I have been looking at/for a new bike for several months now. My initial idea was to do a steel framed commuter/touring style bike. The issue I keep running across is cost. The price of the bikes I like surpass what I would feel comfortable chaining up or leaning against other bikes at social rides.

I came across the Giant Seek3. It offers pretty much all the features I am looking for, sans the steel frame. It has big tires, disc brakes, frame rack mounts, room for fenders, and doesn't have some splashy paint job with the bike name plastered all over.

Since the "1" model is made for Shimano IGH and has an elliptical BB, I am only considering the "3" and looking to possibly upgrade or change some of the drive train. The key being keeping the price low enough to continue being comfortable with it's usage (and abuse).

Anyway, do any of you own one of these and can give me your opinion of how it has ridden and held up?

My wife and i are looking at new bikes and were considering the escape 1 , or roam, but then i came across this Seek 3 bike. it appears it is no longer offered for 2017. and is replaced by the toughroad 2, although that bike has lower gearing than the Seek 3.

Anyway....did you end up buying the Seek 3 , and if so are you happy with it ? would it be a good bike for the crushed limestone rail-to-trails ?

I did not. I was actually rather disappointed in my local Giant dealer, and took them off my "to shop". The nearest other Giant dealer is HOURS away.

They didn't have one in my size, or even one as a representation on the floor. I talked with the sales associate and then owner in turn asking them to get one in, representative of the line, and (ahem) my size of which they carry nothing outside a beach bike. They mentioned I needed to pay up front and we discussed how absurd that was, etc. They made a promise to get one in. Weeks later I hadn't heard, I went in to see what had happened and the model was, by then, sold out in my size and was going to be unavailable till weeks after the Bike Expo.....it turns out from your information that it never would have come back.

I later went into the same shop about a seat post slipping and had the sales guy/mechanic tell me that assembly paste didn't exist, and that I just needed to buy another seat post.....new-ish (unridden) bike with factory post.
After that, I haven't been in there. It's really a shame since it's the closest shop to me.

I would consider Giant, as a brand, due to the quality and price, but they would have to open another dealer somewhere near by for me to purchase. I ended up with a "cheapo" GT from Performance Bike....makes me cringe too, but they HAD it, IN my size, and less than half the cost of the Seek for the same feature points I was looking for (short of steel frame).

In answer to your question....Yes, if you can find one I think it would do fine. My current bike is outfitted with comparable parts and does great for rough, potholed, dirt, and gravel roads. I will point out one thing I did change. This bike came with really large 50cm tires. They handled wonderful on the path and dirt, but going down a smooth road was MUCH more work than I liked. I ended up swapping the big tires for a set of 34 Kenda that are much better for the road and also do well off.

Thankyou so much for the info !! I'll keep looking for the Seek 3 around here, but it's looking more and more like i'll end up with the Escape model.