This is a Giant XtC NRS from 2002 - probably. I can't find a perfect match for these decals though. The '01s had a prominent 'XtC' on the downtube, and the '02s had either 1, 2, or 3 next to the 'NRS' script. This kinda feels like a warranty replacement frame? There's really no match at all for the parts on here.
Giant had dabbled with several other suspension designs before this, but this felt different. Like they were really taking it seriously. The thing was though, it was someone else's design.
Giant had dabbled with several other suspension designs before this, but this felt different. Like they were really taking it seriously. The thing was though, it was someone else's design.
See, back before Specialized decided that death awaited those who did not 'innovate,' they would typically just take what they thought was cool. There is a story out there that says the Stumpjumper was copied from a Ritchey frame that Specialized founder Mike Sinyard bought - though not from Tom Ritchey I don't think - and sent to a factory in Taiwan. The story goes that Tom made a mistake on the angles on a frame that he had sold, and that's the frame that Sinyard eventually bought, as the Stumpjumper just happened to have this exact same 'wrong' geometry.
In the late 90's, after Horst Leitner of AMP had really perfected his 'Horst Link' suspension design, Specialized bought it, and managed to get a patent on it. Leitner has said that he worked with Specialized in the early 90's, but they just 'screwed around,' so he started up his own operation.
The patent threw a wrench into the industry as Leitner had been licensing his design to several companies. They now had to pay the Specialized price. The issue was the pivot in the chainstay, which you can see in front of the derailleur in the picture above. Some just tweaked their designs, like Rocky Mountain, moving the pivot to the seatstay.
Some companies just bit the bullet - like Norco and Giant. The kicker though, was that companies licensing the Specialized FSR design had to put a Specialized sticker on their bikes. I found the one above on the NRS by accident. I don't think it's a coincidence at all that Giant put a black sticker on their black bike.
In the late 90's, after Horst Leitner of AMP had really perfected his 'Horst Link' suspension design, Specialized bought it, and managed to get a patent on it. Leitner has said that he worked with Specialized in the early 90's, but they just 'screwed around,' so he started up his own operation.
The patent threw a wrench into the industry as Leitner had been licensing his design to several companies. They now had to pay the Specialized price. The issue was the pivot in the chainstay, which you can see in front of the derailleur in the picture above. Some just tweaked their designs, like Rocky Mountain, moving the pivot to the seatstay.
Some companies just bit the bullet - like Norco and Giant. The kicker though, was that companies licensing the Specialized FSR design had to put a Specialized sticker on their bikes. I found the one above on the NRS by accident. I don't think it's a coincidence at all that Giant put a black sticker on their black bike.
My NRS here is an interesting specimen. As I mentioned before, I can't say what exactly it is from a model year or price-level standpoint. Only the low-level NRS3 came with V-brakes. And none of the NRS3s had adjustable travel Marzocchi forks.
It does have adjustable rear suspension though. Two positions to mount the shock, giving either 3 or 3.5 inches of travel. This is laughable by today's standards of course. I've seen reviews in magazines where writers make fun of bikes with 4 inches of travel. It was pretty exotic, and worked very well from all accounts I've read. The Rock Shox SID shock is highly tuneable, and I believe Giant designed the bike specifically to take advantage of what the SID could do.
And finally, the reason I bought the bike - that mysterious unmarked rear derailleur. It is a Precision Billet Pro-Shift derailleur from the early/middle 90's. Several companies made rear derailleurs from CNC aluminium in this period, but I don't think any of them exist anymore except for Paul.
All of them were available in pretty/garish colours, all of them were very expensive, and none of them offered much of an improvement in shifting. But they looked great and showed that you had money.
It does have adjustable rear suspension though. Two positions to mount the shock, giving either 3 or 3.5 inches of travel. This is laughable by today's standards of course. I've seen reviews in magazines where writers make fun of bikes with 4 inches of travel. It was pretty exotic, and worked very well from all accounts I've read. The Rock Shox SID shock is highly tuneable, and I believe Giant designed the bike specifically to take advantage of what the SID could do.
And finally, the reason I bought the bike - that mysterious unmarked rear derailleur. It is a Precision Billet Pro-Shift derailleur from the early/middle 90's. Several companies made rear derailleurs from CNC aluminium in this period, but I don't think any of them exist anymore except for Paul.
All of them were available in pretty/garish colours, all of them were very expensive, and none of them offered much of an improvement in shifting. But they looked great and showed that you had money.
However, this exciting new derailleur market was wiped out almost overnight with the release of Shimano's M950 XTR group in 1996. The M950 derailleur was almost as light, looked awesome, and most importantly, worked perfectly. Specialized in particular used the M950 as bait on a lot of its bikes. Putting an XTR rear deailleur on really grabbed the attention of potential customers. Of course they had to downgrade the bottom bracket or the hubs or whatever in order to hit their price point, but so what - look at the XTR dude!!
It's a weird and very esoteric part that nobody will even notice, and it's exactly what I wanted. I'll put it on some old bike and we'll see if it's any good.
Anyway, the Giant is for sale. I think it's a perfectly good trail bike, and definitely better than any new bike that you can buy for the same money right now.
It's a weird and very esoteric part that nobody will even notice, and it's exactly what I wanted. I'll put it on some old bike and we'll see if it's any good.
Anyway, the Giant is for sale. I think it's a perfectly good trail bike, and definitely better than any new bike that you can buy for the same money right now.
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