Spirillen_dk

Hey ppl.

Have bought this bike.


Its a Giant from 1980 (G1180) on top tube the stickers are maybe showing EX SPECIAL . on downtube HANDCRAFTED BY GIANT

Brakes and geargroup is Shimano 600 EX Arabesque ...

But but - where the h... do i find something on the internet about this bike ?

PLEASE help med

Thx Michael /Denmark

degan

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe Giant was one of those companies that didn't build their own frames but just bought frames and painted them, like univega, not that that helps very much. Someone more knowledgeable could probably tell you where the frame came from. Also, those shifters don't look like any shimano 600 dts I've ever seen.

Bikedued

I have seen no earlier Giants than that generation. Apparently they were too busy making everyone else's bikes up to that point. Giant makes MANY of todays bikes, no matter the brand name.,,,,BD

Scooper

Giant was founded in 1972, but its big break came in 1977 when Schwinn Bicycle Company negotiated an OEM contract with Tony Lo, Giant's CEO, to build bicycles designed by Schwinn in Taiwan. In the late seventies and eighties, a large percentage of Schwinn bicycles were built by Giant and by the mid-eighties two-thirds of Schwinn's bikes were made by Giant.

Today, Giant is the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world.

GrayJay

Neat find, in the USA at least I dont remember ever seeing Giant branded bikes prior to around 1990 when they started marketing their own MTB and Cadex carbon frames. What does the headtube badge look like?

verktyg 

Since you're a Newbie and English is probably not your first language, I'll cut you some slack...

As you mentioned, your bikes is made by Giant in the 1980s. Chuckk posted a link above.

Here's a suggestion for future posts. Without pictures of the right side of a bike showing the drive train (cranks, derailleurs, etc.) it's difficult to tell much about it except that it has a frame and 2 wheels!

I have no idea why people post pictures of the left side of their bikes???

1. Is it fear of mysterious mechanical things?

2. Is it because the mysterious mechanical things are greasy and dirty?

3. Is it because the mysterious mechanical things are obscene and immodest?

4. Is it because most people get on their bikes from the left side?


1, 2, and 3 were probably engendered by youthful exposure to clean, colorful, wholesome, plastic Big Wheels!!!



Now when I was young, we had REAL metal toys to ride:




To help with reason # 3, here's some products that I'm marketing for the sake of modesty.

I got the idea from Modesty Skirts for dogs:


For casual use, a bike modesty skirt:


For extreme modesty, the bike Burqa:


Please post some picture of the obscene side....

END OF RANT!

verktyg

Chas.

300# Gorilla

Hummm... it would be interesting to compare it to a 1980 Schwinn catalog, or set it beside a Schwinn World Sport or Le Tour to see how similar they are. If Giant was already making bikes for Schwinn I would suspect that this bike came off the same assembly line.

Spirillen_dk

Here is my pictures of the mystic bike

Prowler 

Bingo! Most people see their bikes from the left side. We see our motorcycles from the left side. We see our horses from the left side (even breed shows circle the horses clockwise so the judges view the left side). And most of the world views their cars and trucks from the left side. I wouldn't be surprised if most farmers view their tractors from the left side (I do) and most folks view their jet skis, 4 wheelers, and snow mobiles from the left side. Blame it all on swords & cavalry sabers.

What's to wonder about?

OP: nice, useful photos. I donno much about the GIANTs, but this looks like a machine that will clean up very nicely, be pretty unique out on the street and be fun to ride. Keep us posted with new photos as you go along. Thanks.

BTW: you never know what will happen when you post new threads on a Saturday night...........

Bianchigirll 

I don't know what it is but I see what could be a great looking and probably a great riding bike with a lot of elbow grease.

I suspect the main reason there is not a lot of information on the internet about this bike is simply because it was built before Al Gore invented the internet. Usually the only reason you see info about older bikes, say pre '90ish, is because someone really liked that brand and, unlike me, wasn't too lazy or intimidated by their scanner and set up a nice webpage, like the Classic Fuji site.

Spirillen_dk

The headbagde on the bike

oddjob2

I would have though that Carl Sagan would know that Giant was a giant industry force, having built billions and billions of bicycles!

LesterOfPuppets

Actually NDS pic is kinda nice here, to show off the above-the-BB cable guides.

Spirillen_dk

Nds ?

LesterOfPuppets

Non drive side.

Spirillen_dk

Commong up tomorrow. The cableguides on the upperside of the crank, is made of steel.

LesterOfPuppets

Yep. They're indicative of approximately 1985 or earlier bikes. Many went below the bottom bracket well before 85 and some kept above BB guides for a while after, so just a sketchy guideline.

curbtender

Nothing like a little 30 weight in your bath... waiting for a picture when you dry it off. As far as the left side picture, my theory is the bike gets rolled out with a camera in the right hand which puts the photographer on the left side.

Spirillen_dk

I found a photo from below - here U can see the cableguides.

Scooper

Can you take a photo of the tubing sticker? Is it Tange?

Spirillen_dk

This is what i have today.

Scooper

Tange Champion No. 5, so the frame is built with plain gauge (P.G.) non-butted chromoly tubing. Main frame tubes have 0.9mm walls.

Bianchigirll 

In layman's terms, it is much better than a Huffy or Roadmaster.

degan

I knew they either built tons of frames for other people or had tons of frames built for them. Even the great Sagan so fallible.

verktyg 

Scooper, you beat me to the punch - posting the Tange No. 5 specs.

The wall thickness on the forks, seat stays and chain stays on Tange No. 5 is the same as on No. 1, 2, 3 and 4. The seat stays on No. 5 are 14mm vs. 16mm for the other types.

The forks and rear triangle have a lot more effect on ride quality than the main triangle on light weight frames so it should be a nice riding bike.

It should clean up nice and those components are still decent quality.

verktyg

Chas.