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Road TCR Advanced 0
Automotive writer and keen cyclist Joe Kenwright goes top shelf road riding….
My test of Giant’s new TCR Advanced SL road bike coincided with a road test of Mercedes-Benz’s latest $320,731 SL500 sports. Both are priced way beyond what most people need and then some. Although I came away impressed enough with the SL500 to concede that anyone with a disposable quarter of a million would not be disappointed, I couldn’t see why anyone south of the more serious, elite riders would want to blow almost $10,000 on a bike that most riders could never fully exploit.
After all, its weight of 6-7kg (depending on pedals) barely equals what too many of us are carrying in excess baggage around our abdominal regions.
The short story is that this bike has now forced me to reconsider my attitude to road riding and what can be achieved on two wheels. It can make even average riders feel like they have grown a set of wings.
Like so many older adult riders, I was a keen long distance rider in my teens before I stopped in my early 30s. I returned to riding via a mountain bike in my 40s and was initially content to explore remote dirt roads and rail trails.
Not long after I turned 50, I bought a Giant OCR2 road bike to do the obligatory Around the Bay in a Day, mainly because it was the highest spec road bike I could afford with a triple chain-wheel set. Fitted with a good pannier rack, it doubled as a quick credit card tourer but I never liked its harshness over Aussie surfaces. I unrealistically expected a VW Golf but found I had brought home a Mazda3.
The purchase of a much-enjoyed Cannondale T2000 touring bike saw the OCR2 and my fast road bike days mothballed again for another three years.
Fast forward to January 2009 when I was invited to join a ride from Yarra Junction to Noojee, no cakewalk at the best of times. While I was preparing the OCR2 for its first run in three years, Ivanhoe Cycles talked me into taking the TCR Advanced instead. With its tall road bike gearing but without the security blanket of the OCR2’s triple chain wheel and my own seat, I almost said no thanks.
After Ivanhoe Cycles worked feverishly to build it the day before the ride with assurances that I would soon be flying, I was committed.
There was barely an hour of daylight left after it was finished to set up the seat and pedals for an early start the next morning. I was not even sure my bum would last long enough on its minimalist seat let alone find the fitness and strength required to climb over its tall gearing to conquer the ongoing ascents on this ride.
For a full ride report, click on this link: http://www.warbyghostriders.com:80/2009files/011109.htm.
It was the ride from hell for reasons beyond our control when the heat and an unexpected road closure forced all of us to draw on reserves we didn’t know we had. I can say with absolute certainty that if it wasn’t for this amazing machine, I would not have completed the ride so easily, if at all.
It is this aspect that still blows me away. Although it seemed twitchy and stiff at slow speeds around the car park before we started, this top shelf Giant took on a totally different persona once speeds climbed over 30km/h.
The high speed ride over the harsh sealed highway created the impression that the bike was flowing like liquid across the raised crushed rock and underlying ruts. The frame’s suppleness and vibration absorption were so much better than even your typical hybrid at low speeds that any concerns about the seat soon disappeared.
In this context, a seat is not needed to do any more than locate you when the absorbent frame and the slick componentry including carbon fibre seat post, headset, handle bars and front wheel hub do the rest. The standard Fi’zik (a brand I use on two of my own bikes) seat is more than adequate.
The lack of energy loss was another surprise. It felt like every muscle twitch was translated into forward movement. Before I knew it I was tackling the notorious Bump in a ratio that I would normally use to ride my hybrid on the flat. Apprehensive about how long I could keep this up, it seemed like I hit the top before I knew it.
As we headed into Noojee, my big oversight was how much fuel is required to ride this far, this fast. The old warning signs of bonking kicked in about four km short of Noojee. When this happens, a slight upwards ripple becomes a major climb and a cooling breeze becomes a raging headwind before you rapidly sink into despair to the point where you want to pull over and hitch a ride back. I had forgotten that my usual breakfast was only good enough for an hour’s riding at this rate and we were well past that.
Fortunately, a monster hamburger soon dispatched these symptoms to be the short term irritations I had hoped and was soon bright and upbeat, ready to tackle the return trip. After a police road closure forced us into a steep and prolonged climb over a mountain on foot before we could tackle the return ride over the Bump, our energy and water reserves were almost depleted before we could finally rejoin the main road. Again, the new Giant impressed when it was so light to carry and seemed almost soothing after I climbed back on it after the steeper but shorter climb back over the Bump before the downhill sprint into Powelltown. It was during this stage that I swapped the Giant for a fellow rider’s Cannondale System 6 and appreciated how much of an advance the latest Shimano Dura Ace gears and brakes really are.
While the debate will continue to rage between the single lever shift for up and down changes of the Cannondale’s Sram Force gear system and the Dura Ace’s more conventional separate up and down levers, the spontaneous shift quality of the latest Dura Ace componentry makes the debate largely academic. I could get used to both providing the adjustment is perfect, which is critical with both systems.
The other major difference is the Giant’s much shorter wheelbase. Twitchy at low speeds, it seems to smooth out at speed while retaining its hair trigger responsiveness, which can take some getting used to. After chasing the lead rider at 80km/h, a speed I normally relish, I backed off when it seemed a little more nervous than I was used to. By the end of the ride, I was coming to terms with it but like a Porsche GT3, this bike is not for lazy or distracted pilots.
Although the Cannondale’s half-alloy, half-carbon fibre frame seemed to be stiffer and more efficient, it exposed the real anomaly in the new Giant. After the Giant certainly provided a more compliant ride once regarded as impossible on a road bike, it was also noticeably more efficient in transferring rider energy.
This is the achievement that should have riders of all levels taking notice.
It’s generated by Giant’s new Advanced Composite Technology that delivers a frame that looks as sexy as it is to ride on. Gone are traditional tube shapes as the 500 plus swatches of carbon fibre in each frame are strategically placed where they are needed for maximum strength, light weight and controlled ride quality. An oversized bottom bracket and head tube ensure that power transmission and steering are optimized.
One of the nicest seat posts in the business is capped by a twin screw cantilever seat angle adjustment that exposes those splined adjusters for the crude devices that they are. It was particularly useful on test when the seat angle could be adjusted in seconds for back to back rider comparisons.
The only fault on test was a creaking seat post which was dispatched with a coating of the recommended grease.
Serious riders would know that there were minor production variations in the steering tubes on the earliest examples of these Advanced frames but Giant jumped on the issue quickly with a blanket replacement policy on all bikes that had left the factory.
This highlighted a real advantage when a company as large as Giant pioneer this new technology. They have the global resources to address any concerns without question, well into the ownership period.
So the big question: is it worth almost $10,000? Unlike some pricey cars, this bike does demand that you meet it half way with reasonable fitness and rider skill. It’s pointless spending an extra three or four grand to lose two or three kilos in bike weight if you are carrying more than that on your own frame or the high speeds it can generate scares the living daylights out of you.
Yet you don’t have to be a super rider to reap the benefits, in fact, it gives you an even chance of keeping up with one.
For me personally, it has revived a real interest in fast road riding again at an age where I thought I would never go back to it – and this is why you will soon be reading regular updates of what is happening in this premium class of road bikes when it has suddenly become relevant to more riders.
That said, the time is well overdue for more manufacturers to offer a greater choice of gearing in these premium bikes to allow a transition period for recreational riders to enjoy their purchase while building up peak fitness. When Ivanhoe Cycles can tailor the gearing on the Giant Advanced for most riders, the tall standard gearing on test is not an issue. As for the $10,000 entry fee, it’s more fun than any $30,000 car purchase I can name.
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