Giant TCR Composite Gold

Ultra-rare gold-plated version of the first carbon-fibre TCR

If this bike looks opulent, over the top and über-bling now, imagine the reaction of the bike-buying public 22 years ago when it was unveiled as a special limited edition made with real gold plate and costing the unthinkable sum of $10,000. Just 35 were made, each one individually numbered and coming with a video of its build by the ONCE team’s head mechanic.

In 2002, carbon-fibre bikes weren’t even ridden by most of the pro peloton. Aluminium was still the top material for most racing bikes. After all, it had only been eight years since Indurain won the Tour de France on a steel bike.

But that year Giant upped the ante and the TCR Composite made its Tour de France debut with ONCE, who had ridden aluminium TCRS since 1998. Igor González de Galdeano validated it by wearing the yellow jersey for seven stages.

That wasn’t enough. ONCE’S directeur sportif Manolo Saiz and Giant’s sport marketing manager Tom Davies were on a Midas mission to produce a special TCR Composite Gold. According to a contemporary report from Cyclingnews, the original plan was to gold plate only a few small parts, but Davies decided the bike deserved more, and specified gold plate on all the bolts, the seat clamp, rear dropouts, face plate, front derailleur hanger, wheel spindles, handlebar ends, Nokon cables and parts of the Campagnolo pedals.

ONCE’S head mechanic Faustino Muñoz supervised the building of each of the 35 bikes at Giant Europe’s Lelystad assembly plant in the Netherlands.

This one, very appropriately owned by Golden Age Cycles, is in original unridden condition with all the original components: Campagnolo Record groupset; Campagnolo Hyperon carbon wheels with gold decals; Giant Composite bar, stem and seatpost; specially made AX Lightness saddle; gold-plated Nokon cables, special Tacx Tao gold bottle cages and even the original Hutchinson tubular gold-label tyres.

Certainly one for cycling crysophilists or perhaps Goldfinger, though apparently number 007 was sold immediately.