Remember our recent rant on road riding vs. road racing bikes? In select Asian markets, Giant has been testing the concept of a widely available and highly versatile adventure road bike range called the AnyRoad. Thanks to the very favorable sales figures, the company is now expanding the availability to the United States and a few European countries, but not the United Kingdom.
The swoopy, aluminum-framed AnyRoad doesn't resemble conventional road bikes – and for riders who might be new to riding on the road, that may very well be a good thing. Present and accounted for are the typical drop bars, 700c wheels and double cranksets. But there's more than ample room for high-volume 32mm tires through the rear stays and carbon fork, the wide-range gearing is better suited to casual riders, and the ultra-tall head tube offers positioning even more upright than typical 'endurance' bikes.
AnyRoad's head tube is even taller than most upright endurance bikes
Handling definitely sticks to the more stable end of the spectrum with rangy 429mm chain stays, head tube angles between 70.5 and 72 degrees depending on size, and long wheelbases that span from 1003-1062mm.
Standard front and rear disc brakes provide more confident all-weather stopping performance than typical rim calipers, too, while supplemental top-mount levers should ease fears of not having the hands on the brakes all the time.
Despite the bike's humble intentions, Giant also looks to have done a good job of injecting some style into the AnyRoad frame. The very low-slung frame looks sleek and offers heaps of standover clearance, it still looks reasonably high-tech to general consumers without being intimidating, and there are also neat details like the hidden seatpost binder bolt.
Giant is putting the AnyRoad on the road to the United States and other markets
Giant USA is still finalizing details for the AnyRoad debut but Andrew Juskaitis, Giaint's global senior product marketing manager, confirmed to BikeRadar that it's definitely coming – and soon. Giant will also sell the AnyRoad in Australia, Benelux, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Poland and Taiwan.
"We are going to take in one model of AnyRoad (not 100 percent sure which model) as a 'test' of the North American market," Juskaitis said. "So yes, the United States will see this bike in the fall of 2013."