Weird Giant Rincon Frame

[velomaniac]

From what I gather Giant Rincon's have been around since god was a boy. First in chromo steel then in aluminium alloy. Well I have an almost unused aluminium frame from the early noughties in my favourite size XL as I like the manufacturer am a Giant. Frame however has a couple of features not found on the numerous examples that can be seen on the web. Most obvious is the rear brake bosses face forward on the underside of the seat stays and there is a tab for attaching the rear of a old style chain guard on the drive side rear seat stay. The frame has a gear hanger built into the frame as opposed to the more common detacheable hanger which suggest it dates from around 2000 - 2002.
Did Giant make a version of the Rincon that was say more comfort bike or hybrid styled ?
Only seen the forward facing brake bosses on Giant Tourers and Hybrids presumably so they did not foul panniers ?
Just interested if anyone has seen something like this. The frames on its way to being built up as a general xc bike as its sus corrected enough for some 80mm forks and of course is my size.

 

[TDog]

I am afraid back in the 90's Giant called many of their Mtn./Hybrid models Rincon. My 1995 model is a big chrome moly frame and by no means is it a dedicated mountain bike, more of a HD hybrid. It was my understanding, at least in the US at the time I bought the bike that Giant was more of a contract bicycle builder, Schwinn being perhaps their largest customer.
Although Giant was able to manufacture just about any bike you could imagine, they seemed to be trying to find out exactly what style of bikes would most excite the American consumer, so their designs tended to be all over the place. Honestly in 1995, most of my classmates at University of Southern Maine had never heard of Giant (including myself) even though they were one of the largest bike manufacturers in the world.