mtnbiker66

I'm changing out the Cro-Mo fork on my Giant Rapid. I'm puting on a 1 1/8 Carbon/alloy steerer fork. I pulled the olf fork and it's a 1 1/8 X 1 1/4 setup. Will I need to change the headset out or can I just get a new bottom bearing?

flanso 

I recently completed a carbon/aluminum fork changeover on my 2008 Giant FCR3 hybrid. I decided to replace the semi-integral headset but found it to be an odd size; the OD of both cups was 41.5 mm, the standard for a 1 inch steerer, but designed to accommodate a 1 1/8 steerer. I found an upgraded replacement directly from Cane Creek, part number VP-A10, $39. If your Rapid is the same as my FCR3, you'll find the rather thin crown race difficult to remove from the old fork; you may want to consider replacing the headset since Cane Creek does not sell the crown race or the bearings for this headset separately.

cappuccino911

i'd love to hear how this goes for you, I think i found an Alpha Q fork on ebay for about 75 bucks from seller wheelsandsprocket that I think will fit my rapid nicely and I want to make the upgrade but I had heard something funky was with the sizes so I wasn't sure hwo to go about it.

mtnbiker66

After talking to the bike shop owner........ He's gonna try to find an adaptor. I pulled the old fork and made a drawing becuse it looks like I'm gonna need to have one made. All those years of working as an industrial mechanic still come in handy.

Cap, I'll keep you updated on how I fix it. If I have an adaptor made I'll keep the specs and send them to you if you need them.If I would have known that Giant had gone this route with their components I would have bought a different brand. How hard is it to keep stuff standard so you can upgrade if you want to.

cappuccino911

yeah, i'm new to cycling so I didn't know any better, I just knew that the only real difference between the rapid 3 and the rapid 2 was the fork. yeah there is a slightly lighter crank and 9speed instead of 8 but it certainly isn't worth paying 350 bucks more! I do love the bike, though and it's fostered a new love for cycling. I've already built 2 other bikes since getting the rapid.

PS, I just noticed that one of the bikes direct bikes, the Gravity Liberty 1 is the EXACT same as the Giant Defy which is only slightly different from our Rapids! they are so similar that when you go to bikes direct site and click on the link for the frame geometry, the chart that they use is a carbon copy of the one on Giant's website!

mtnbiker66

The fork that comes on the rapid 3 is a boat anchor so by swithing you'll save some weight for sure.I also put a new wheelset on mine. I have a friend that has a machine shop and he has my drawing and will be making my part in a day or two. If anyone needs one I can hook you up.

cappuccino911

holy crap, I just pulled the fork out for the heck of it just to see what it looked like and threw it on the scale! 1529 grams with the brake caliper attached, so it's gotta be around 1300 grams. That is ridiculous! should easily be able to shave close to 2 lbs just by changing this thing out! But I must say, the rapid 3 is a nice riding bike stock. The stem on this bike is also randomly really heavy, I weighed it a few months back and I felt like it was close to 300 grams when there are cheap $15 alloy stems that weigh 150.

If you can get this adaptor part made up and insure that it works, consider me in.


EDIT: so i stopped being lazy and took the whopping 30 seconds to take the caliper off. Fork is 1362 grams!!!!!! I suppose it's probably pretty bulletproof for commuting purposes but that is crazy. The Alpha Q I'd like to replace it with is 450. The stock stem is a whopping 242 so swapping out this fork will easily save 2 lbs. FWIW, the main difference between the rapid 3 and 2 is the carbon fork, of course who knows what giants proprietary carbon fork weighs but if its around 500 grams then suddenly spending $300 more for the slight bump up in components and that much weight savings as well as improved ride quality makes sense. I still think the rapid 3 is a great ride at a great price point, too bad it uses a proprietary size fork to make it a pain in the ass for us to upgrade it!

Clubbalang

Hi resurrecting a dead thread. Would something like this be ok for a 2011 Rapid 3?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Easton-EC90-...ht_2963wt_1163