Table of Contents
Giant Bicycles
Giant Bicycles is by far today's largest bicycle manufacturer. It was founded in 1972 in Dajia, Taiwan by
King Liu, a former eel farmer. In 1977 Giant began making bikes for Schwinn, soon making more than two-thirds of all Schwinn bikes by the mid-1980s. Giant didn't start to brand its own bikes until 1981, in addition to making bikes for most major brands. The first Giant MTB showed up in Europe and Asia in 1984 and later sold Giant branded in US by 1987 when their Schwinn relationship ended. Giant first made MTBs for Schwinn by at least by 1983 for their Sierra model. In 2021, Giant's revenue topped $2.9B.
Sources: Giant, wikipedia, proteanpaper, bikebiz, cyclist.co.uk, klassiekeracefiets, bicycleretailer
The King, showing them how its done at age 79.
King Liui, 2013
nytimes
1984 Escaper
Shimano XT M700 rear derailleur (1982-84), unusual cable stop bridge and fastback seat stays.
1984 sales receipt along with 83/84 date codes.
1984 Escaper
bikeboosting
1985 High Sierra
Identical to Schwinn's 1984 High Sierra except for slightly newer components. Same odd rear brake bridge and pine trees on the top tube. SunTour MounTech 4900 (1982-1984), Dia Compe 980 brakes, Sugino GT crankset, bullmoose handlebars.
1985 High Sierra
bicycleczar
1986 Mesa Runner
SunTour AG Tech GTL (1985-87), bullmoose handlebars, no rear cable stop.
1986 Mesa Runner
bikeforums
1987 Super Sierra
SunTour XC 9000 (1987-88).
1987 Super Sierra
flickr
1988 Super Sierra
XT M730 (1987-88). Same frame as the 1987 Super Sierra?
1988 Super Sierra
marktplaasts.nl
1989 Escaper
RD-MT62 rear (1989-90), FD-MT62 (1989) front.
1989 Escaper
mtbminded
1990 Hurricane
Unknown derailleur - but all sources show 1990 as the only date for the Hurricane.
1990 Hurricane
shpock
1991 Terrago
Full Shimano Deore DX gruppo (1991-1993)
1991 Terrago
bikejan
1992 CFM-1
Carbon fiber bonded with aluminum lugs. Full XTR gruppo - the first year where XTR was available and one of the only large brands to use XTR. 1) Obviously incorrect tires. The rigid fork is original - and it also came with an optional RockShox Mag-20 fork. 2)
1992 CFM-1
retrobike
1993 ALM-1
1993 ALM-1 All aluminum, reusing the CFM lugs with aluminum tubing. SunTour XC Expert group. This example looks like it still has an original Giant Zorbers elastomer front fork - and if so, they were all recalled in 1996 due to the legs separating from the crown.
1993 ALM-1
bicyclecollective