2014 Giant Escape RX Composite
 

I just picked this bike up brand new a few days ago from my LBS here in Saginaw, MI. It is a CF. I been taking it out for a little bit each day and it seems to ride bette every time. I am loving it so far. I thought the thin seat would give me problems with soreness but it is working out better than my last hybrid bike (2009 Giant FCR3). I dont even notice the saddle. This bike is so light weight it is much lighter than my older Giant. THis is my first carbon fiber bike.http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=346680

At first I suffered from buyers remorse as I made a purchase many years ago with an expensive bike that I did not like at all. I bought it in the middle of winter and didnt get a chance to test ride it. (never again). I love the color scheme on this bike. Giant is very proud of their work as I can find Giants name about 37 times on this bike. Anyone looking for a CF hybrid- I highly recommend this bike. I haggled the manager down to $1,450- thats the lowest they would go on a 2014.

Very nice:thumb:,

I'm confused. It seems we get different bikes here in Japan to what you get in the States. I tried to search your bike here but no go. The closest I could find is this one, but it's nothing like yours. Probably has as many Giant stickers on it. :twitchy: http://www.giant.co.jp/giant14/bike_...?p_id=00000031

Here's a link to the Escape RX Composite.

My old bike was a 2009 Giant FCR 3

Yeah I saw that thanks, but it doesn't appear to be on the Japanese Giant site. I was interested in the price between the two countries.

We don't get that model either. :(

Wow, nice ride! Did you happen to ride any other Giants in your quest?

No I did not crankykentucky- however I did have the Giant Defy 1 2014 model in my sights. I wanted to jump up to a roadie but still too fond of the hybrid.

That's a nice looking bike. I have a 2010 Giant carbon frame road bike myself. Although I love my roadie, I am actually getting a hybrid bike this week for casual rides. How do you like the ride so far?

I am definately like it better than my old 2009 Giant FCR3 hybrid. I dont even notice the saddle on this bike- no discomfort at all. ITs very light making it great for sprints. All in all its the best bike I have ever owned. (I had 7 bikes in the last 20 years). I prefer the comfort of a hybrid as compared to a road bike. It is getting very cold here in Michigan so my riding is on the slow down. I probably will not be able to take it out much at least until march. They only make this bike in 3 sizes (S M L). The medium fits me perfect (I am 5'11"). I have been riding mainly 95% on paved rail trails. I do not have much more of a need for a mountain bike anymore. I chose this bike becasue it was fairly cheap for a full carbon bike, no disc or hydraulic brakes, no suspension, no use for fat nobby tires. and I still prefer the flat handlebar. Plus it is extremely light- did not weigh it yet but it weighs in the 18 pound range. It has a pretty large flat top tube so I have to purchase a top tube adaptor for transporting the bike around. It also comes with "Ridesence", I am not too familiar with this yet- but I also plan on getting a decent bike computer that is Ridesence compatible. Treks and Specialized full carbon hybrids cost in the $1,900 dollar range so this bike is a bargain compared to the other big 2 bike manufacturers. It also looks better than all the other carbon hybrids I have seen. The paint scheme on my Escape is one of the best I have seen. It really stands out. I am sure I will get quite a few looks and compliments with this bike on the rail trails.

It sounds like an amazing bike. My budget for the hybrid is a lot lower than that unfortunately, since I spent quite a bit on the roadie. I'm still really excited. Did you consider the disc brakes at all? That's what I'm going for.
I haven't heard about Ridesence. Is it a sensor built into the fork? My road bike has a wireless Cateye. It works really well. I'll have to get another computer for the hybrid as well.

I have not condidered disc brakes becasue of my geographic location. It is all flat land here in middle Michigan. Maybe I am just old school and dont need to change. The Ridesence is a sensor mounted on the chainstay. It measeures the rear wheel cadence. Its totally new to me so I will learn more about it next spring. I cannot find any info on the interntet as of yet because it is so new. As far as I know it is not proprietary and is used by a few bike manufacturers. You will need to purchase a bike computer thats is Ant+ compatible.

I look forward to seeing some pics of your rids.

cadence is the rate you're pedaling at. the wheel RPM is directly proportional to your actual ground speed.

btw, you might have better luck searching for "Ridesense" (s not c).

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/...kit/511/53031/

Just ordered an escape rx composite. I was first looking at cannondale carbon quick, trek fx 7.7, or sirrus carbon comp. all of those bikes mentioned are great hybrids but like ps249 stated they are hundreds of dollars more compared to the escape rx composite. $1550 not matter what is a lot for a hybrid but for a carbon frame it's a good deal compared to the bigger names. To me hybrids are like midsize sedans which are comfy and are versatile but by no means is a sports car or road bike. The salesman I dealt with was wicked cool and made a good point that buying a carbon hybrid like like buying a $30k mid size sedan, a good bike/car but most people aren't willing to spend that much money on one and if they are they are more likely to buy a sports car or road bike. I asked why giant is so much less and he said it's just like if you bought a designer hand bag like prada, 90% of what your paying for is the name


i am 5'5" and 140 pounds so I took the small


overall the best carbon hybrid value. A little disappointed in mix of shimano parts and no 105 but again I won't be racing and just biking for fitness and 4-6 miles every ride




when I get it and can at least do some miles I will do a review

I ordered a couple of composites to replace my wife's and my 2013 Escape RX0s from our LBS last week. I would have done so sooner but was concerned about losing the ability to mount a couple of rear racks for trips. A BF composite owner posted a pic a while back showing that the frame did indeed have rear rack mounts near the end of the seat stays. So new bikes it is. They came in today. I didn't want to go with the non series Shimano parts as my RX0s from last year had mostly 105 parts. So I purchased a couple of 105 rear cassettes, a couple of 105 braze on FD (the RX0s are the clamp type). The shop is swapping out the RD and Crankset so the new bikes will be a full 105 drive train. Should be able to pick them up in the morning. The shop was able to sell me the new ones for $1250 plus $50 for the swap. Amazon had the FD ($35) and Cassettes ($51). So for $1385 each we will have full 105 Escape RX Composites to run around North Central Florida:thumb: Next I'll need to find buyers for my RX0s.

Here are a couple of pics taken of the one of the new bikes and the donor bikes on the LBS work stand. In the words of……. I think I done good:)

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gal...?imageid=17929

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gal...?imageid=17937

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/gal...?imageid=17945

Are you going to put on some Ergon grips? The RX has flatbars just like my Sirrus and I am looking to put some beefy bar ends on them to relive my shoulders and hands cause one riding position is hard to take after about an hour for me.

Yes, In fact I'm moving the ones from the RX0's to the Composites. You can just barely see them on the donor bike in the second pic. Should have them tomorrow and will post some better pics then.

These are nice bikes for sure, but they are really road bikes with a flat bar.

Are you ever gonna go off road with these bikes where there are some tree roots?

Yes they are indeed flat bar road bikes. With the 28s they can handle some off road…. not much. But, that's why we also have the titanium Mongoose Pro Triomphes.

I just got my income tax money back a few weeks ago and bought a few accessories for my RX composite: I ended up getting the Cateye Velo 9 wired computer, a seat bag, a new trunk mount bike rack and a top tube adaptor; if anyone has notices the toptube on the RX composite is wider and flatter than the standard toptubes so if you use a trunk mount rack you will need a top tube adaptor to transport the bike. I also picked up some rock and roll chain lube (gold) and an allen wrench multi tool. Hopefully we get an early spring in Michigan. My bike is still sitting in my living room for the winter.

Nice bike. If it were me, I'd get a cassette with smaller gear spacing like 12-25 or 12-28 and a short cage rear derailleur to go with it. In any case, sounds like you get a lot of bike for your money nowadays.

I agree. A full carbon bike like this would have cost over $3,000 years ago. I have seen this bike go as low as 10% off plus no sales tax in some areas. That would put this bike at $1,395. Looks like the carbon bikes are coming down in price finally.

These bikes have geometry which is much closer to mtn than road bike geometry: namely, long top tube, lots of standover, slack(er) angles, and long chainstays (17.1").

I really like the geometry.

Despite having geometry more like a mtn bike than a road bike, I suspect the wheels just won't stand up to the same punishment as the wheels on the Trek DS line, the Giant Roam line or the Specialized Crossroads line.

Giant is not marketing this bike as an off road bike or 'cross bike.

Yup, flat bar road bike. I personally think the components are perfect for the price point. Tiagra isn't appreciable different from 105. You'd have to go with better shifters (like the R780) to improve this bike. For the money, it really blows my mind--this bike easily would be $3k just a few years ago.

I took another look at the geometry of these rx o/comp bikes and am perplexed by some of the figures:

rx 0: 17.9" chainstays???? A full inch longer than their mtn bikes, nearly 2" longer than road bike stays. Why?

rxcomp: 71/72 degree head/seat angle. The long top tube suggests the bike is meant for someone with average or shorter legs yet the seat angle is meant for riders with slightly longer legs? Perhaps the "laidback" seat angle contribues to ride comfort a bit?

I don't doubt that these bikes ride great, but some of these figures seem unusual. Perhaps they add to ride comfort, but I don't see why more conventional numbers wouldn't serve just as well?

I also like the fact that they're thinking 'outside of the box' with geometry. Hybrids are usually spec'ed with shorter top tubes to place the rider more upright--these rx bikes are spec'ed with longer, top tubes to stretch you out.

I do find some of the other figures to be a bit hard to explain. If anyone has any input, I'd appreciate it.