Frame Buying Advice/Opinions

dreamlx10

Hi all. has anyone on here bought the Giant TCR Advanced frame, and if so what do they think of it ? I would appreciate any information that anyone could provide. Thanks in advance.

maddog 2

I have one - a TCR 2 - for my light/best bike

I like it a lot. I've not ridden many other carbon frames so I couldn't say if it's better or worse than anything else but I'm happy with it. The pressfit BB and big downtube make it very stiff at out of the saddle stuff and I did 135 miles last Sat on it and it was fine in terms of comfort.

Mine weighs 1144g for a M/L frame and the fork is 520 ish g which is a little disappointing but that's the alu steerer for you. All up my build is a smidge under 17 lbs or 7.7kg.

I accept it lacks some of the kudos of other brands but the finish is good and it's well made, I think.

dreamlx10

but that's the alu steerer for you

I see from the Giant website that the fork on the TCR is listed as being full carbon !

aogan

I though all the new TCR's were full carbon....

at 1700 euro for the frameset the tcr advanced would feckin' want to be!

I'm in the market at the moment as well (not that anyone cares... 32 views and counting and nary a reply http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12683453)

And the TCR was on my list, and I suppose it still is. I haven't completely discounted it. I have several racer mates who swear by them, but I went to one of my LBS's and actually saw one in the metal, so to speak, and.... it's not pretty. The big belly of a downtube at the front, although I'm sure very functional, isn't very attractive. I must get a spin on one, but unless it reveals its talents to me in a very real way on a test ride, I won't be buying one I reckon.

As for kudos - I've been enquiring and shopping for a good while now and I've yet to hear anyone say a bad word against the TCR's. I'm not just talking about shopkeepers trying to flog a frame, but club racers who forked out their own hard-earned to buy for themselves. A mate of mine is nearly finished building his new ride around the TCR advanced SL ISP frameset - sram red and 808 tubulars. Black sort of matte colour frame - WOW. It looks absolutely smashing. And it's so light that when I went to pick it up I actually burst out laughing - I know I said above that I didn't like the TCR aesthetics but this guy has a very very good eye when it comes to building bikes and small stuff like bar tape colour, hoods, saddle, and of course rims, can make a huge difference in the overall look and wow factor of the bike. -In other words, I'm sure if you threw a set of zipps on the tcr advanced it'd look a million dollars too

maddog 2

yep the standalone framesets have a full carbon fork. It's just the lower end frames that were sold as full bikes that are alu - the TCR 2 and 3 I think. That may have changed on the 2010 bikes though.

The front end is super stiff I agree, and the steering is very good as a result. I quite like the look of the frame angles and lines actually - I'm not a big fan of swoopy tubes and curves that seem to be the vogue at the moment - the TCR is pretty much straight tubes all round. But each to his own.

aogan

TCR advanced 1, 2 and 3 are the same frameset. Different colours, different groupsets and finishing kits but exactly the same frame. I know 'cos I was going to buy one but as of today I've decided against - 'cos I rode one this morning.

I didn't like it at all I must say. -The bike wasn't set up as it should be, I should have put the seat up a bit, but overall it was nothing like I expected it would be - it was a very relaxed geometry, comfortable, slow steering. I know the seat was a little low for me, but I got the sense that even if it had been at the right height the bike would still have ridden like a low rider, Harley Davidson, cruiser type machine - with your ar$e low down, feet out in front of you and arms reaching up to the bars. It was nothing like the type of over-the-bars, aggressive attacking race position I had somehow expected it to be. I wasnt riding it for long now, but I took it out of the shop, rode it down the road, thought it was pants, went back to the shop and got the saddle raised another bit, it was still too low, but I took it down the road again and still didn't like it. Even out of the saddle it didn't feel like a race bike.

While I was out on it I got the guy in the shop to have a Felt AR4 ready for me on my return so I could ride it back to back. And I must say the two bikes were worlds apart for me. I loved the AR.

-It's funny because I was nearly all set to just order a TCR advanced frameset on multiple recommendations from guys I know, thinking I couldn't really go wrong with it. Then I discovered that one of my LBS's actually had one in stock so I went to see it for myself. Good thing I did eh? -The proof of the pudding etc.

sandbag

aogan wrote:

I didn't like it at all I must say. -The bike wasn't set up as it should be, I should have put the seat up a bit, but overall it was nothing like I expected it would be - it was a very relaxed geometry, comfortable, slow steering. I know the seat was a little low for me, but I got the sense that even if it had been at the right height the bike would still have ridden like a low rider, Harley Davidson, cruiser type machine - with your ar$e low down, feet out in front of you and arms reaching up to the bars. It was nothing like the type of over-the-bars, aggressive attacking race position I had somehow expected it to be. I wasnt riding it for long now, but I took it out of the shop, rode it down the road, thought it was pants, went back to the shop and got the saddle raised another bit, it was still too low, but I took it down the road again and still didn't like it. Even out of the saddle it didn't feel like a race bike.

Sounds to me the frame you tested was too big for you, and the seatpost forward and aft position, needed tweaking. A more suitable stem would of given you aggressive lie.

The Giant Defy has the relaxed geometry.

cougie

Of course if the bike wasnt set up right for you then it wouldnt have ridden right.

I've had one for years now - v happy with it. Mate bought one after riding mine and he swapped his Madone for one. If you get the right size - its a lovely bike - as your mates have said.

giant_man

The problem here is that not every rated frame, as the TCR and TCR advanced are, is for everyone.

I had a test ride on one last year and found it quite dead and unresponsive have to say. Whereas the Wilier Cento Uno I also rode was utterly fantastic, so if it floats yer boat then fair enough, but if it doesn't then equally fair enough. Each to their own I say.