I was given the opportunity a few days back to give the Giant OCR 3 road bike a test run. The OCR 3 is economy-priced in road cycling standards. It can be found for as little as $500.00 to $600.00 at your local LBS depending on the circumstances.

The Giant was a nice surprise. It definitely has lower-end components on it, but that is to be expected at the price. Let me list the components before I go into too much detail.

Frameset/Fork

• ALUXX butted aluminum frame, Compact Road Design
• formulaOne Composite fork w/aluminum steerer

Wheelset

• Kenda Kontender tires
• Alex DA22, 32H rims
• Alloy 32H w/QR hubs
• Stainless 14G spokes

Components

• Alloy Cage, Resin Body pedals
• Dual Pivot Long Reach brakes
• Shimano Sora STI brake levers
• Aluminum M: 27.2x350mm W: 27.2x300mm seatpost

Drivetrain

• TruVativ Touro, 30/42/52T cranks
• SRAM PG-850 12-26T, 8 speed cassette
• KMC Z72 chain
• Shimano Sora STI, 8-speed shifters
• Shimano Sora derailleurs

Similar to the Bianchi Brava, the Giant OCR 3 has the Shimano Sora shifters and derailleurs. Many cyclists will complain about them, and the fact that you can’t shift in the drops, but I personally don’t mind them. I find them to be a great starter set, and like how smooth the shifting is.

Another downside is that the bike does have an annoyingly noisy adjustable stem. This isn’t a big deal as it’s an easy upgrade to make to the frame.

The biggest draw to the OCR 3 road bike is the frame. I would have no problem putting higher quality components onto this frame. Giant is one of those companies that has a stranglehold on the bike frame market. They are the Walmart of frame builders, but there is nothing cheap about their manufacturing process. The aluminum frame is well put together, and the inclusion of a carbon fork on a sub $600 bike is pretty amazing.

Overall, if you were thinking about purchasing this bike, and were willing to upgrade the components over time (hopefully some sooner than later…), than this would be a great purchase as a first or second bike. The ride was a little bit on the bumpy side, thanks to the aluminum frame, but the addition of the carbon fork absorbs some of the road shock.

I definitely recommend the Giant OCR 3 road bike, and anyone looking to get into the sport on a tight budget should take a test ride on the OCR 3.