Road Cycling

Adam-r said:
I've got the TCR Advanced Pro 0 (non disc or Di2) with Dura-Ace and its mega. I on the other hand am not mega!
Buy it!
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I saw one in the flesh on Saturday. No doubt its a lovely looking bike...but....they didn't integrate the front disc cable into the fork. External routing with cable ties. Such a shame as it put my right off it...and onto the more expensive Defy Advanced.

I actually went out on my GF02 on Sunday and sorted my disc squeal - which was part of the reason why I was window shopping. I'll put the Giants on hold for now.
 
xdcx said:
I'm never going back to Conti's. I've ran these Open Pave on my training wheels right through summer and not even bothered with my slightly better wheels with the Corsa's on them. Now commuting and riding on them in sub zero temps. Just hands down the best all round tyre I have ever used.
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WVA likes the Corsas too.

kiteloopy said:
I saw one in the flesh on Saturday. No doubt its a lovely looking bike...but....they didn't integrate the front disc cable into the fork. External routing with cable ties. Such a shame as it put my right off it...and onto the more expensive Defy Advanced.
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The Defy is a very nice looking bike, looks really aero considering it's an Endurance bike. That's why part of me is thinking the Propel if I can stick the position and find it comfortable enough is the bike for me. I already have a comfortable, endurance bike, I'm not convinced I'd get enough difference by getting a TCR, the non-integrated front end is something I want to move away from. The Propel has it so I get that and enough of an aero advantage, if I can get it's weight down to 8kg or less it'll be the 'summer bike' I'm after.

You're right about that brake hose, they hide it well on their website and press photos, but how annoying!

Update: Forgot to chime in here. My riding last week utterly sucked! Had Mon & Tue booked off work (hols) and failed miserably to get out for a ride. Did clean the bikes though (long overdue!). Did the WTRL Race League on Tuesday night, an iTT. Did ok. Paced it horribly as not something I've practiced much recently. Wednesday back at work felt rough at the end of the day and that night got utterly wiped out by a virus.

Barely spent more than an hour awake on Thursday. Friday I managed to eat something and stay awake for a couple of hours. Just utterly ruined by flu like symptoms, with a fever, headaches and dizzyness too. Wednesday night & some of Thursday I was shivvering so much I only caught short naps as any time I dozed off a shake would wake myself up. Some sickness thrown in the mix too. It's taken me the weekend to recover, but I'm left with a head cold, chesty cough and general rundown feelings so don't think I can ride much this week either until it clears more. Sucks to get wiped out so bad again, gotta be the 4th time this year! :(
 
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SoliD said:
No, but if it's anything like the Inflite then I can imagine it being absolutely immense, although you need the places to ride it to really feel the benefits!
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Yeah I live in Shropshire, and not far from N.Wales so have plenty of gravel to ride. The LBS even dones 'Gravel' day outs etc.

It gets the best reviews for the £££, it seems!
 
kiteloopy said:
I saw one in the flesh on Saturday. No doubt its a lovely looking bike...but....they didn't integrate the front disc cable into the fork. External routing with cable ties. Such a shame as it put my right off it...and onto the more expensive Defy Advanced.

I actually went out on my GF02 on Sunday and sorted my disc squeal - which was part of the reason why I was window shopping. I'll put the Giants on hold for now.
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Roady said:
WVA likes the Corsas too.

The Defy is a very nice looking bike, looks really aero considering it's an Endurance bike. That's why part of me is thinking the Propel if I can stick the position and find it comfortable enough is the bike for me. I already have a comfortable, endurance bike, I'm not convinced I'd get enough difference by getting a TCR, the non-integrated front end is something I want to move away from. The Propel has it so I get that and enough of an aero advantage, if I can get it's weight down to 8kg or less it'll be the 'summer bike' I'm after.

You're right about that brake hose, they hide it well on their website and press photos, but how annoying!
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I can’t believe they didn’t integrate the hose! That’d grate on me loads.

My other half has a propel and it’s a heavy thing, she’s constantly complaining about it! I’m not too keen on the brakes and how they mount but ymmv. One thing that might be worth considering is the difference in gearing between the 3 bikes. The propel is full fat flat land - 52/39 whereas the defy is a compact. Mine is a semi compact with a 28 on the back.
Obviously can all be changesd but not sure if you can configure across the whole range at purchase? Also, you could buy a vision front end for it! :p
 
Adam-r said:
My other half has a propel and it’s a heavy thing, she’s constantly complaining about it!
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A Propel is a mens bike and weigh from 7.5kgs to about 8.5kgs which for an aero bike is not heavy at all. The womens equivalent is the Enviliv and I doubt they will be any heavier so I very much doubt its a heavy thng at all.
 
Bear said:
A Propel is a mens bike and weigh from 7.5kgs to about 8.5kgs which for an aero bike is not heavy at all. The womens equivalent is the Enviliv and I doubt they will be any heavier so I very much doubt its a heavy thng at all
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She’s on a men’s propel because she’s tall and preferred the colour.
We live in Sheffield which means riding in the peaks every weekend so the added weight does start to take its toll. She made the entirely wrong decision when she bought it; but it was her decision!
It’s in my garage right now, trust me, compared to the tcr it’s heavy.
 
Adam-r said:
I can’t believe they didn’t integrate the hose! That’d grate on me loads.

My other half has a propel and it’s a heavy thing, she’s constantly complaining about it! I’m not too keen on the brakes and how they mount but ymmv. One thing that might be worth considering is the difference in gearing between the 3 bikes. The propel is full fat flat land - 52/39 whereas the defy is a compact. Mine is a semi compact with a 28 on the back.
Obviously can all be changesd but not sure if you can configure across the whole range at purchase? Also, you could buy a vision front end for it! :p
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Yeah the hose seems a complete oversight! But when you consider how the hoses around the stems of those in the range using the Giant Conduct hydraulics it really makes you think that instead of an oversight it was just a stop-gap thing with no time to design an alternative before they rushed it to market. The rest of the bike and other integration is so tidy & looks good.

Some LBS will allow you to change gearing at purchase, mine does, but equally they have large stocks of various big brands and are now part of a chain who do a lot of maintenance so will use any spare parts left over.

I'd be going for Disc brakes anyway, no point having rim brakes these days. Old & outdated tech on a road bike. Like innertubes. *hides from the purists*

Adam-r said:
She’s on a men’s propel because she’s tall and preferred the colour.
We live in Sheffield which means riding in the peaks every weekend so the added weight does start to take its toll. She made the entirely wrong decision when she bought it; but it was her decision!
It’s in my garage right now, trust me, compared to the tcr it’s heavy.
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The original Propels (with the big Propel writing on the seattube and those aero canti-type rim brakes) are kinda heavy. They where quite early on in the 'everyday aero bike' phase and as such think they had quite over-enginerred tube profiles without much consideration towards weight, certainly the ones which came afterwards they did trim down and make quite a bit lighter. Clares is beautiful in the flesh (I know its not Disc).

xdcx said:
WVA running 30mm for gravel.
Most lads these days want to run that nonsense on winter choppers that see nothing but tarmac.
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Yup. I'm running 32's and really think they're a bit sluggish at times and I'd have been ok on 30's. I was perfectly happy on 28's to be honest but like a little more of the cushioning from these. Just tyre manufacturors seem to skip doing a 30mm. Maybe more of them fitting standard road bikes will prompt them.

TheBrooder said:
https://imgur.com/a/rtA7TkI

These came with my SPD shoes, what are they for?!
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They're studs you can screw into the bottom of the shoe to give you more grip when running - really for those getting those shoes for CX. You'll find mounting holes possibly with blanks in them on the bottom of your shoes.
 
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Guys. Help me decide...

Indik8a £35 or Useeme £52. Lets not get into the whole 'cyclists with indicators' debate - I'm getting these primarily for towing the chariot, it's so well lit following drivers struggle to see my hand signals up front. So getting these just to increase my signalling visibility in certain conditions and because I quite fancy trying them to see what they're like as a gadget.

Part of me thinks Indik8a as they're british and any problems I'd have no issue easily returning them & refund. But then getting Useeme, they're a 'better' design (don't require buttons to use) and much neater. Just more of an investment, but coming from Hungary more of a punt and hope I don't have issues or reason to return. More of a gadget than the others too.
 
Roady said:
Guys. Help me decide...

Indik8a £35 or Useeme £52. Lets not get into the whole 'cyclists with indicators' debate - I'm getting these primarily for towing the chariot, it's so well lit following drivers struggle to see my hand signals up front. So getting these just to increase my signalling visibility in certain conditions and because I quite fancy trying them to see what they're like as a gadget.

Part of me thinks Indik8a as they're british and any problems I'd have no issue easily returning them & refund. But then getting Useeme, they're a 'better' design (don't require buttons to use) and much neater. Just more of an investment, but coming from Hungary more of a punt and hope I don't have issues or reason to return. More of a gadget than the others too.
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Having looked at the descriptions, for me it would have to be the Useemme, every time.

I wouldn't want to be faffing around with additional switches whilst turning on a bike if I could help it.

Would reflective tape not be as effective?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adjustable...XYADWSSYGDM&psc=1&refRID=3RH4FGRB9XYADWSSYGDM
 
Kelt said:
Having looked at the descriptions, for me it would have to be the Useemme, every time.

I wouldn't want to be faffing around with additional switches whilst turning on a bike if I could help it.

Would reflective tape not be as effective?
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Yeah that's what I was thinking, there's more coverage, seemingly brighter LED's and they're 'auto' so less to go wrong with more of an enclosed unit.

Reflective tape. Probably wouldn't make any real difference - I'm already in a reflective jacket, using highviz reflective gloves, yet a work collegue commented that my arms are still not very visible in mistly/bad conditions. It's partly my own fault - the rear of the chariot has 3 bright flashing lights on it, with my rear light also being brighter and solid. My arms up front just need something more to stand out.

It's not that they're 'invisible', just there's so much other light behind me, they're not very noticable without their own lights of some kind. Riding solo with the usual singular rear light it's not an issue.
 
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Can anyone recommend a good bottle cage (ideally carbon). I keep seeing the same dross across most of the cycling websites but I just want something that people here can recommend.

Thanks
 
Adam-r said:
She’s on a men’s propel because she’s tall and preferred the colour.
We live in Sheffield which means riding in the peaks every weekend so the added weight does start to take its toll. She made the entirely wrong decision when she bought it; but it was her decision!
It’s in my garage right now, trust me, compared to the tcr it’s heavy.
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My OH is 5"11 and the Propels were too big. Also, they came in black or black as opposed to the full array of colours offered by Liv. A womans Liv Large is a Giant Mens Medium with obvious contact point differences. I find this choice for your OH alarming. That and the fact she thinks it's heavy. The Liv Langma is incredibly light.
 
@One More Solo was it you who lost /broke an eTap battery, or was it @Shamrock ? I know you'd got it resolved, or actually hadn't lost the battery, but I spotted a bunch of them appear on the wheelies or wiggle ebay pages last night/yesterday.

Same goes for anyone running eTap if you need any spares, take a look. I can find some links if you want them.

GSVBagpuss said:
Was petty brisk wind on the commute gone. I had to unclip and put a foot down a few time’s to stop being blown off the cycle path!
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More mince pies for this man please.

Django x2 said:
Can anyone recommend a good bottle cage (ideally carbon). I keep seeing the same dross across most of the cycling websites but I just want something that people here can recommend.

Thanks
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Why carbon? (wrote this before I saw @Lethal`s reply!) ;)

Like him I've generally settled on the standard Elite 'race' cages the last couple of times. The resin Stealth. They're light, a little flexy, affordable, robust and grip bottles superbly. Would happily use the twice the price Carbon Vico version or probably the couple of quid more Matte one.

But equally, more than happy with the resin and they're superbly light so I don't feel I need to save ~10 grams by going Carbon and then breaking it the first time I jam a bottle in too hard... :D ;)
 
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