How Giant Bicycles in Taiwan Became a Bicycle Giant

I regularly make use of YouBike here in Taipei. It is a simple, easy-to-use bike share that makes biking around Taipei as convenient as the MRT. I use it regularly to get to places while enjoying the outdoors.

YouBike would not work half as well as it does if the bikes sucked. And luckily they do not. These bikes were provided by Giant, Taiwan's biggest bicycle brand.

I do not know much about the bicycle industry, so Giant's success and name recognition came as a surprise to me. It is pretty cool that in the midst of a bunch of semiconductor and electronics companies, one of Taiwan's most well-known brands makes bicycles of all things.

In this video, I want to profile Taichung-based Giant Bicycle. Their beginnings, rise to prominence, and how they managed to make it from being a white label manufacturer to a global brand of their own.

Links:

Dedicated to L for teaching me how to ride a bike.

[escargotomy]

Interesting story to be sure. In 1992 I purchased a Giant Innova Hybrid bike for $350 at the recommendation of the bike shop owner who had recently become a dealer for them. He said they were offering the best value to quality he'd ever seen and that was good enough for me. 29 years later, I am still pedaling the same Giant bike that has given me 3 decades of recreation, transportation and fitness. Literally tens of thousands miles. Easily the best $350 I have ever spent.

[johnhaggerty]

Giant replaced my motor under warranty when the warranty had expired 8 months because of the Covid 19 lockdown, I was truly grateful to them for doing so on my Quick E + electric bicycle. I thought I would let people know how they stand behind there products. I really enjoyed the video. Thanks.

[jinngeechia]

Giant revolutionized road bicycles with the TCR or Total Compact Road. To those into bicycle history, the TCR defined what is viewed as the truly modern road bicycle in the last 20 oe 30 years. A departure from the straight top tube of the vintage bicycles. It was smaller, more nimble, more aerodynamic due to its compact shape and made other manufacturers follow. It also made sport cycling even more accessible to everyone because the horizontal top tube bicycle dictated custom made sizes which can number to 22 different frames. Giant with the TCR is able to make it in 3 or 4 sizes from XS to XL. Costs went down as a result with a maximum of 4 frames to fit nearly everyone.

[Hugo_Rocker]

I own a 1990 Giant ATX 780 and I still ride it. It was a great value at the time. I was just out of college and mountain biking was becoming a huge part of cycling. I now own many other bikes, but I love my Giant!

[alexbroere]

As a youngster I lived in Taiwan for a few years and my parents got me (of course) a Giant bike. 14 years later we parted because I became too big for the bike but now I still have a Giant bike in my garage. Love the brand! Amazing how many great companies come from Taiwan.

[hikikomicklori]

I own two GIANT bikes and I LOVE them. They will always have my business and I cannot recommend them enough.

[xelseartheonlyone]

I managed to buy a serious bike for the first time in my life. Is a Giant road bike. I love it. It is the most amazing thing i ever had.
Worth every cent!

[vaughanjones]

Bought my first carbon road bike from Giant and had defect in head tube after a year and my local bike shop had to scrap it and claim my life time warranty from Giant- they couldn’t replace my frame as they didn’t have any XL sizes left, so they offered me my size XL at Christmas or a size L within 2 weeks or $1000 for the cost of the frame! I went with the size L, so at the end of the day in the middle of a pandemic Giant stood by there word and for that I’m relived and grateful.

[TruGamer]

Giant makes great bikes. I just bought one and it's the best bike I've ever owned.
I'm truly happy for their success and in my humble opinion is hard earned and well deserved.

[georginaprice]

This Canadian has a Giant electric bike, really happy with quality and service. I've also done a road bike tour in Taiwan, great country for cycling, super friendly people, supportive, safe, great biking culture. Thank you.

[BCamden]

I have only ever purchased GIANT, and as I have over the years continued to upgrade, I truly miss those models that I have sold on to friends, and good homes at a fraction of the original price tag.
Thank you GIANT, your move into composites was a water shed moment for my MTB indulgence, but I have never looked back.

[sogcezar]

As an avid bicycle rider and proponent of such, I really appreciated your video and analysis of this Giant company that Giant became.
I wish you all the success and hopefully you will become a giant within this media.
Take care brother!

[php]

I used to deliver Giant bike frames from Vancouver to a container depot in Surry BC where the Bikes would be shipped off to Raleigh Bikes in Ontario. When I looked at Raleigh and Giant bikes being sold in the same store I used to chuckle about it knowing they were practically the same bikes. Fortunately they were all priced the same feature for feature. Both really good bike brands in Canada.

[frankhuicts]

My son forwarded one of your videos regarding TSMC water issue with their new Arizona fab, in response to my question to him months ago, before he went for his training in Tainan. He will eventually return to Arizona for that new fab. I agree marketing your own well-made videos is tough and you only reached me by chance. I'm an individual investor and your videos help be to quickly update my knowledge about certain companies and industries. People view your "dry, aka not-for-entertainment" subjects for a reason. It will be interesting to know what others get from it.

[MattSwain]

I’ve bought 4 Giant bikes of different types over the course of about the last 12 years and think they’re great, they seem to keep hitting the sweet spot of good quality for sensible money. Interesting to learn about their background

[PedanticNo]

My second bike, a Giant, was stolen after one year as a young child.

I now associate Giant with sadness and pain.

[Incomudro]

At the end of this past winter, I decided to replace my department store Schwinn bicycle with a genuine road bike.
Much online research often lead me to Giant.
I narrowed my picks down to Trek Domane, Scott Speedster, and Giant Contend.
Ultimately, and largely due to availability - I purchased a Giant Contend a two hour drive from my home.
I'm very happy with the bike.

[tysonm]

I just found this channel and I love it!!! I also love my Giant MTB and Taiwan 🇹🇼!

[robbchastain]

Thanks for your presentation, the business side of cycling is fascinating. And there's a book titled No Hands, the Rise and Fall of the Schwinn Bicycle Company, written by two journalists in Chicago. And it tells the story of Schwinn and Giant, which was pretty much the final chapter of Schwinn as a bike builder in Chicago for nearly a century.

[jb_au]

I thank you for yet another high-quality coverage of a Taiwanese industry and I certainly hope the USA comes out in full support of Taiwan as an independent, self-governing and democratic nation, I have certainly enjoyed my time in Taiwan. Regards, John from Australia