Great Ride, but the Quality is as Low as the Price
Written: Nov 07 '01 (Updated Feb 12 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Smooth ride, great brakes, low price
Cons: Low quality components, very thin paint, puncture-resistant tires aren't
The Bottom Line: Performs like a much more expensive bicycle, but I can't recommend it due to short component life.
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| mar4k's Full Review: Giant Cypress |
I walked into my local bike shop looking for a bicycle to ride to the train station, about 2 miles from home, on days when bad or cold weather would make riding all the way to work uncomfortable. I walked out with a 2001 Giant Cypress.
I had previously used an old Huffy wannabe MTB for my train station rides, until somebody stole it. During the 6 months or so that I rode that bike, I learned that department store bikes could be very uncomfortable to ride even for short distances, and that since I'm rather short, I'd be unlikely to find bikes that fit me if I shopped for one at yard sales. Hence, I opted for an inexpensive new bike (and a good lock!).
One caveat that readers of this review should keep in mind is that unlike most cycling enthusiasts, I happen to like hybrid bikes (also known as "cross", "cross/comfort" and "city" bikes, among other categorizations). As the enthusiasts will quickly point out, hybrids do not win road races, their upright seating arrangements are generally not comfortable for long-distance touring, they're too heavy for cyclocross and triathlon use and they lack the durability for serious off-roading or even frequent curb-jumping. If your cycling plans include any of these activities, you may as well stop reading right now and look up reviews for the appropriate bicycles for your sport.
But hybrids are competent all-around performers. They're light enough to be lugged where they can't be ridden, and since they usually come with medium-pressure, low-rolling-resistance tires, they don't require as much effort to ride as a mountain bike does. They're not speed demons, but they're fast enough for urban commutes and running errands. Their wheels are just wide enough to smooth out the jarring that a road bike often transmits to its rider on imperfect pavement. The upright seating position gives the rider a commanding view of the road. And they are durable enough to carry cargo without flexing and fishtailing. In short, they make terrific commuter bikes, which is why I like them.
There seems to be a trend among bicycle manufacturers to omit bike weight from their specifications. (The official reason for this, if there is one, is most likely that mid-year changes to components would cause deviations from the specs and might precipitate customer dissatisfaction and maybe even a lawsuit. A more cynical opinion is that producers don't like consumers to have too much information about their products, since obfuscation makes it easier to sell to the unwary. You decide which you believe.) According to the bike shop, mine weighed 31-32 pounds with just the original equipment. I added a rear rack, plastic fenders that provide full coverage, toe clips and a mount for my CatEye HL-500 II headlight. I also had the rear quick-release replaced with an anti-scam cam and the seat quick-release replaced with a standard seat bolt. All of this brought the weight up to 36 pounds or so. Incidentally, I bought the red and silver Cypress, mainly because my other bike (a Cannondale H400, also a hybrid) is blue. But the blue and silver model looks every bit as snazzy. Maybe a bit too snazzy, actually; either color scheme is likely to attract thieves' attention, so buy yourself a good U-bolt lock (I like the Kryptonite Evo 2000 - see my Epinions review of it) and learn how to use it effectively.
The Giant Cypress offers a smooth, luxurious ride on good pavement, and it does a great job of absorbing shock on poor-quality pavement despite its lack of shock absorbers. The standard Kenda Breaker Anti-Lek [sic] tires are mostly slick, so they're nearly silent. Although they're fairly fat at 700x40C, they offer little rolling resistance, so it doesn't take much effort to pedal the Cypress at fairly high speeds. I don't have a cyclocomputer on mine, but I'm guessing I cruise along at 18 miles per hour without much effort. I find the standard saddle adequate, but people riding more than 5 miles or so on a regular basis will probably want to swap it out for something more comfortable. Handling is superb.
One of the Cypress's unexpected surprises is wet braking. The brakes are effective, smooth and easy to modulate in dry weather, and performance doesn't degrade much in the rain. (Expect this performance and smoothness to degrade as the pads wear down, though.)
Shifting is a different story. (By the way, the Cypress comes with SRAM grip shifters, which is actually one of the things I don't like about it. I prefer Rapid-Fire type shifters.) The derailleurs click into gear reliably enough, but not crisply. On the up side, you get 21 gear combinations, about 12 of which are actually usable (more than enough, in my experience), and this provides enough flexibility for the cyclist to maintain a healthy cadence in just about any situation. The system includes an ultra-low first gear that is probably very useful on steep hills, but I haven't had an opportunity to test it because Chicago doesn't have any. Second gear on this bike is low enough to plow through the strongest gales we get around here. Night riders should note that the gear numbers and indicators imprinted on the shifters are difficult to see in the dark.
Unfortunately, the Cypress falls short in two areas. The components are poor, and the paint job isn't durable.
Giant selected components that probably are among the lowest-quality available on bikes sold in bike shops. (That said, they're still a cut above those found on department store junk bikes). Despite their silk-smooth performance, I have found that the brakes don't hold their adjustments very well, and often don't spring completely open after light braking. At least they're fairly easy to adjust. The derailleurs, similarly, don't hold their adjustments as well as they should, and as noted above, their performance is a bit clunky. The Cypress comes with no-name, aluminum alloy wheels; expect to true them every 200 miles or so. My Cypress's bottom bracket cartridge wore out in about six months/400 miles, and its headset wore out a month later, at about 500 miles. It turns out that Giant installs poor quality cartridges that don't have sealed bearings on this bike. In both cases, I opted to replace the worn-out parts with better-quality ones.
The paint job is glitzy, but Giant chose to skimp on the clear coat. It does not take much to scratch this bike. My Cypress - which hasn't accumulated many miles over the course of the summer, since it's mostly a bad-weather bike - has all sorts of nicks and scratches from the bike racks at the train station (which are the fat, serpentine, painted variety). Most of those nicks and scratches go all the way to the bare metal. In contrast, it took frequent scraping against a corner of a wrought iron fence to scratch through my Cannondale H400's paint job, and that scratch only got far enough to damage a decal. Anyone who is particular about his bike's appearance would be well advised to carry a rag to put wherever the bike contacts the rack when parking.
Ignore Giant's claim that the Cypress comes with anti-puncture tires. The Kenda Breaker Anti-Lek [sic] tires don't resist punctures any better than regular hybrid tires do. In fact, I got a flat on my second ride! So don't put away the sealant or tire liners just yet.
Those following this review will recall that I originally rated this bike a terrific value for the daily commuter, since I felt that I got a lot of bike for the the $280 or so that I paid for it. However, the premature failure of my Cypress's bottom bracket and headset, combined with wheels that require frequent truing and brakes and derailleurs that don't hold their adjustments as well as they should, has forced me to reconsider this opinion. I was prepared to chalk up the failure of the bottom bracket to the fact that I ride this bike mostly in the cold and wet. But headsets are subject to much less infiltration by moisture and dirt, and in over 30 years of owning bikes, I have never worn out a headset, much less in only 500 miles, until now. I'm also distressed about needing to tweak the wheel truing four times in just over 500 miles. On the upside, replacement of the bottom bracket and headset cartridges was covered by my new bike warranty. On the other hand, the frequency with which my Cypress has needed mechanical attention, and even worse, the fact that major bearing sets wore out so quickly, suggest that I cannot expect many miles of reliable, trouble-free riding on this bike. Clearly, Giant did not intend this bicycle for people who do more than casual riding. It is therefore with some disappointment that I further downgrade my rating and withdraw my recommendation of this otherwise promising bicycle.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
mar4k
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Location: Chicago, IL
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 5 members
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