Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 review

I thought I most post this review of the Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 which appeared recently on bikeradar.com as its one of the new bikes being ridden by one of our members. Greg picked his up from our great sponsors Cyc'd for Bikes here in Brisbane and if your thinking of getting yourself onto a Giant there is no better place to go than to see Jaaron and the team at Cyc'd for Bikes. Note the price referred to in the review is a UK price not an Australian price.

Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 review

Giant claim the TCR Advanced SL 0 frameset is the lightest they've ever produced, and with an all-up weight of 6.72kg for a bike complete with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 and deep section carbon wheels, we’re inclined to believe it. With its quite radically compact frame, it’s easy to see the DNA running through from the very first Mike Burrows-designed TCR of 1997.

Up front is where most of the improvements for 2012 have been made. The head tube is massively oversized, with a 1-1/4in top bearing and 1-1/2in lower. The carbon fork steerer is shaped to fit, and flows into a broad shouldered fork that tapers into slim legs and carbon dropouts.

The chainstays broaden from carbon dropouts to a huge boxy bottom bracket section designed to take a press-fit bottom bracket. The left chainstay incorporates what Giant call an RS sensor; when combined with the crank sensor and a compatible head unit, this ANT+ device transmits wheel speed and cadence. A handy addition.

The Giant does a fine trick of combining a remarkably surefooted and positive ride with brilliant handling. We’d put this down to the incredibly rigid front structure, and the masses of standover height that allows you to throw the bike around. The huge head tube is topped with a solid and stiff box section all-carbon stem and a carbon bar solid enough to be wrenched on under sprints, but with enough spring to kill any discomfort from poor road surfaces.

The road race geometry and short wheelbase make for an exciting ride. Our test conditions included wet and icy roads; on plenty of bikes that means a tip-toed approach to high-speed corners and twisty roads, but the TCR inspires such confidence that we found ourselves taking far more chances than we normally would.

Dura-Ace Di2 is everything you’d hope for on a £7,500 bike and it performed impeccably: positive shifts, powerful brakes and a silent, smooth operation. Some might think speccing Giant’s own P-SLR1 aero wheels is purely a budget-trimming measure. We’d disagree. The design isn’t dissimilar to Zipp or HED’s latest creations: carbon rims with an aluminium brake surface and a wider tyre bed than most clinchers.

The hubs are Giant branded but made by DT Swiss and are smooth, brilliantly sealed and mated to DT’s aero spokes. At 1,575g a pair these wheels are no heavyweights, and available aftermarket for £1249.99, they’re hardly cost cutting either.

Giant’s own tyres have deep enough sidewalls and a rounded profile perfectly matched to the impressive wheels. The bigger volume of what is still a 23mm tyre adds comfort but not at the expense of speed, as the sticky compound offers ideal levels of grip in a sub-200g package.
The SL Zero is difficult to fault. It has one of the very best framesets around with sharp, reactive handling, excellent wheels, a top-of-the-range carbon Fizik Arione saddle and quality all-carbon cockpit. It’s an out-and-out superbike, as the high price and low weight bear out, and it’s one of the finest handling, most exciting and rewarding of them all.

Cyc'd Cycling Club takes first victory

It seems that Cyc'd Cycling Club is going to make an impression on the local Brisbane cycling scene sooner rather than later with another strong showing at the Murarrie crit track yesterday.

During the ride this morning a lot of people were interested to hear about Kent's effort in C Grade yesterday but Kent, being the shy and humble individual that he is, declined to talk too much about it at all despite the probing questions from Gav, Jase, Brad, Greg and Row who were obviously hoping to pick up some tips from Kent who is now two wins from his last two starts. Row was heard to ask "Mate how did you position yourself going into the last lap I always seem to struggle with being in the right place at the right time?" while Gav asked "what's your secret to that explosive kick as you come around the lead man I'm there but just can't seem to explode like you do!"

I know many were hoping that he would pen a blog to let others know how he has managed to get himself into not only a winning position but how he executes the final frantic sprint to the line but alas he said that writing himself up "just isn't my style mate". Well I could have let it rest there but having witnessed yesterday's event close up I feel qualified to write just a few words about his efforts.

I must say he appeared rather restless, not nervous, more anxious given he had not raced at Murarrie before and with the expectations and hopes of Cyc'd Cycling weighing heavily on his shoulders.

The track was rated by me as "treacherous" with water on the track in at least 4 places and a bit claret on the track on the last bend courtesy of an accident which occurred in A Grade some 30 mins earlier.

The B Grade boys tried to fire Kent up by telling him that he had better win since he was racing in the "ladies" C Grade. Kent just shrugged this off as he entered the zone and took off with other 35 highly tuned elite C Grade riders.

Kent took to the new track like a duck to water and positioned himself mid field sussing out the opposition which included a very handy looking 13 year old lad who looked like a junior GreenEDGE member, would he be good enough to outwit the old fox come finishing time only time would tell.

As I watched the events unfold I also had the privilege of watching B Grade who were on the track at the same time as C Grade and from my vantage point I could see Greg, Craig and Gav featuring prominently in the pack but back to Kent.....

As usual he was exquisitely placed to cover any moves by a breakaway or simply save the legs for an all assault come the final lap. Watching him effortlessly move up and down the peleton was a real pleasure to watch....was this really only his fourth crit race??

Back to B Grade momentarily....the pace just didn't seem to be "on" and the Cyc'd boys were a little nervous which ultimately resulted in Craig, the gun sprinter, getting into a three man breakaway unheard of I hear you say, what was he thinking I hear you say but obviously the big boy had a plan in mind and Greg and Gav executed their part perfectly slowing the peleton down even further and at one stage I thought C Grade would actually catch and pass them. Craig did the majority of the work for about 6 laps but in the end the peleton chased them down as Craig was left to his own by the other breakaway compardrees. Gav and Greg contested the final sprint but alas their efforts saw them fall just short with a 6th and 7th place.

I must say watching this unfold I was concerned that Kent, without any Cyc'd team members to help him out may suffer the same fate.

My concerns proved unfounded as the 3 lap to go board was brought out by the Commissar and kent seemed to almost glide forward 6 places. Two laps to go and another 6 riders were passed leaving Kent in 10th with one lap to go. The pace was really on now and from I stood I could tell they were reaching speeds of in excess of 50kph. One rider made an early dash to the front and Kent ever vigilant followed his designated lead out man (not that the guy new it of course) and as they rounded the final bend it all of a sudden appeared to be going pear shaped as an Ibis decided that it wouldn't get of the track!!! Through the furry of feathers I looked to see who would emerge and there was Kent tacked right on the WRCC riders wheel with others struggling to get on.

It took me back to the good old days of HTC Highroad watching Renshaw lead out the Manx Missile but this time it was some poor unsuspecting WRCC rider who would tow Kent to within 50m of the line before he unleashed a withering sprint to easily take the victory. No fancy salutes no outrageous hand gestures just a a slight tilt of the head as he rode past me as if to say "job done".

Unfortunately the B Grade guys were in a serious debrief about what happened in their race and they missed the finale of C Grade so I feel blessed to have witnessed it all so that I can retell the story of Cyc'd Cycling's first official win.

Now Kent begged me not to embellish the story too much "mate just give them a few of the facts nothing more just tell it as you saw mate that's all I ask". Well I hope I have done it justice mate it was a good win after all.

Until next time

Yours in cycling

Anon

February ride stats

Now that have set up the Cyc'd Cycling Club on Strava.com we are able to easily track our riding stats for each month.

In February we had 10 members on Strava (we now have 15) with those 10 riders achieving the following stats:

• 148 rides
• 56,373 meters climbed or 5,637 meters climbed per rider
• 5,720 kilometres ridden or 572 kilometres ridden per rider
• 217:07 hours of riding or 21:42:42 hours per rider

We look forward to march being an even bigger month.

Wet weather - toughen up!!

I saw this picture today and thought about the times we cancel a ride because of the wet weather. Perhaps we should heed this advice....