Downgraded Giant Defy

davethebike

I'm getting sadder by the minute as I try to imagine life without a Defy replacement as good as my outgoing 2016 Giant Defy Advanced SL1

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/defy- ... -sl-1-2016

The excitement I felt as I surfed the Giant website, slowly ebbed as I saw that the Defy doesn't even come with an SL frame anymore.
And when I saw that the SLR0 wheelset is now a paltry SLR1, that was the last straw, I just crumpled into a tear ridden heap in front of the wife's Sat night Britain's Got Talent tv, as if that wasn't a good enough reason to want to end it all.

I Love my Defy it's simply the best, but like everything, we need to move on, to thru axles, bigger tyre clearances etc.

But what am I to do? What's the point in all of this new stuff, if the wondrous features of 2016 are ditched. What one hand gives, the other taketh away etc.

So I suppose I'm asking, is the non SL frame for 2019 equal now to the 2016 SL, and is it the same for the SLR1 wheelset vs the SLR0

Or is Giant losing the plot when also, I'm sure they've put a non compact chainset on there as well. I live on Exmoor FGS.

Ah well, the end of a love affair.....

super_davo

What exactly is it about the 2019 bike that makes you want to change?

I certainly wouldn't change a bike because a new one had thru axles. I might because I could get bigger tyre clearance, but the 2016 Defy already had 30mm clearance, which is enough for pros at Paris Roubaix (indeed the 2015 model won Paris Roubaix...)

Personally I'd just keep the 2016 and if you really want to spend money, spend it on something more useful like better wheels, components, clothing, cycling holiday etc. If the components are worn, you could strip the Ultegra 6800 and buy a shiny new R8000 or R9100 groupset which would make the bike feel tight and new, you can sell the old bits on too.

imposter2.0

davethebike wrote:

I'm getting sadder by the minute as I try to imagine life without a Defy replacement as good as my outgoing 2016 Giant Defy Advanced SL1

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/defy- ... -sl-1-2016

The excitement I felt as I surfed the Giant website, slowly ebbed as I saw that the Defy doesn't even come with an SL frame anymore.
And when I saw that the SLR0 wheelset is now a paltry SLR1, that was the last straw, I just crumpled into a tear ridden heap in front of the wife's Sat night Britain's Got Talent tv, as if that wasn't a good enough reason to want to end it all.

I Love my Defy it's simply the best, but like everything, we need to move on, to thru axles, bigger tyre clearances etc.

But what am I to do? What's the point in all of this new stuff, if the wondrous features of 2016 are ditched. What one hand gives, the other taketh away etc.

So I suppose I'm asking, is the non SL frame for 2019 equal now to the 2016 SL, and is it the same for the SLR1 wheelset vs the SLR0

Or is Giant losing the plot when also, I'm sure they've put a non compact chainset on there as well. I live on Exmoor FGS.

Ah well, the end of a love affair.....

Self-indulgent nonsense, sorry. If you like the 2016 bike, then keep it.