Originally Posted by
Ryan_M
Can we pause the discussion and talk about this? I've come across this a few times now that because a bike was bought in a certain configuration (i.e. the Roam 1) it will never be worthy of any upgrades as you've mentioned. The bike's had a lot of work basically an entirely different bike, some parts went to the GFs bike to upgrade hers etc. So it's a Roam 1 frame that I've kept because it's not bad, looks descent, is fairly durable being aluminum, and I don't mind bolting a trunk bag to it. Beyond that it's got a full M8000 drivetrain, M6000/7000 braking system, carbon fork, handlebars, and seatpost, full DT Swiss wheelset as mentioned above (which BTW are 32H 3x which I think are good enough to handle me @ 86kg and a ~4kg trunk bag), fizik saddle, ergon grips, and a Garmin electronics package. Even though the wheels being discussed aren't for this bike, why do you feel, and why is it the general opinion this bike isn't worth any attention? Becuase one single part happens to be from a Roam 1? I think it's a fairly decent bike. BTW DT hubs do work on this bike. You can get adapters for different axle systems. like the ones that are on this bike right now.
The Roam is a lower end bike in the Giant line up. Their high end on that bike is under $900 which is generally what you would buy a entry level hybrid for someone riding a good amount. It is also a whacky bike, not a mountain bike but has a really short travel heavy front suspension that doesn't do enough to justify the weight, give me a carbon fork or a good quality steel fork and some wide tires and cut a bunch of weight and clunkiness.
The parts you put on it are really nice but they don't belong not that bike realistically, the frame is a frame nothing high end, serviceable but not something I would drop 2-4 times the cost of the bike to add major upgrades to. Certainly if it was something special yeah but it is generic cheap aluminum probably out of their factories in China rather than Taiwan.
The ToughRoad with a carbon fork and the wide tires would have been an excellent offering from them but of course they dropped it. Even with the aluminum fork the wide tires helped and it was probably a slightly lighter frame (but never got to compare the two as we never stocked the Roam)