Submitted by
Arlen
a Weekend Warrior
from Chico, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: December 7, 2011
Strengths: Lightweight, Full Suspension, Excellent Coil Shock, Lovely Paint, Large Tires, Good Components (for the time), Excellent Geometry for a big guy
Weaknesses: Small Suspension Travel, Dated components, no rear disk caliper mount, Throttle Shifters
Bottom Line:
An excellent lightweight downhill, xc bike 30lbs with the above setup. The rear suspension is upgradeable to 5.5" with long travel plates, (I personally will make my own). However aged the components are I cant complain how fun chucking this old bike around is. I weight 210 all set up, and I've got the size large frame, it keeps me going no problem, not a bend and not a tweak (I crashed it pretty good the other week, leaving me with bruised ribs, but the bike was still up for more). However due to the age, things are starting to fail, such as, the rear brakes, the bottom bracket, and the front fork (which the emulsion tubes were melted into mud). In any case, its still an excellent xc bike, and can still be made into a fun DH machine with a bit of love. Its old, but it still does the job right.
Similar Products Used: GT I-Drive, Specialized FSR
Bike Setup: SR XCR Fork, Avid BB5 Front Disk, Mavic Rim, Hayes DT Swiss front wheel. Kenda Nevagal (front), Geax Sturdy (back).
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
David
a Weekend Warrior
from D/FW, Tx
Date Reviewed: September 15, 2000
Strengths: Sound design. Very active rear a plus.
Weaknesses: Finding specific components from LBS is a large effort.I had problems with the seat tube diameter (seat post and derailleur), pivot rebuild kit, and LBS.
Bottom Line:
The bike has been a joy to ride. I frequent the trails each weekend (if dry) and hammer the bike. I still have the heavy original rear shock which I am finally upgrading.
The pivots at the point of where the rear shock is mounted squeeks but the hot weather is a contributing factor. A weekend or two of riding dries the lubricants on the bike requiring rebuilds often.
The bike is an excellent lite ride, and since I am in search of a second ride, I am considering another FS Giant.
Bike Setup: CK headset, Noleen MegaAir, Mavic/CK wheels, Full XTR. 25lbs even!
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
tom clowes
a Downhiller
from stoke, staffordshire, uk
Date Reviewed: August 18, 2000
Strengths: good all round frame, with the short travel plates on it is alright for trails and slalom, with the goldtech travel upgrade plates on it is suitable for british standard downhill courses. suitable all day bike
Weaknesses: frames break ( i know 3 people who have snapped theirs) but giant are good on warranties
Bottom Line:
good, but is becoming more and more outdated, people who want an all round machine which can be taken anywhere, those who want a cheap frame asn their are loads of them going cheap secondhand at the moment
Submitted by
Chris Morgan
a Downhiller
from Kidderminster,worcestershire,england
Date Reviewed: March 18, 2000
Strengths: Light weight in relation to amount of travel Normal looking in relation to some full sussers seatpost can be fully up for road work.
Weaknesses: Bushes need a lot of attention. Chainstay swingarm snapped (cover on warranty) Front end is quite weak as headtube has ovalised.
Bottom Line:
Good alrounder. Keep both sets of travel plates so u can change between 3.75 and 5.5 inch if travel depending are what u r doing. If looked after it will look after you. Be careful though when tightening bushes as if they are done too tightly they add to the damping slowing the rear end down excessively. Great frame although fitting discs is a pain as a hope torsion arm locks the rear end out eventually breaking the torsion arm. Best for allrounder and good for a light weight DH er. Perfect travel for british courses.
i owe giant a heap here because for $300 australian they gave me this frame after i snapped one of their warp frames(peice of poo) the frame was really unforgiving at first, later i found out that the rst 56 shock had no oil in it(no rebound damping), fixed thatt problem. giant supplied a short spring and it binds up before the shock bottoms making a loud *crunch* last week i noticed that there was about 3mm freeplay in my rear swingarm(left>right movement) closer inspection revealed that the bushes were fine, it was the swingarm itself that has worn, the bush moves inside the swingarm. this is irrepairable. oh well. other than by frame only lasting one year, it has been pretty good(minor teething problems) and i do like the ride it provides. it is a confident frame, great in sprints. i will give giant the company 5/5 for after sales support i will give the frame ride 4/5 i give the durabilityand longevity 3/5 average.... 4 chillies
Bike Setup: rst mozo sun mammoth truvative front hub shimano dx brakes fsa cranks blackspire rings dmr pedals xtr deraliur xt rear hub dt 14g ss spokes irc kujo dh
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Jerry Woiton
a Cross-Country Rider
from Tokyo , Japan
Date Reviewed: July 3, 1999
Strengths: Nice cross-country bike; not sluggish like alot of other dual susp.bikes
Weaknesses: lateral flex in the rear;not active under braking;blew out 2 rear shocks!
Bottom Line:
The ATX 990 is a great all purpose X-country rig, but don;t try to make it something it's not( like a freeride type bike). It climbs well and descends pretty good too. I've ridden other Dual rigs and they can be sluggish; not the Giant.But I don't think I'd buy it again.
Bike Setup: Marz' Z.1 drop offs, XT, Ctr linkage kit.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Colin Wilson
a Weekend Warrior
from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex,England
Date Reviewed: May 22, 1999
Bottom Line:
After changing the rear shock plates to long travel' the ride quality was greatly improved. With the original set up it was not as was not very responsive on xcountry trails but OK on big hits. Now with the long travel plates it absorbs most terrain and gives a good plush ride.(not as good as a jump with Gail Porter but not far short)(for the yanks and others reading this replace Gail Porter with Britney Spears or Sharon Stone depending on your age). ( I only wished I could compare the two or four).The Maguras devour pads in the wet and with the wet weather pads in the devour your rims if you are not running ceramics, stick to devouring pads or buy ceramics, but then ceramics wear what the hell, dont bother stopping bale out. Overall the bike is decent and offers comprehesive F.S. but lacks the sex appeal of a small brand name like Santa Crux or Turner or the like. One big point to consider is I don't maintain my bike in a great fashion infact it's left after most rides and I have not had any problems with bushes, loose bolts, worn bits etc, it has done me well in this catergory, 'maintanence free biking' what I like.
OK I know it is old stuff but GF wants a cheap MTB to ride on. While she used to ride my Enduro but it is too big for her and she wants her own bike (she is sick of me yelling at h Read More »
I posted this in the passion section before and was told to come down here and give you all my story. It will be long but bear with me. I will also have questions on where to get p Read More »
