Hi all,
I’m starting some market research for a new mountain bike in 2007. What are the basic price points for new bikes here in Taiwan? If you bought a new bike in the past year or so or are looking now, which brands did you look at? Which model did you buy? How do prices compare within Taiwan? How do prices compare with similar bikes in the U.S. or Europe?
I looked a few MTBs here… One thing you should not get unless you are very into off-road with big bumps or you want the most plush ride ever- is a rear shock. I think that it is too heavy and just another thing that can fail on you. But, some want it just for the ‘tech’ aspect. The same goes for disk breaks they are not as easy to work on / maintain as caliper styles. Bikes here seem to be smaller - frame size is A Huge Factor - to small and you will not ever be comfy on it. I would spend a bit into the 5000 NT range to assure I got a decent frame / components below that you will get a Huffy… You may want to go all out and spend monsterbucks on it- then 1-month boat ship a load of clothes - get the bike broke down complete, packed, and then take it on the plane back… But, that is only worth it if you will ride a lot…
Since it’s “very well made in Taiwan”, Giant is the way to go. I bought a Giant NRS several years ago for about $35000 and have been very happy with it. It’s a soft-tail (rear suspension) cross-country MTB that’s fairly light and rides like a hardtail on hard surface. But Giant has discontinued the NRS and has replaced it with the Anthem, which I’ve also heard good things about. Keep in mind it’s a cross-country bike, so if you intend to do some extreme downhill rides, then the Reign or Trance might be more suitable for you.
I like the look of the Anthem: a short-travel xc bike is exactly the sort of thing I want. I surfed around for specs and reviews, and the US retail price for this thing floored me… $4000? What is the Taiwan price? What are some other comparable bikes that you know of?
OK so you are looking pretty top end. I had a Giant back in the Uk with a soft tail and running XTR spec but it is a few years old now. As I don’t know how long I will be in Taiwan I just opted for a fairly basic Hard tail here. I had no trouble getting a 21.5" frame and the cost was about 7K before I started adding new pedals, clip in shoes, lights etc.
I’ve always been very conservative and traditional about bikes, and I tend to keep the same bike for years and years. I’d rather own something that works well and doesn’t have a lot of proprietary features that become impossbile to service or find parts. Top-end isn’t critical to me either… I just thought it would be cheaper here. Last time I bought a bike, I simply went as high into the mid-range as I could afford.
I have no interest in a downhill bike, and I don’t want a comfort cruiser either. I already have my 1957 Schwinn Tornado here if I want that.
I like the look of the Anthem: a short-travel xc bike is exactly the sort of thing I want. I surfed around for specs and reviews, and the US retail price for this thing floored me… $4000? What is the Taiwan price? What are some other comparable bikes that you know of?[/quote]
The US$4000 price tag must be for one of the high-end Anthem models, either the Anthem Advanced, which has a carbon fiber frame, or the Anthem Zero, which is also super light (it weighs something like 11KG). You can get the 24-speed Anthem-S for as little as $22000 in Taiwan, or the Anthem-3 for less than $30000.
What are the specs on the Taiwan bikes? Are they any different from the U.S. models? What about other bikes? Aren’t there some other Taiwan brands out there to consider?
Giant’s Taiwan site has all the specs. I believe the pre-assembled bikes you get in Taiwan are different from the ones they sell in the US. The nice folks over at the FFTA may be able to answer that question better than I. Another popular Taiwanese bicycle-maker is Merida, but why go for the second best if you can get the best.
:bravo: :bravo:
many reasonable hardtails around. merida and giant are made here and they are both really good value for money. there can be some good bargains on slightly older frames if you haggle.
no real need for rear shocks, or even for front shocks unless you do lots of off-road stuff. the giant TopFlight is a decent mid range no suspension bike. they also offer the boulder, yukon, rincon alloy bikes with front shocks. even some steel mountina bikes around if you look hard enough. remember, steel is real!
or you can buy something horrrible for 999 at Rt mart. unbelievable.
edit: FFTA is defunct, the site still ahs the adresses of many bikeshops though some have moved since, like 7park on keelung road (there is still a 7park branch at JianGuo rd though)
Not 100% true… the main site is on hold yes but the forums are still active and is still a great place ot get advice on biking in Taiwan.
glad to know… i have not been looking at mountain bike forums for a while as i spend more time on my road bikes here.
So, i’ve done some shopping around and test-riding, and here’s what I’ve found. There was a big difference in price between the shops in the more foo foo parts of Kaohsiung and sooty old Siaogang. The Anthem 2 ranged from 39K to 35K in Siaogang, and the Anthem 3 ranged from 29K to 26,800 in Siaogang. Still, there’s something oddly truck-like about the way all the Anthem bikes ride, and you can’t lock out the rear shock on them without an expensive upgrade. The foo foo shop in Kaohsiung, the big Giant Dealer on Er Sheng lu wouldn’t let me take the 3 out on the road for a spin either, something about “not a demonstration model” or some crap.
Yesterday I went to a little shop on Yi Xin road in Kaohsiung, a Merida dealer… cool guy, too. He had a second-hand hardtail Voodoo Boxor for sale for 17,000. Nice ride. Really light and responsive on the short urban assault test ride I took with it. If not for the fact the the front shock had no lock out and was way too active on city streets, I could have been persuaded. So I’ll put another question to you all. What are some good hardtail Giants and Meridas with lockable front forks?
But isn’t that what you want when you go off-road? A bike that rides like a 4-wheel drive that can negotiate rocky and rooty terrain?
The Giant Xtc. Cheaper than the Anthem too. Just make sure you don’t put a kickstand on the carbon fiber tail.
[quote=“Incubus”]
But isn’t that what you want when you go off-road? A bike that rides like a 4-wheel drive that can negotiate rocky and rooty terrain?[/quote]
Sorry, but nimble and light is where it’s at. That Voodoo didn’t ride like a truck… far from it. Even my old CrummyDale cad3 felt more lively than those Anthems did.
I’ll check out the XTC next time I’m in town.
I ride an HASA comp 7 frame with decent Shimano XT parts all around, good front forks, good quality cranks and rings, quality hubs and wheels, and smooth tires. Most of my riding is on roads (I like to go the distance) so it suits me fine.
I was going to spend 10 g on a giant Yukon or something like that last year, hoping that it would last me until I could budget better quality parts into it, when a bike shop owner understood that I didn’t really like anything in his store. So he took me out back, where he kept his special stash of personal bikes, and showed me what would become my bike. Apparently he was trying to sell it, but couldn’t get his money out of it because people don’t like to buy used bikes here. We went over it together, changed what parts needed to be improved, tuned it up and I rode away for 9 g.
It’s a used bike, the back wheel is made heavier and stronger than the front, and there are some used parts on it that came from the guys other bikes. But it rides like a dream, the hydraulic disk brakes (I love them, they don’t mangle your rims) will put me on my nose, and it’s a real comfortable, reliable, tough bike. Exactly what I wanted.
The weirdest part has been getting used to hard aluminum frames. I actually had to get a better saddle! Ouch! Just the way we like’er!
I’ve never bought a new bike, but I’ve bought many parts and even built them up from scratch. Except the wheels. I’m not patient enough to build wheels.
This was built by Rich at 7th Park specifically as an urban assault / dirt jumper.
The frame (painted) is an '05 Bergamont Kiez Pro (Germany) 40cm.
Links (German):
mtb-news.de/biketest/rahmen/ … dual-a597/
mtb-news.de/biketest/scripts … itemid=597
xxpages.de/test_kiez.html
schlickjumper.de/parts/forum1_1415.htm
Haven’t been riding… need the money… selling it.
The bike is in excellent condition. PM me for price and specs if you are interested.
note: the seat has been swapped out for a “Velo Padded Mini” and the front gear
is now smaller. Other than that, the bike is pretty much in the same condition as
shown in the photos below.
