Right, which Giant TCR to choose.......(or Propel!)

scotthunter

Sorry I am a bit late to this thread.

I had a similar dilemma to you and ended up settling on the 2018 TCR Advanced Pro 1 (rim), the same bike you were looking at. This was before buying the green/black Defy Advanced Pro 1 which someone posted a picture of. The Defy has the same wheelset as the blue TCR disc and I was disappointed by how much they weighed. I wanted a great climbing bike and I thought the wheels on the Defy were just too heavy with it being a disc brake bike. I weighed the front wheel/tyre and with the rotor it was coming out at 1225g. By comparison my TCR rim front wheel only weighs only 985g, although I did swap the tyres from Gavia Race 1 to Continental GP 5000 TL.

The people in the bike shop never tell you this, but wheels on the disc models are almost always a bit heavier than the ones on the rim equivalent. If you have really strong legs you might not notice, but if you want a great summer / climbing bike with a slightly lighter fork, and want the best bang for your buck, get the rim version.

Also, the Advanced Pro 1 (rim) looks a lot better in real life. What you cant see from the side photos is that the entire top of the down tube is entirely neon orange, which looks fantastic from behind, especially after a wash and a once over with bike protector spray. Also there is cool orange TCR lettering on the top of the top tube. And the grey paint on the fork has a bit of sparkle to it. I get a lot of compliments about the bike.

scotthunter

Sorry I am a bit late to this thread.

I had a similar dilemma to you and ended up settling on the 2018 TCR Advanced Pro 1 (rim), the same bike you were looking at. This was before buying the green/black Defy Advanced Pro 1 which someone posted a picture of. The Defy has the same wheelset as the blue TCR disc and I was disappointed by how much they weighed. I wanted a great climbing bike and I thought the wheels on the Defy were just too heavy with it being a disc brake bike. I weighed the front wheel/tyre and with the rotor it was coming out at 1255g. By comparison my TCR rim front wheel only weighs only 985g, although I did swap the tyres from Gavia Race 1 to Continental GP 5000 TL. My bike in a ML without pedals is only 7.3kg which is pretty good for a £2000 bike. The SLR wheels are also fantastic; strong, really stiff and high quality.

The people in the bike shop never tell you this, but wheels on the disc models are almost always a bit heavier than the ones on the rim equivalent. If you have really strong legs you might not notice, but if you want a great summer / climbing bike with a slightly lighter fork, and want the best bang for your buck, get the rim version.

Also, the Advanced Pro 1 (rim) looks a lot better in real life. What you can't see from the side photos is that the entire top of the down tube is entirely neon orange, which looks fantastic from behind, especially after a wash and a once over with bike protector spray. Also there is cool orange TCR lettering on the top of the top tube. And the grey paint on the fork has a bit of sparkle to it. I get a lot of compliments about the bike.

bendertherobot

Shifter still with Madison. That's 6 weeks next weekend. Not good.