# How old is my Giant TCR road bike - UK



## batty

Hi all, 

I am newbie to your site and I have a weird dilema, I recently purchased a Giant TCR compact composite 2002, or so I was told. Then at the race meet, some said "that's a 1998 bike not a 2002!"....so how can I tell? 

There is nothing listed on the Giant site that I can see either.

Thansk for your help.


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## daneil

batty said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I am newbie to your site and I have a weird dilema, I recently purchased a Giant TCR compact composite 2002, or so I was told. Then at the race meet, some said "that's a 1998 bike not a 2002!"....so how can I tell?
> 
> There is nothing listed on the Giant site that I can see either.
> 
> Thansk for your help.


I hate to be the barer of bad news, but that bike is definately not a 2002 Composite. The first problem is that it's aluminium not composite. The second is that it's certainly pre 2000 as Giant stopped using threaded forks/stems on the TCR models in 2000. I'd check on the bottom bracket shell, it should have the date in the serial number.


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## batty

daneil said:


> I hate to be the barer of bad news, but that bike is definately not a 2002 Composite. The first problem is that it's aluminium not composite. The second is that it's certainly pre 2000 as Giant stopped using threaded forks/stems on the TCR models in 2000. I'd check on the bottom bracket shell, it should have the date in the serial number.


Hi Daneil,

Oh dear..that is as I suspected...I will check the bottom bracket, do you mean on the frame? where crank set is.

I shall report back...


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## batty

batty said:


> Hi Daneil,
> 
> Oh dear..that is as I suspected...I will check the bottom bracket, do you mean on the frame? where crank set is.
> 
> I shall report back...



Hiya...

Ok the ~BB has stamped GY xxxxx cannot see that being re3evant.
~A33 the bikes stickers say:

Composite [on forks]
Compact expert series
TCR
Expert series...

Does this help to conclude my year??


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## TZL

well i know one thing, those Rigida Carbon spoked wheels are circa 97-98, i would wager that your bike is a 98 giant TCR2 aluminum


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## daneil

TZL said:


> well i know one thing, those Rigida Carbon spoked wheels are circa 97-98, i would wager that your bike is a 98 giant TCR2 aluminum


Yeah TZL is correct, those wheels are 97-98 so I'd say that 98 is a fair guess. BTW if you break one of those spokes they are pretty hard to find and it'll more likely than not be the end of those wheels. Where did you buy the bike and for how much?


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## elviento

*That's definitely a 97-98 TCR*

That's looks like RSX 8 speed group too. 

I hope you did not pay more than $500 for it, because you can have a used 2002-2003 TCR2 with 9speed 105 group, threadless set up, and a more color-coordinated fork for $750.


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## Proboscis

batty said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I am newbie to your site and I have a weird dilema, I recently purchased a Giant TCR compact composite 2002, or so I was told. Then at the race meet, some said "that's a 1998 bike not a 2002!"....so how can I tell?
> 
> There is nothing listed on the Giant site that I can see either.
> 
> Thansk for your help.



As the owner of a Giant TCR composite, I will agree that your bike is not one. The frame is Giant aluminum and the wheels are Regida aluminum with composite spokes. To me, the most interesting part of the bike are the wheels. I have no information on the, but their construction is interesting for the vintage(around '97, '98). Also, as another post said, the headset is threaded, which is also an indicator to the build date.


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## blurry

the bike looks *****in, very cool wheelset


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## Trek_envy

*Definitely not a 99*



batty said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I am newbie to your site and I have a weird dilema, I recently purchased a Giant TCR compact composite 2002, or so I was told. Then at the race meet, some said "that's a 1998 bike not a 2002!"....so how can I tell?
> 
> There is nothing listed on the Giant site that I can see either.
> 
> Thansk for your help.


Its definitely aluminum.

I have a 99, and it was the first year that ONCE rode that frame. The TCR2 (Shimano 105) was a replica of the ONCE version (Dura-Ace). It also have the "Giant Carbon Blade" fork, not a curved one like that.

How much coin did you drop?


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## ellen_yvr

*another "what year" question please.*

The answers to batty seemed close to what I may have. I can't find anything like it on the Giant website. On the top tube it says "TCR compact expert series". Any help with what year it may be would be appreciated! Thanks.


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## jeremyb_nz

Hi,

definately a 1998, I have the same bike, albeit with different wheels 

J


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## TZL

does your bike have Shimano 600 on it? Shimano 600 was the precusor to Ultegra.....i would guess 1996 or 1997, i don't think Giant made TCRs earlier than 96 or 97



ellen_yvr said:


> The answers to batty seemed close to what I may have. I can't find anything like it on the Giant website. On the top tube it says "TCR compact expert series". Any help with what year it may be would be appreciated! Thanks.


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## cmatcan

well at least it looks cool


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