I am about to buy my first ever proper Bike! I want to get a Giant as I have a friend who runs a Giant shop and I want to give him my business. I need a Bike that I can :
Train in (up to 100 mile rides)
Do the occasional race up to a half IM
Outside of their TT range there seem to be three brands. Propel - Aero racing. Defy - Endurance. TCR - Racing. (This is how Giant describe these ranges)
Based on these descriptions I am leaning towards either the Propel or TCR. I know a number of you have Giant. So what would you suggest? Forget budget for the moment
I’ve got a Propel, really nice bike but it is an aggressive position and ride and although it’s perfectly good for general riding it is more at home racing.
The TCR might be a better option if you are only racing occaisionally but it is a very different geometry, should be a lot more tolerable depending on how flexible you are.
I’ve had 2 TCR’s, one was about 10 years ago, I totally loved it, at first I put proper TT bars on and used it with a disc wheel and tri-spoke, and did my first sub 60 25MTT on it, still not gone much faster on a proper TT bike.
Then changed it to be a road bike but with clip-ons, did ADH tri on it and lots of miles with no problems. It then started aging.
I got another about 2 years ago and struggled to get on with it, I could feel my left leg having problems, but I think it was more likely to be me than the bike
Anyway, you can’t go wrong with a Giant really. If you aren’t racing that much I’d probably go with the TCR, if you do or can get away with a firmer ride and aggressive setup go with the Propel. Does he have any old ones you could test?
Finally, can you use cyclescheme from work, it will save you a fair bit of tax.
My road bike is a 2013 TCR advanced and it’s a good bike. It’s comfy enough to do some good mileage on and likes hills, I had clip on tri bars and could do some reasonable times on it. The propel is supposed to be a stiffer ride and racier position and I’m not sure I’d want one for riding all the time. Then again, I’ve now got a TT bike so it doesn’t need to do double duties.
If I can ever bring myself to pay new bike prices (sorry, how much for an alu frame with Tiagra now???), I’ll be replacing the TCR with something more do it all/endurance focused like a Ribble CGR and just use it for training rides.
I’ve got 40,000 kms on my Propel. Bought it new in 2015 and upgraded the mechanical 11speed Ultegra to 11 speed di2. Also been through various wheels sets on it too.
Have to say the only issue I’ve had is with the v brakes which probably won’t apply as I presume they all come with discs now
Pretty decent value for money. Enjoyed mine for many years
