Publication-Bicycling

Date-April 2005

Title-Giant OCR COMPOSITE 3 $1600-The same carbon frame as Giant's Tour-taming TCR advanced racer-at a $3400 discount.

Findings:

• "Oogle the organically curved tubes, such as the hourglass seatstays, and you'll see that the OCR is animal, not mineral. It is no cheetah, despite the racy looks: The curvy stays provide comfort, not speed. The stretched wheelbase, compared to Giant's carbon frames with race geometry, also softens the ride (a longer bike blunts road feedback)."
• "Amazingly, that longer wheelbase doesn't affect the upright seating position; the cockpit fit is much closer to that of a cross-country mountain bike than that of a road racer, so your back, neck and arm muscles are all more at ease. Even on the worst roads, the OCR 3 could not be rattled, but it's no noodle. Slamming hard through a corner, we could lay it flat out and angle through with confidence. If your current bike has a more-traditional geometry, the upright riding position could take some getting used to, but you'll welcome the added comfort and control."
• "There's almost nothing we'd change about this bike, save the wheels. The stock Xero XSR-3 Aero set felt sluggish during hard accelerations and, when we installed a set of Shimano's R550 wheels, the OCR felt much snappier. The OCR Composite 2, at $2000 comes with slightly snazzier components and those superior Shimano hoops."
• "BUY IT IF: You want one of the most affordable and comfortable carbon rigs on Earth.."
• "FORGET IT IF: You think bikes should still be made of metal."

Publication-Bicycling

Date-April 2006

Title-Giant OCR COMPOSITE 3 $1800

• "SWEET CHASSIS: This OCR carbon frame is based on the same design that sits under T-Mobile pros such as perenial Tour de France threat Jan Ullrich. It's been shortened slightly and tweaked to deliver more comfort and naturally upright riding position. If you stand and hammer, it'll jump. But it really shines as a comfortable bike for building fitness and doing long weekend rides."
• "HILL FRIENDLY: A triple chainring saves your knees on slopes, but in this case it's matched with a generous 27-tooth granny gear, which should let you scale walls with minimum lung burn"