Giant
Giant made bikes for lots of companies in the '80s. In Australia, the Repco Hotfoot was made by Giant from approximately 1980 to 1985 when they then swapped manufacturers to Merida. While this was going on, Giant imported bikes and sold them to other companies - RoadMaster and the Melbourne Bike Company amongst others - and even sold their own branded version.
Please browse through all of the material I have collected:
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If you have any Giamt information or photos, please forward them to me and I will add them to the site. I am especially interested in brochures and advertisements as these are most valuable when restoring bikes back to their original glory.
Hall of Fame
Below are some Giant bikes that have taken my fancy and influenced me in my builds. The beautiful thing about these bikes is that they span from factory original - down to the brakes, calipers, seat and other small parts - to a modern build where the only OG part are the frames and fork. That's one of the things I like about Giants and their builders - anything goes. These aren't rare bikes and no-one is going to get upset that you have chosen non-original parts or colours.
Hall of Fame: Feature Bike
I have added this new section to put the spotlight on a bike that has taken my fancy over the last month or so. This may be an impeccably restored carpet-queen, a complete and original find or simply a piece of advertising material or catalogue scan.
Danny Pires: 1980 Giant GMX-250
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Danny's Giant GMX-250 is a testament that you don't have to rechrome every nut and bolt to build a beautiful bike. This build is about carefully selected colour combinations and refinishing the original parts of the bike.
Although the gold is a bold colour, Danny has been careful not to let it dominate the colour scheme. He has retained some of the original chrome parts - chainring, seat post clamp, headset and forks - and added black pedals, grips and Duro 20x2.125 knobby tyres which balance the gold parts nicely.
Simon Holmes: 1980 Giant GMX-250
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I had a Giant made looptail in my garage for a long time and was planning to restore it. It was pretty beaten up but with a lot of work could be made into a beautiful bike - the though of all of this work made me lose interest in the bike and I got rid of it. At that stage I had an '88 Repco Freestyle and an '81 / '82 SuperMax CrMo that I was building and I thought I would not miss it. I was wrong ..
A few weeks after getting rid of my previous Giant looptail, I saw this frame and fork on eBay and knew I had to have it. It was already painted and stickered in the colours you see and I knew that was one less decision for me to make .. The hunt was on for gold Shimano parts to match the 600 cranks that Benny was preparing and soon I had the NOS chain ring, DX lever and a Takagi chain ring guard. The KKT pedals were sourced from the US and they are absolutely mint and in my mind are perfect for this sort of build.
I ended up covering a Viscount seat in pig suede and think it finishes of the build nicely!
Jess Eddy: 198? Giant HiTen
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Jess' mid-80s Giant could easily be mistaken for an '86 Hotfoot with that vivid aqua colour and colourful decals. Jess originally approached me while she was trying to make sense of the build number - a GQ802 - and I have been watching the build progress from the opposite of the world (the bike lives in Brooklyn).
The inclusion of the yellow pedals and purple spider complement the colours in both the decals and pads (view the other images for a look at the great looking pads that go with this bike). The handlebars that finally made the build are similar to 'CW' style handlebars of the '84 - '87 Hotfoot Hiten and Team models. Braking comes in the form of reproduction Dia Compe MX1000 callipers and levers.
Hall of Fame: Giant
Repco's original Hotfoot models were built by Giant Bicycles in Taiwan. Shown below are various Giants that may provide inspiration when restoring a Hotfoot version.