I Bought the First Ever Giant TCR 

lol, that bottom bracket has not been serviced recently. That is just a square taper bottom bracket, they just don't suck like other ones do, haha.

I was a mechanic at one of the biggest volume Giant dealers in B.C. when these bikes came out. Absolutely game changing, but the lower spec first gen bikes had crappy front shifting. The seat tube angle was too slack for the front derailleurs of the day. Maybe Ultegra is more capable but the 105 of the day was not happy. We solved the issue with a really thin shim washer under the upper front hanger bolt. In later years Giant machined the hangers to compensate.

What an awesome project, you have me envious already.

I have the same frame in the same colors. I hope to restore it next year and bring the bike back to life. It ride like a train and it is very fast.

Mike Burrows deserves an MBE

It would be impossible for me to resist getting those wheels. The bike is such a beauty

I had 2 of these back in the day. The first was the Giant team edition with orange red and blue paint, and the second was the Oncé (pronounced onsay) team edition, which was mainly actually anodised rather than painted to save weight. If you strip the frame down you will find it's incredibly light, around 1100gms I think, amazing for ally. The handing is more like a current day endurance bike rather than a twitchy race bike, so really easy going. The seatpost though... Good luck with that. SO stiff. I fitted round 27.2 carbon ones in mine with a shim. The seatpost creaked horribly till I part split the font to effectively create 2 tightening gaps. That fixed it. Condition of your frame looks amazing. I think there might be some magnesium in the alloy as mine was prone to corrosion around bottle cage mounts. Really interested to see how the build goes....

Ahoi! What a charming frameset, and the previous owner is a saint: such a nice paintjob in mint condition, but enough waffling: I have done some restorations from bikes of similar eras and at least one upgrade has left me with an Ultegra 6500 rear derailleur. It's a 9spd, short cage-type (did they even do medium/large cages back then), and it should be in good condition. Long story short: if you want it, you can have it. I'm sure there's even more period-correct stuff lying around (at least one Ultegra or DuraAce-cassette, 9spd from 20 yrs ago, 3x9 Ultegra Shifters). Lemme know if you are interested, then I can rummage around and post some pics.

I love a good TCR!

Still got my TCR Once yellow frameset, and use it every week. It's on my turbo set up and has been for years so the paint has seen better days. I also still have the original groupset that I built it up with in a box in the garage. Plus, got my other half one last year too with Ultegra 6800.

Older bikes just look so cool and have character in them. Most modern bikes feel like they're cut from the same cloth.

What an awesome project!

90s bikes, love it! I remember 8 & 9 speed Shimano XT & XTR derailleurs held together with E-clips. You could take these apart for cleaning. They even had phosphor bronze washers in-between moving parts for ease of movement and longevity. I had a Gios road bike back then, i regret selling to this day. Regarding the quill stem: you can influence ride quality and compliance to a great degree with these stems. I had a very slim and long Colnago stem once. This thing flexed like crazy and absorbed a hell lot of vibrations. Sold it with the Gios bike, unfortunately.

I have the OCR 3.0, looks like the exact same frame. Mine is mounted with Shimano 105 5800, Reynolds AR58's and a integrated handlebars. Also I removed the shim to replace the seat-post for a carbon one in 31.8 i think. Still feels great today, despite being picked up for 150 euros (upgraded for about 1500) and used for many miles. Great frame

Love these early TCRs. Especially this purple/blue TCR1. Had one new, sold it two years later, regretted it, found one 15 years later (actually the one used in the archive pic on here), sold it (at a great price!), regretted it, bought another three years ago with just 200 miles use, which is a keeper! 😎 Looking forward to the build. Hope it's to original spec, although the stem chosen isn't original. Someone probably said already, but the frame finish isn't paint. It's anodised 🤓

TCR: Timeless Classic Road.

Ah, the good old days, bikes used to be so affordable and simple... I have a 1999 TCR in unpainted anodized finish (replica of the special climbing bike for Laurent Jalabert), still ride the bike from time to time and will keep doing so until it breaks. Except for 1" fork and headset, there's no shortage of upgrades for this old horse! I just love old and iconic bikes of 90s and early 2000s. Incidentally, the second iteration of TCR (model year 1999-2000) already had nicely finished smooth welding that is on a par with modern alloy frame. From what I gather, 2001-2002 version with internal headset is the lightest one (1.2~1.3kg) before the advent of carbon TCR. In later years alloy TCRs used hydroformed tubes and gained some weight. By the way, your blue TCR doesn't seem to be the very first 1997-98 model(as in 2:28), which doesn't have smooth welding and the dimple behind the seat tube (that feature is found on later versions because the chain stays are shortened from 405mm to 400mm). Original blade seat post is cool but harsh, personally I like round carbon seat post for comfort. As for stem and wheels, I think there's no need to keep the original vibes, a normal stem and light weight silver wheels will be more enjoyable to ride. Even deep carbon wheels won't look out of place on this slender frame. (think about Jan Ulrich's 1997 Pinarello Paris with Campy Bora) If you can find 1" threadless carbon forks (Look, Time, Columbus or original Giant fork as used in 2000 model), that would be a nice upgrade. I put a Look fork on my TCR and it looks and rides better than original fork. There are still high quality 1" headsets with cartridge bearings, such as Cane Creek S2/S6 or Tange-Seiki Technoglide Classic/RDC. Beware of the crown race ID, it must be 26.4mm instead of 27.0mm. One last advice, if you keep the Ultegra crankset, make sure the shallow splines of BB axle are engaged as deep as possible with crank interface before you install the bolt or you may damage the crank inadvertently. Use a torque wrench, tighten bolts to official spec 35~50 Nm, also check the bolt torque after the first few rides. The interface is too delicate so Shimano later revised the Octalink design with wider V2 spline (but not compatible with Ultegra). Good news is that BB-6500 will last a long time and not require any maintenance, it's fully sealed like the legendary UN series square taper BB, thus impossible and unnecessary to overhaul.

"made to last." Remember that? To 90s and early 2000s bred the best bikes ever made.

@RideGiantBicycles best be taking notice and sending you a 2024 TCR to complete the stable! (PS. ONCE was pronounced "on-say", at least by Paul and Phil.)

6:53s there is my bike bought new in the shop and I was so afraid you would not show this bike, nicest colour (except Colnago) made until 1997, and now I wonder if a modern Giant TCR will run smoother :-) so sad Once only had my green-violet bike once in the Tour the France with Laurent Jalabert on it.

I wonder how old it is.

Sensah do a silver version now !

I say avoid the old collectible carbon wheels and just get a nice set of chrome aluminum wheels. No reason to make the bike unrideable/unsafe for aesthetics, especially given that all the other vintage parts you're putting on will actually be robust and usable.

Cani recommended a Chris King headset expensive but worth it my son has one on his bike and still going well teenage tough

Hey brother how’s your elves bike doing right now after a year of riding it? I’m looking on building the same build soon

How ist easier to get your leg over easier when the saddle is still at the same height?

Can you tell us the grade of Aluminum? I.e. 6061, 7005, 6069? Cheers .

Same seat clamp as on current Giant trance, trance X and reign MTBs. So was is replaced or Giant still produce the exact same seat clamp?! 😅

Team ONCE. ( Pronounce ONSEE) 🤣

Once means and is pronounced as 11 in Spanish.

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i want this

❤❤❤

7:16 Is the pictured pictured promax stem what you actually bought for this bike? It’s going to look laughably out of place compared to original adjustable stem. Notice how far down the quill is tapered, you won’t be able to insert the quill further than 3” in to the fork steerer. These stems were made for your dads comfort bike. The 25.4mm clamp size is going to really limit your handlebar choices too, rules out most drop bars.

bottom bracket. but sound to me like boem bracket. tic england accent

Hello i have a rear wheel but it miss a free-hub. Plus it's to ship from france. i will sell it 50€.

my 2 year old bike is a beat up mess compared to this :D nice frameset

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Burrows

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