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Talon owners .....

684K views 3K replies 373 participants last post by  Shinscrape 
#1 ·
post up , likes and dislikes , would you recomend one to a friend or family member ? any issues ? pics would be nice too
 
#4 ·
I would recommend it to anyone on a budget.

Dislikes: fork, crankset, saddle, headset, seatpost and bar/stem combination.

Likes: feel, frame, wheels, brakes.

Have changed many of the dislikes since I got it and is my favorite ride, the only item pending is the headset.



Future changes: ust tires, tubeless conversion kit.
 
#10 ·
any short riders ? im 5'5" , I really like the look of these , my LBS only has a L , and i need to try a small and medium , i tried out a Scott Scale small , and it had a good fit for me , but the Talon seems to run different in sizing , how is the goemetry for shorter riders ?
 
#11 ·
I love my Talon 2. Price was just right for me as a beginner and the black/white/red color combination just looks sharp. Ive seen alot of people here complain about the stock fork but I think I am to new a rider to know that it's not good. Ive upgraded the stock seat and switched to flat pedals from the stock beartrap type. Only thing that has broken in the 4 months I have had it is a chain link that was a 6 buck fix at my lbs.
 

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#12 ·
I have a talon 2010 talon 1. The front shock was terrible but replaced that with a marz bomber 44 micro ti. I could have been happy with it if I had never ridden a nice fork.
I broke the chain after about 200 miles. The rear derailur kept coming loose, some locktite fixed that.

Seat post kept coming loose and finally damaged the grooves that prevent it from moving. I replaced that with an easton ea70 from the classifieds and now its perfect!

Fork 225
chain 15
seat post 35

Oh, and all the reflectors broke off.
 
#311 ·
I have a talon 2010 talon 1. The front shock was terrible but replaced that with a marz bomber 44 micro ti. I could have been happy with it if I had never ridden a nice fork.
I broke the chain after about 200 miles. The rear derailur kept coming loose, some locktite fixed that.

Seat post kept coming loose and finally damaged the grooves that prevent it from moving. I replaced that with an easton ea70 from the classifieds and now its perfect!

Fork 225
chain 15
seat post 35

Oh, and all the reflectors broke off.
Thats funny. all the reflectors on all my Giant mountain bikes broke off too! :rolleyes:
 
#13 ·
I have had mine for 6 months now... I agree the fork is a little weak and I will probably end up upgrading it down the road. Replaced the stock pedals with Diety Decoy's and got some 5.10 Impact shoes (LOVE them). All the reflectors and dork disk "fell" off. Flipped the stem over to give it a more aggressive stance. Considering converting to tubeless using stans, but not sold on that idea yet.

I ride it 2-3 times a week and it is holding up well. For the money (got it as a 2011 blowout when the 2012's were coming in) I would say it is a great bike, and I would recommend it for an entry - mid level rider.
 

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#16 ·
When I was last out on a ride, I noticed a Ski Chalet tent setup and they had bikes out there to demo. They were all Diamond Back's. I thought, hey those are Walmart bikes, right. Well I took one of their top of the line bikes out for a spin... It was a FS (I have never ridden a FS bike before). One thing I noticed that worked considerably better than my beloved Talon, was how much better the brakes felt. It had Shimano Deore XT hydrolics. I noticed that my hands get really tired on long downhill runs on my Talon. So that got me to thinking, I wonder if I can adjust these Giant Root brakes. I noticed that just inside of the lever there is a little screw with a alen wrench adjustment. The LBS had mine adusted all the way out (I have small hands and that was a heck of a reach out to get to them. With a few turns of that screw I have them adjusted much closer to the bar and easier for my little hands (-- insert you joke here) to reach them with two fingers.

I am looking forward to checking this out on my next ride! Just thought I would pass this along! Trying to post a picture here, but it looks like mtbr removed the attachment icon...
 
#86 ·
Here's a link to the Talon that was released in Australia in 2009 - 26".
www2(dot)giant-bicycles(dot)com/en-au/bikes/mountain/2177/31857/?collections_id=4]Giant Bicycles Archive
(sorry can't post links - Newby. You'll have to replace the (dot) with . )

The current Talon in Aust. is the same frame shape as the ones posted above.

The 2009 26" is my ride - i'll post a pic when i find one. The only change i've made is putting on Maxxis Crossfire tyres.

I note that the price has dropped significantly since i purchased - maybe downed the quality of the components in the later models...???

Cheers Tim
 
#24 ·
Yeah, that is what I had figured, but on these it just was not as obvious as some of the others out there. I am looking to upgrade my fork next, I have noticed a lot of others have done the same, Usually when I search for the ones people have upgraded to here I can not find them any more.

Can someone provide a link to one in the 300-450 range that will fit a 2011 Talon 29er?

Thanks!
 
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