My new Giant TCR Advanced 2 2013

sunjhoon

Hi all

So I bought this bike on 6th April. After nearly 2 months of waiting I collected it last week but I only took it for a proper spin today. As the weather is not great I took a picture inside. (Proper photos will be taken another day when the sun is shining following the OCP guide).

I love it and everything about it. The colour scheme does it for me. I have a Specialized Allez Sport and it really feels like is a major step up and the ride feels a lot different (maybe the placebo effect but I dont care!). I am a very happy customer. The ride is very smooth and very quick. Wheels will be the first upgrade after a little while (either Dura Ace C24/Kysrium SLS)

Specs as follows:

Giant TCR Advanced 2 M/L
Frame: Advanced-Grade Composite
Fork: Advanced-Grade Composite, Full-Composite OverDrive 2 Steerer, 1 1/4"-1 1/2" Bearings
Handlebar Giant Connect SL
Stem Giant Contact 1¼"
Seatpost Giant TCR Vector Composite
Saddle Fi'zi:k Arione
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 Carbon SPD-SL Road Pedals
Groupset Shimano 105 (Except chain and crankset)
Chain KMC X10SL
Crankset Rotor 3D with Q rings (50/34)
Wheels Giant P-SL1 Wheelsystem
Tyres Continental GP4000S

Extras:
Comtat Ultra Light Plus Carbon Bottle Cage (x2)
Rotor Chain Catcher
K-Edge Garmin Mount

I originally went for the Ultegra Carbon Pedals however the shop did not have them in stock and they had been waiting for around 4 weeks. The manager of the store offered me the Dura Ace pedals at no extra cost. When he offered I originally thought he was giving me the 7900 version it took me about a week to realise (when looking at the pedal box) that these were the newer version!

EDIT

New photo's. I do not have a white wall to place it against and sorry for so many photos

Here is a link to the full album as I had to crop and resize some of the photos (I know I took too many but I got carried away! ) :

http://s1349.photobucket.com/user/sunjh ... ike%20Pics

halfround

Very nice, cool black with just a flash of colour.

declan1

Looks awesome! Giant make some great bikes.

My dad's got a TCR Composite 1 - that came originally with the same wheels as yours. I've not got them on my bike and he upgraded to Fulcrum Racing 1s. I can highly recommend those wheels - they look amazing and are really fast!

elderone

very very nice.cool looking bike.

Mreckless

Nice looking bike. What's your opinions on the Q-rings. I have a TCR as well. Great bikes

CJMacNeil

Really great looking bike!!

I agree on the Wheel upgrade. I've got a 2012 Defy 5 and the Giant own brand wheels don't really fill me with confidence. They feel quite soft. Hopefully upgrading to Fulcrum Racing 5's pretty soon. Other than that have no more complaints. Fantastic bikes!! Enjoy

FELTZ95

Nice bike. Could I ask your height? I'm thinking of getting the composite version and am 5'9" so was thinking that the medium size would be right for me.

Graeme Jones

Lovely big of kit!

sunjhoon

declan1 wrote:

Looks awesome! Giant make some great bikes.

My dad's got a TCR Composite 1 - that came originally with the same wheels as yours. I've not got them on my bike and he upgraded to Fulcrum Racing 1s. I can highly recommend those wheels - they look amazing and are really fast!

Yeh they do make some lovely bikes. I was never really a fan until last year. Fulcrums will be considered aswell but for the moment i just want to get out and enjoy the bike before i get new wheelset. Plus will give me a baseline to work with.

CJMacNeil wrote:

Really great looking bike!!

I agree on the Wheel upgrade. I've got a 2012 Defy 5 and the Giant own brand wheels don't really fill me with confidence. They feel quite soft. Hopefully upgrading to Fulcrum Racing 5's pretty soon. Other than that have no more complaints. Fantastic bikes!! Enjoy

I have to say the giants wheels that i have arent that bad. Similar to my mavic aksiums on my specialized. They are supposedly lighter than my mavics. They seem to roll nicely (i dont know too much about wheels to give a calculated opinion). I have to say when i was riding handling felt really good and gave me the confidence to go round corners with some speed.

halfround wrote:

Very nice, cool black with just a flash of colour.

Graeme Jones wrote:

Lovely big of kit!

Blue is my favourite colour. I didnt want a white bike again and was contemplating a black frame but the colour scheme did it for me the minute i saw it.

FELTZ95 wrote:

Nice bike. Could I ask your height? I'm thinking of getting the composite version and am 5'9" so was thinking that the medium size would be right for me.

I am 5ft 11 and it feels like a perfect fit. Try it if you can. Its the only way to tell

I got it out today and took some photos but i got a bit carried away and took 80+ photos so i will upload some of them tomorrow

sunjhoon

Mreckless wrote:

Nice looking bike. What's your opinions on the Q-rings. I have a TCR as well. Great bikes

Hard one to say (reason being that i have been following the report that is on the road buying advice forum and it seems to have mixed feelings) I have it at ocp 3 setting and i think i may give a bit longer (four or five long rides) before i try changing the settings. My ride on the weekend felt very windy so i it was hard to assess what it felt like. borrowed a friends TT bike that had it on a for around a month I did like it though that was more than a year ago. I know there is the marketing splur around it. I dont know about the smoother pedalling motion but i did feel less fatigue there wasnt much hill climbing whilst I had his TT bike but on it but i found it easier on the weekend to climb whilst still further down the gears seating and getting out of the saddle felt fine too.

I quite like the current setting despite minimal mileage so im going to keep it at that for a few rides then see if i fancy changing the settings. How you finding them? Im also thinking if ocp 3 is fine why bother changing it?

Mreckless

I'm using setting 2. Feels pretty good and I'm riding strong. Went to 3 but my legs didnt like it on the flats. Started to ache and feel heavy fast. Good up hills though

Vandiesel

Looking superb! I love the colour scheme too.

sunjhoon

Thanks Vandiesel. I have now uploaded some proper photos (see first post!)

Vandiesel

sunjhoon wrote:

Thanks Vandiesel. I have now uploaded some proper photos (see first post!)

Hmmm, just been looking and I'm very impressed. love the pedels too

ytchi

Could you tell what the centre of BB to top of saddle distance is set at? It would help me gauge whether a medium frame would be OK for me (33'/ 84cm inseam with a desired bb to saddle of around 74cm)