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Halfway
Halfway
When Giant first commissioned Mike Burrows to design a new folding bike he was less than enthusiastic. After all, according to Mike, the smallest folding bike and the lightest folding bike had already been done, so what more was there to do? ‘Not interested.’ he said.

But the famous Burrows brain was already going into overdrive, and just one week later he was whipping up enthusiasm for his new baby, the Halfway. Mike had decided that if he couldn‘t design the smallest or lightest folding bike, then he was going to design the best-riding, folding bike. The result is a bike which is not the smallest, nor is it the lightest, but it is lightweight, compact, easy to fold, and most of all rides as close as possible to a full-size bike.

The Halfway is made from 6061 box section aluminium, making it both lightweight and strong, and it has the trademark Burrows mono-blade front fork. Not only is this fork design every bit as strong as a traditional fork, but it makes changing tyres very simple, not to mention helping the bike fold into an even more compact shape. The high pressure tyres – not the most narrow but certainly slick enough – give a comfortable performance ride on the 20” wheels.

Sidebar
The basic single-speed version weighs 11.9kg/26.2lbs and costs around €650, while the 7-speed version (11.2kg/24.7lbs) costs around €750.


Manufacturer
The NRS design is the result of a collaboration between Giant and Renault Sport, better know for their successes on the Formula 1 circuit. One of Renault’s suspension engineers, Pascal Tribotte, happened to be an MTB enthusiast. He talked over his ideas during a chance meeting with a salesman in a Giant dealer’s shop. The management of both companies saw the opportunities, and the NRS design was born.

Giant have been building bikes since 1972, and since 1981 have been producing them under their own brand name. They are now the world’s biggest bicycle manufacturer, and in 1998 they sold 1.5 million Giant bicycles worldwide

Giant Europe
Pascallaan 66
Lelystad
8218 NJ
Netherlands

phone: +31 320 296 296
fax: + 31 320 296 200.
web: www.giant-bicycles.com


Author
Alan Davidson
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