Correction: we’ve spoken to Giant and need to clarify that this isn’t actually a new ‘standard’. You’ll be able to use everything except a 1.5″ (or 1″…) steerer tube in the Overdrive 2 headtube. It’s also only going to be appearing on seven of Giant’s mountain bike models next year, not 57, as stated below, although that’s what Chipps was told originally.
OK, time to sit down and get the pen and paper out… Giant Bicycles has a new headset standard for you to get your head round.
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This is the premise: OK, so with everyone getting wider and wider bars, there’s a lot more sideways force going through your stem and steerer – a 1 1/8th inch steerer that harks back to the days of quill stems. So what Giant proposes is that everyone adopts a new size for stems and steerers. They call it ‘Overdrive 2’
So, what’s Overdrive 2? Well, it uses a ‘normal’ tapered head tube (Giant has been doing tapered since about 2008) – but the fork steerer tapers from 1.5in at the bottom – which is the normal size for tapered steerers these days – to 1.25in at the top. Yes, that’s an inch and a ‘didn’t Gary Fisher do that size, ages ago’ quarter.
Giant’s own testing reckons that it makes the steering stiffness 30% stiffer. Obviously you need a 1.25in stem, but these are already being made by Giant, Ritchey and Truvative.
And how does Giant squeezed that big steerer in? It has developed a new, skinny top bearing with FSA that, presumably is 0.0625in thinner (if our rusty fraction arithmetic is correct). Giant reckons that the new system weighs no more than the current tapered system (that we’ve had for only a couple of years.)
Giant is touting Overdrive 2 as an open standard and expects many other companies to hop aboard next year in having, we’ll call them ‘shallow taper’ (or chunky stemmed) front ends. To show its commitment, Giant will have 57 models next year with Overdrive 2.
Comments by the Singletrackworld.com massive are, as always, welcome and expected…
another frigging standard, the marketing machine roles on
Thats the nice thing about standards…there’s so many to choose from.
maybe I could buy 2 of these, split them, sell the 1.5in pairing to some dude in a fullface and use the 2 1.25″ bits for my old cannondale BotE
then again…..
I’d like to have seen the presenter, and the listening journos, trying to keep straight faces as this was introduced.
So now, I have to understand that there’s the integrated headset that seems to fit easily and work.
Then semi-integrated. Which does something.
And external which usually look ugly and are a PITA to fit.
And now there’s this. Which looks like a tapered integrated, but it’s a slightly different size at the top. So you’ll buy the wrong headset. And spacers. And stem.
*Sarcastic clap*
Didn’t someone say something recently about the cost of tapered head-tubes being relativly horrific. Why not fit straight 1.5″ head-tubes and allow the consumer to choose what headset/steerer thet want to run?
Small steerer=faster bearing wear and higher risk of bending it. The forces into the frame and effect on it will be the same.
Oh. For. The. Love. Of. God. Why.
:facepalm:
Meanwhile, MX bikes still rely on 1″ steerer…
Are the logged incidences of stem / steerer failure that significant that a new design was needed or, as I suspect, is it marketing creating a problem that never existed so they can solve it with something you can buy!
*Slow claps*
Brilliant, Giant…
Here we go with yet another new standard which to all intents and purposes is completely unnecessary and is going to make upgrading even more problematic in future.
Why not simply make all head tubes 1.5″ and let the consumer fit any fork they like, eh?
I won’t be buying anything from Giant in the forseeable.
Good work from Giant.
What we really need now is a new front axle standard
*votes for a new ISCG standard too*
richmtb – haven’t you heard? Fox is coming out with a tapered axle…20mm to 15mm. The 20mm is on the rotor side, it’s to deal with braking forces apparently!
Xkcd comic on standards; http://xkcd.com/927/
Love giant bikes but this has made me hate them as a company……time for everyone to adopt the 1.5 standard, cannondale knew best all along!
Marketing idiots…
boycott, boycott, boycott! (fetch pitchforks and burning lanterns brethen and let’s hunt the Giant CEO…..mmmm he might be really big though)
Are there more header standards than BB standards now? I’ve lost count…
Obviously I meant ‘headset’… Bloody iPad.
The original 1.5″ steerer was ahead of it’s time… Giant are getting close to catching up… give them another year or two of incremental gains… next year will 1.375″, and by 2015 we’ll all be up at 1.5″ again… would gain you another 30% in stiffness I’m sure !!!
“Love giant bikes but this has made me hate them as a company”
I agree. [Giant TranceX owner]
God, what’s the point. As has been said above, let’s just stick to 1.5″ and be done with it, FFS.
It’s funny coming from the BMX world where almost everything is standard and you can assemble the entire bike with an adjustable spanner, 5 and 6mm allen keys, and…er…that’s it. (Yes, yes, plus wheel building gear, but you get the idea.)