. Enjoy the new rides!

Mongoose is a low end brand today. But, back in the day... The crossway 850 was $525.00 in 95 that translates to $800.00 in today's buying power. Somewhere along the way the owners of Mongoose figured out it was better for them to make junk and sell through Wally-Mart. Then they came out with a Mongoose-Pro line for LBS. We purchased the Triomphes in 2001 and those bikes are awesome top end all the way.

Looks good, must shift real nice with full Shimano 105. I have the same black 105 crank on my road bike and it scuffs real easy. I installed Crank Skins on mine so I don't wear through the black powder coat with my (clipless) shoes rubbing the crank arms. Also, be careful that you con't hit the tips of the crank arms on the ground, steps, curbs etc.

OK, here we go. Most of the upgrades are done for now. Just got to replace the saddle and another bottle cage for my Kuat Bottle Lock in the near future. We got out for a nice 32 mile run on the local mup. Here are a few shots.

The UpStand installed. It even comes with an extra tab that I'll put on the mtn bike.

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=15242




The cockpit with my Garmin 550T mounted. Boy the 105 drivetrain is a beauty.

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=15241


A rest stop along the way.

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=15240

Congratulations, beautiful bikes!:thumb:

Very nice bikes, I love how Giant uses polished AL.

Thanks for the comments. As of today we have 182 miles on them since picking up late last Weds. afternoon. We are finding that with about the same effort we expended on our old hybrids we can add around 6 extra miles to our ride and the time out is only a few minutes more so we are going at a faster rate. I was a little worried about the fact our our old bikes used 700 x 35C tires @ 70psi while the new ones ar 700 x 28c @ 90 psi. But, it doesn't really have any effect on the ride quality or stability. It appears that Giant has specked out this bike very well. That only thing missing is a comfortable saddle. That should change tomorrow when they go to the LBS for adjustments.

We did another 31 miles today. That brings the mileage to over 200 since pick up at the LBS last week. So a quick trip to get the cables adjusted. Found a couple of new saddles to try. So if the weather holds (their predicting rain tomorrow) we give them a try. Can't wait as the original saddles were pure pain.

Thanks for the comments. As of today we have 182 miles on them since picking up late last Weds. afternoon. We are finding that with about the same effort we expended on our old hybrids we can add around 6 extra miles to our ride and the time out is only a few minutes more so we are going at a faster rate. I was a little worried about the fact our our old bikes used 700 x 35C tires @ 70psi while the new ones ar 700 x 28c @ 90 psi. But, it doesn't really have any effect on the ride quality or stability. It appears that Giant has specked out this bike very well. That only thing missing is a comfortable saddle. That should change tomorrow when they go to the LBS for adjustments.

I'm sure you are loving your Giant Escape RX 0 as much as I'm loving my Escape 2 although yours has better components. I still can't believe how fast the bike goes. Yours must really be speedy with the 34/50 crankset and 10 speeds? I put 163 miles on it so far in 12 days. The only problem I'm having is the gears shift on their own on every ride I do. I saw teeth on the cassette that were a little bent so I'm wondering if that is the problem. Anyway, keep posting your rides and pictures of the places you go but most importantly, post more pics of your Escape RX 0! :thumb:

Nice rides! :thumb:

The only problem I'm having is the gears shift on their own on every ride I do.

Take it to your bike shop and have them adjust the rear derailleur. Your cable has stretched. Very common after you put some miles on a brand new bike.

Ok, it's been a little over a month and as of today the bikes have little over 750 miles on them. So far all is great the only problems so far are minor. (2 flat tires due to the thorns of Florida even with tire liners). I have noticed where the shifter cables run close to the top of the carbon forks a little rubbing has taken off the shine on the plastic coating (Giant put a plastic sticker on the fork so the damage is not to the fork arm itself. The new seats have proven themselves as well. The next upgrade will be some ergon grips. I haven't decided on which model would be best. In the meantime I am using some Giant bar extensions. Any idea which ergon grip model would work best? Here is a picture taken today while breaking the 1000 mile mark for the year plus over 750 mile on the new bikes. At the end of our 30 mile ride we stopped at Ferris Groves in Floral City (http://www.ferrisgroves.com) for a fresh strawberry shake. I will update the thread once the bikes reach the 1000 mile mark or work is needed (which ever comes first).

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=15324

Ok, it's been a little over a month and as of today the bikes have little over 750 miles on them. So far all is great the only problems so far are minor. (2 flat tires due to the thorns of Florida even with tire liners). I have noticed where the shifter cables run close to the top of the carbon forks a little rubbing has taken off the shine on the plastic coating (Giant put a plastic sticker on the fork so the damage is not to the fork arm itself. The new seats have proven themselves as well. The next upgrade will be some ergon grips. I haven't decided on which model would be best. In the meantime I am using some Giant bar extensions. Any idea which ergon grip model would work best? Here is a picture taken today while breaking the 1000 mile mark for the year plus over 750 mile on the new bikes. At the end of our 30 mile ride we stopped at Ferris Groves in Floral City (http://www.ferrisgroves.com) for a fresh strawberry shake. I will update the thread once the bikes reach the 1000 mile mark or work is needed (which ever comes first).

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=15324You've got some really nice bikes. I'm glad you're enjoying them. Keep posting.

I haven't posted on this thread in a while so I thought it might be a good time to do an update. Today, 20 May, 2013 our Escape's reached the 3k mile mark. So far they have been problem free. I have cleaned the chain every 300-400 miles and oiled every 100 miles or so. They haven't mostly been used on our local paved rail trail. But, have gone a couple of road trips (rv trips). These are great riding bikes once we got a good saddle. The set of tires on my bike, I'm about 200 lbs, are ready for replacement. The rear was showing the wear strip about 1,500 miles so I rotated the set. But, at 3,000 miles they both are ready. I hope to hold out until the first of June as we are heading north for our summer rv travels and will find it a little harder to change tires mid summer. Oh well. They still look new. Chain shows no sign of wear just a little of the power coat on the 105 chain ring is wearing. Giant makes a great product for the money and the Escape RX 0 is no different. If you are looking for a road based hybrid in the $1k range do yourself a favor and check them out. :thumb:Anyway here are a couple of shots of the bikes getting cleaned and lubed at the 3,000 mile mark.

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=15556


http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=15557

Nice Bikes :thumb:

Looking good, you should aim to change the chains every 4000-4500 miles. You can run them longer than that but you run the risk of prematurely wearing out the cassette (the cassette will skip when you install a new chain.) If you change them at 4000-4500 the cassette should last 3 chains before it wears out.

For 700x28 tires Continental Grand Prix 4-seasons and Vittoria Randonneur Hyper (recently renamed to the Voyager Hyper) are good options. If you don't mind 2-3 week shipping the UK sites like wiggle.com or probikekit.com have the best prices. You can pick up a 5700 10sp chain for under $25/ea there too.