does anyone have experience and thoughts about the new Giant Defy Advanced? Also thoughts on the system related parts, like giant wheelset etc?
Any recommendations for similar bikes?
A friend is looking to get into sport with the long term goal of doing an iron man. at the moment he favors this bike. Initially he was looking to spend around 3k €, but landed on this bike.
In my opinion, this would be a great starting bike. It has wide tire clearance, up to 40mm so would eventually allow for some wider tires and gravel riding as well.
He is quite tall, about 1,95m. 30 years old and flexible, so a more aggressive position should be possible. But not having a fully integrated handlebar and a wide set of options to switch stem and handlebar seems like a big plus.
Any toughts about the TCR vs the Defy? Can you turn an endurance bike into a more aggressive road-bike with longer stem or does it come down to frame geometry itself?
Any experience with giant changing the crank-sets to shorter canks if demanded?
Picture of e.g. Giant Defy and Giant TCR in comparison:
The position is aggressive for an endurance bike. A Defy XL’s stack/reach is 615/402 compared to a Tarmac 61 at 612/408.
Swapping to a shorter Shimano or Shimano-compatible crank should be straightforward. Looking elsewhere would require a BB change which shouldn’t be a problem.
I would suggest he goes to have a bike fit from a good bike fitter, or failing that, go try a load of bikes. With his lack of prior experience, neither of you are going to know fit he needs, and therefore what bike is appropriate.
I’m slightly shorter at 1.93 m and I’d say those two bikes have too low of stack height. He’ll be very bent over and possibly uncomfortable despite being flexible.
How about the Trek Domane? Much higher stack height in a 61 cm frame size.
I’m riding a defy advanced pro 0 (2024) - moved from sunny Australia to Netherlands, so the integrated fender option was the biggest selling feature at first. It is an outstanding bike.
The fit is a tiny tiny tiny bit more relaxed than the extreme race positions I’ve ridden for the past 30 something years, but as another poster wrote : it still is a racy endurance bike. I haven’t felt any speed deficiency in quick bunch rides and sportives - maybe being comfortable is faster?!!? The primary benefit for your friend may likely be that he will be able to log significant saddle time in relative comfort - a key requirement if he is taking early steps in training towards an Ironman event.
I have the Defy Advanced 1 2025 (105 Di2 which is the Advanced 0 is Euro). I’m 187cm and have the Large. I swapped the stem out for a 120mm (stock is 110mm on that size) and put narrower 40cm bars on it (same bar as stock but narrower as I really like the bar shape) and it’s an awesome bike. Super comfy yet punchy enough you could race it if you had better legs that me. I also swapped the cranks (105) to shorter version without issue. Stock wheels are a bit meh but I already had some nice carbon wheels and with 32mm tyres it’s smooth as! Looks like the Euro version has better wheels anyway.
Hey, I appreciate the input and I know that’s in theory what you are supposed to do, but in practice I don’t find it that feasible. Has anyone actually ever done this before buying a bike?
For instance, there are three bike fitters in the city I live in. Two of them are attached to bike shops with a partner brand. They will most likely recommend a bike of their partner. The other one does bike fits but is not a bike rider, so I don’t know how far I would trust this person for recommending a particular bike.
Also, for a first bike you will not know what you are looking for, where problems might occur. And the amount of money you are going to spend upfront for bike and equipment is already so big, that I feel like it’s another hurdle to take before actually getting into the sport.
I’m not trying to argue with you here, just thinking ‘aloud’.
The fact you are spending so much on a bike is precisely why a good bike fit is the thing to get. A person that has a good bike fitting is more likely to be in the right ballpark with regards getting a bike with the right geo for them. This reduces the chance of getting the wrong bike and wasting money by having to replace it within a short time frame, or worse, finding it so uncomfortable that they are put off cycling.
Actually go and talk to the fitters in your area. They may be associated with a shop, but they should offer a bike fit service and then a discount voucher on their bikes, not simply point you at their range of bikes alone. Also, sound them out about how they perform the bike fit. If they simply go by numbers generated out of some measuring devices, probably stay away, as a good fitter will be constantly asking questions, and using measurment devices to simply back-up what the person being fitted is saying.
If you can’t or don’t want to find a fitter, then educate yourself and your friend by watching Youtube series from the likes of BikeFitJames and Neil Stanbury, and test ride bikes (making sure you adjust the fit as much as possible, or at account for the differences in fit that you may encounter where adjustments are limited option).
Again, if your friend doesn’t want to go down the bike fit route, or maybe as well as going the bike fit route, consider buying a much cheaper model, maybe even a second hand one, to try things out, and then sell it on in a few months/a year (or if it turns out to be a good fit, keep it as a winter bike). This will be much cheaper than if the wrong high end bike is purchased.
Getting a bike fit, testing bikes, or going the cheap test mule direction will also mean that you both know what to ask the shop to change before you walk out the door to get the fit right when your friend does take the plunge on the high end bike, which will save a bunch of money as that should be free (or at least with heavy discount on the parts being switched).
thank you for detailed reply and the resources. I agree with the points you make.
I just want to clarify, I myself am a reasonably experienced bike rider and have done two bike fittings at the above mentioned bike fitters. So my concern where based on more than just a hunch. I also spend a considerable amount of time on the YouTube channels you pointed out.
Fantastic, it sounds like fair bit of my response was unecessary.
Perhaps, if pro bike fit is ruled out, then the test bike (hiring of many to try or low value bike as test mule) could be a really good approach, as perhaps having seen the videos etc. you know the kind of questions to ask, and maybe, if like me, you have assorted stems etc lying around that you could switch out to allow your friend to evaluate changes?
. It is an outstanding bike.
