New bike or upgrade 2013 Defy composite 3?

rogermellie

I have a dilemma-

I currently run a 2013 Giant defy composite with the tiagra 10speed groupset last year I upgraded my wheels to mavic ksyrium elites. My bike has been getting a lot of use recently as Im training for an iron distance tri both outside and on the turbo.

My dilemma is now I fancy a new bike, the wife says she will buy me one for my 40th and I maybe have a budget of £2000 ish. I have seen the new defy advanced pro's and I really like them however the spec I like is approaching 3k.

I have also considered upgrading my current bike to full ultegra which would cost about £600 ish.

So what do I do? What are the value alternative's with a similar geometry to my defy (im not very flexible)?

Or do I upgrade the groupset? My issues with this will be I use the bike on a taxc neo turbo a lot which has 10sp cassette on it (my wife shares it and she has tiagara 10sp) will moving to 11 speed mean this wont work without the faff of changing the cassette every time? The only thing I don't really like about my defy is the external cable routing.

If I do upgrade what bottom bracket do I need?

dj58

If you upgrade to 11sp Ultegra you would need a spare 11sp cassette for the Neo and yes you would have to swop the 10sp out whenever you used your bike on the Neo.

I'd spend the money on a new bike and keep the Defy for the trainer/wet/spare bike. Your bike uses a Shimano pressfit SM-BB72-41B bottom bracket.

rogermellie

So if upgrading is the option what do i upgrade to?

johngti

I've heavily updated my 2014 defy 3 composite and have ended up with an awesome bike. Full ultegra, Fizik r1 saddle, zipp bars and zonda wheels. Did it because I couldn't (and still can't) spend £2k+ on a new bike in one go but doing it piece wise was more affordable. It now weighs in at less than 8kg and is more comfortable than ever.

Having said that, if someone gave me a massive lump of cash and told me to buy something new, I'm sure I'd oblige!

dj58

rogermellie wrote:

So if upgrading is the option what do i upgrade to?

I assumed you were considering 11sp full Ultegra groupset as you mentioned it in your post. You could also upgrade the wheels to a 23/24mm wide rim plus some nice tyres.

rogermellie

DJ58 wrote:

rogermellie wrote:

So if upgrading is the option what do i upgrade to?

I assumed you were considering 11sp full Ultegra groupset as you mentioned it in your post. You could also upgrade the wheels to a 23/24mm wide rim plus some nice tyres.

I already have some ksyrium elites which are less than a year old, i won't be upgrading the wheels.

oxoman

As the owner of a nice shiny 2017 Adv pro 2 yes it is nice, does it weigh less than 8kg. No. Did I pay full whack for it, hell no. As a pro 2 it only has 105 but given the weight difference it's not really worth the upgrade IMHO. It is comfortable and rides very smoothly, cannot believe the difference between rim and road disc brakes. Only thing I have to be careful with is hard braking as it will skid very easily if your not sat down. First time down a local hill I started to brake as I would on normal rim braked bike or my MTB and the back wheel went very light and would have lifted if I hadn't of backed off a bit and sat down properly.

daniel_b

DJ58 wrote:

If you upgrade to 11sp Ultegra you would need a spare 11sp cassette for the Neo and yes you would have to swop the 10sp out whenever you used your bike on the Neo.

I'd spend the money on a new bike and keep the Defy for the trainer/wet/spare bike. Your bike uses a Shimano pressfit SM-BB72-41B bottom bracket.

I would wholeheartedly agree with this - the stock replacement 'best' bike will come with poor wheels, so swap those onto the current Giant for turbo use, and put the Mavic's on your new steed.

I have a Neo, and you don't want to be faffing about changing the cassette on that every other day.

OR you upgrade both bikes to 11 spd?

I have not researched this bike at all, so am not sure if it is a comfort geometry, but it jumped out as a good deal, for an Ultegra Di2 bike - if you are a Medium:
https://www.biketart.com/bikes-c1/ridley-fenix-sl-20-p14848

rogermellie

Daniel B wrote:

DJ58 wrote:

If you upgrade to 11sp Ultegra you would need a spare 11sp cassette for the Neo and yes you would have to swop the 10sp out whenever you used your bike on the Neo.

I'd spend the money on a new bike and keep the Defy for the trainer/wet/spare bike. Your bike uses a Shimano pressfit SM-BB72-41B bottom bracket.

I would wholeheartedly agree with this - the stock replacement 'best' bike will come with poor wheels, so swap those onto the current Giant for turbo use, and put the Mavic's on your new steed.

I have a Neo, and you don't want to be faffing about changing the cassette on that every other day.

OR you upgrade both bikes to 11 spd?

I have not researched this bike at all, so am not sure if it is a comfort geometry, but it jumped out as a good deal, for an Ultegra Di2 bike - if you are a Medium:
https://www.biketart.com/bikes-c1/ridley-fenix-sl-20-p14848

That looks good and from the ridley site i should be a medium (181cm tall) only thing that concerns me re that particular bike is the gearing i would prefer a 50/34 chainset and 11/32 cassette as its quite hilly where i live. although i could live with 11/28.

I will bookmark it as a possible.

I would imagine the wife will also want to upgrade her bike soon to something full carbon from her liv avail so upgrading that to 11sp might be a bit wasteful!

Keep the ideas coming!

rogermellie

My favourite is a new defy advanced pro 1 if i was to upgrade but they are expensive!

Also considered the advanced pro 2 which has 105 instead of ultegra. Has anyone got any experience of these bikes?

Treed currently have a 15% discount code for this weekend and i am tempted to order one.

daniel_b

rogermellie wrote:

My favourite is a new defy advanced pro 1 if i was to upgrade but they are expensive!

Also considered the advanced pro 2 which has 105 instead of ultegra. Has anyone got any experience of these bikes?

Treed currently have a 15% discount code for this weekend and i am tempted to order one.

Their T's and C's say no I am afraid :?

oxoman

Rogermellie ( maybe the man on the telly ) I have recently got the 2017 pro2 and have to say I love it. I went intending to buy last year's model in a metallic blue colour which I loved, I got there to late and spotted the latest model but discounted due to some numpty scratching it on a quick demo in the car park. The bike had a very light scratch on the top tube and scrape mark on the saddle plus the front FD had lost a bit of paint. Replaced saddle as I didn't like it anyway, FD was paint penned and you can't see it now and the slight scratch disappears when I polish it anyway. Either way I only paid 1700 for it so saved a fortune. First time for me to have carbon bike and wheels so can't compare against another carbon bike but compared with my now wet bike it's fast and comfortable. I was a bit dubious about tubeless tyres but seems ok so far. Hydraulic brakes are awesome compared to my rim braked bike or even my cyclocross bike with mechanical discs. Ended up using it for a 212km Audax for its first proper ride, boy was it smooth. Only time will tell if any problems but up to now it's brilliant.

rogermellie

Daniel B wrote:

rogermellie wrote:

My favourite is a new defy advanced pro 1 if i was to upgrade but they are expensive!

Also considered the advanced pro 2 which has 105 instead of ultegra. Has anyone got any experience of these bikes?

Treed currently have a 15% discount code for this weekend and i am tempted to order one.

Their T's and C's say no I am afraid :?

Well the code works when you put the bike in the basket online.

daniel_b

rogermellie wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

rogermellie wrote:

My favourite is a new defy advanced pro 1 if i was to upgrade but they are expensive!

Also considered the advanced pro 2 which has 105 instead of ultegra. Has anyone got any experience of these bikes?

Treed currently have a 15% discount code for this weekend and i am tempted to order one.

Their T's and C's say no I am afraid :?

Well the code works when you put the bike in the basket online.

Maybe you will get away with it, the T's and C's definitely say Giant is excluded though - I'd do it sooner rather than later in that case!

gimpl

Well I upgraded my 2013 Composite 1 the year before last and re-used the old groupset on an aluminium Defy frame I picked up cheaply off fleabay.

I did put 11sp Ultegra Di2 on though and it is really, really lovely. Last year I treated myself to some nice hand built wheels and it is now even better. As you may know there are two screw holes under the wheel stay to attach the battery to and you really can't see the wiring as it's helicopter taped to the underside of the frame, very neat.

I was given £3k by my parents for my 50th and SWYMBO suggested I buy a new bike :shock: ! Looked at the new Roubaix and new Defy and opted to stick with the one I've got. Really can't fault it (actually I can - the seat post/saddle connection is a PITA).

BTW - the shop got quite excited as they weighed it at 8KG with bottle cages and pedals for an XL. I couldn't have cared less

johngti

Gimpl wrote:

Well I upgraded my 2013 Composite 1 the year before last and re-used the old groupset on an aluminium Defy frame I picked up cheaply off fleabay.

I did put 11sp Ultegra Di2 on though and it is really, really lovely. Last year I treated myself to some nice hand built wheels and it is now even better. As you may know there are two screw holes under the wheel stay to attach the battery to and you really can't see the wiring as it's helicopter taped to the underside of the frame, very neat.

I was given £3k by my parents for my 50th and SWYMBO suggested I buy a new bike :shock: ! Looked at the new Roubaix and new Defy and opted to stick with the one I've got. Really can't fault it (actually I can - the seat post/saddle connection is a PITA).

BTW - the shop got quite excited as they weighed it at 8KG with bottle cages and pedals for an XL. I couldn't have cared less

Can you get some pictures of it together? I've been tempted to do the same thing but I'm not sure how it'd look

gimpl

johngti wrote:

Gimpl wrote:

Well I upgraded my 2013 Composite 1 the year before last and re-used the old groupset on an aluminium Defy frame I picked up cheaply off fleabay.

I did put 11sp Ultegra Di2 on though and it is really, really lovely. Last year I treated myself to some nice hand built wheels and it is now even better. As you may know there are two screw holes under the wheel stay to attach the battery to and you really can't see the wiring as it's helicopter taped to the underside of the frame, very neat.

I was given £3k by my parents for my 50th and SWYMBO suggested I buy a new bike :shock: ! Looked at the new Roubaix and new Defy and opted to stick with the one I've got. Really can't fault it (actually I can - the seat post/saddle connection is a PITA).

BTW - the shop got quite excited as they weighed it at 8KG with bottle cages and pedals for an XL. I couldn't have cared less

Can you get some pictures of it together? I've been tempted to do the same thing but I'm not sure how it'd look

I'll give it a go! Not done it before and the bike is a bit dirty at the mo.

gimpl

Pictures:
[img][/img]

johngti

That's a nice job! Mines the black one so if I went for it it'd be even less visible

rogermellie

Just by means of an update, I have gone for a 2017 defy advanced pro 1 should get it this week.

Through a bit of emailing and haggling managed to get 20% off list price.

oxoman

Very good choice, enjoy it when it arrives. You may need a small torque wrench and carbon paste for the seat stem if you haven't already got them.