HI there

commuter here – 12 miles a day on a Brompton

Used to MTB a lot when lived in Brighton, South Downs on a Titanium Lucky Strike – still gets and outing for a pootle with the family

Recently have felt drawn to a road bike – my first one !

So considering Defy as its allegedly a bit less race than a full race bike – slightly longer head tube and a more compliant rear end

So looking at a composite frame and fork with discs Giant Defy advanced pro 2 or 3 ?

Actually cycle past a Giant store every day at the end of London Wall, on the roundabout

Any views on other choices and also where to get one?

Lastly – was considering riding in spds rather than road pedals.. is this madness

Ta

MC

Yes, loads of threads on here about it, such as this one. Loads on here with them too.

Lastly – was considering riding in spds rather than road pedals.. is this madness

It’s not as good, though loads do, bordering on madness.

Defys are great – although someone will be along in a minute to suggest a Spesh or a Cannondale. It can be hard to choose between a higher spec frame or the lower spec with a better groupset, but I think the better wheels on the pro are probably worth it even if you go down a group for similar money.
I have Crank Bros Candy’s on mine because I’m too tight to shell out for two sets of shoes and I hate shopping for shoes, even bike shoes.

A fine choice of a first road bike.

As to where to buy? Well, those guys at London Wall are very good (Or at least were when I went in a year ago or so!) so why not there? If not, find your nearest LBS who does Giant and go visit. You don’t mention where you are living now.

RE pedals, I have Time XC8s on my Diverge, as I use it for road and off road stuff, and like being able to use the same shoes across bikes. It works very well. However, for longer road only riding, you’ll either need a very stiff shoe (I use Spesh S-Works XC), or to look at “proper” road pedals. Either of these options are better at spreading the weight around the foot and reducing hot spots.

My home office is in 200 Aldersgate, the building over that Giant store – they do indeed seem like good guys, and have really good levels of stock! Go and talk to them, go from there.

Fine choice (says the owner of three Defys 😉 ). Buy model according to budget, but if you can afford, I’d avoid the cheapest groupset (2300). And don’t believe all that comfort bike nonsense either, the Defy is more of a race bike than the equivalent Specialized and Cannondales, which both have more exaggerated “comfort” geometry.

They do win races. Famous ones. Any Giant shop will let you borrow one for a test ride – Twickenham will lend you one for a few days, I expect the London Wall one will too. Go in ask for a demo, leave the Brompton behind and try commuting for a few days.

Defy with 105 here, great bike.

That is all.

2014 Defy 1 with 105 here.. also my first road bike – I love it.

The 2016 Defy Disc for £999 looks amazing..

Still unsure about the comfort /Sportive geo. Personally I went for a full-on road frame and cut the steerer slightly longer so I can lower the stem height as I prefer- logic being that if I bought a Sportive, I’d end up getting a mentalist road bike in the end anyway. Unless you want a do-it-all long distance, all weather machine with rack and mudguard mounts then go for a proper road frame.

I use SPDs on my road bike- means only 1 pair of shoes across 3 bikes and easier to unclip at traffic lights.

I’ve raced my Defy in E123 road races of up to 75 miles. It’s a race bike with race geometry (albeit less aggressive than some). I also have a “real” race bike or two as well. Honestly, there is little difference. The same is not true of say a Roubaix or Synapse, where the head tubes are a lot longer than the Tarmac and Supersix. If it is a first road bike, you may want a few spacers, a Defy will need less than a TCR.

If you must have a “race bike”, and want a reasonable position, the CAAD8 has a slightly longer head tube than their other bikes. Great frame, dreadful wheels, creaky BB. And yes, we have one of those as well. And I scored more BC points on it than any of my other bikes!

I think SPDs make sense when riding in London because of all the traffic lights

The defy advanced is extremely comfortable, though I agree the geometry is fairly sporty.

Giant certainly know what they’re doing with carbon fibre and they are great looking bikes to boot.

You can’t say that about all their MTBs.

I use SPDs exclusively – absolutely no problem on long rides, including centuries. Just use a stiff soled shoe (carbon).

is this is the St Pauls Giant Store – they are great. Tip top customer service!

Been very pleased with my Defy Advanced this year, handles well, not too low on the front end, and disc brakes are the future, I know some dinosaurs will disagree.

I think SPDs make sense when riding in London because of all the traffic lights

the only reason someone would make a comment like that is because they are useless getting out of and in to their pedals, but strangely don’t feel embarrassed enough to avoid telling everyone of their problem on a public internet forum.

@Turnerguy

I ride 30km every day in London for my commute. SPD-SL on the road bike, SPD on the mountain bike, SPD feel like pedalling on ice-cubes in comparison to SPD-SL

Traffic lights are great for keeping track standing skills honed, with practise you shouldn’t need to unclip at any point, and you are accelerating ahead of the traffic once the lights switch to green.

regarding the OP’s question, Defy Disc 1 2016 at £999 is well worth looking at, takes mudguards and disc brakes great for wet weather commutes

Hi which mudguards do you use?

you shouldn’t need to unclip at any point,

I ride with Look 4x4s – their licensed take on CB eggbeaters that they did a few years ago – so no issue getting in or out – unless a collision turns the bike perpendicular to the direction of travel…

That Defy up there looks ace!!!! I loved mine, put 1000s of miles on it.

Had a defy ADV 2 at the start of the year its an awesome ride have dropped to a 2015 defy 0 for commuting sheerley for strength if I bin it in winter but actually find it more spritley with the lighter wheels although the earl effect on the ADV really works at 15+mph

Can any of you fine owners tell me how noisy the bike is? Is the internal cabling very rattle?

Gears are fine the only one I noticed was the brake hose but if built correctly you get a grommet to help combat this so was never really an issue while riding

Defy is a great bike; used it to get out of 4th cat as well as many miles of happy riding. It was the alu frame btw.

Still use spd’s on all my bikes (saves having to change shoes), train/ride/race with one sided spd’s on the road bike which is now a Caad 10 as the Defy was a little squirmy during max sprinting efforts.

thanks for replies all Seems like Defy is a popular choice May well pop in to Giant store this week…

Good to hear I’m not the only one with “one pedal type to rule them all” too 🙂

Not sure if I’ll be fitting guards as is lily to be weekend/fair weather bike

Bike for seems like the way to go but at 5″7′ guessing I’ll be a small Hoping I can track down a 2015 carbon pro 2…

2013 Defy Advanced 1 here, awesome bike, absolutely love it. Would agree with the comments above, don’t let the ‘endurance’ tag fool you into thinking its a long and lazy bike… it isn’t! Fast handling, comfortable and quick off the mark!

My main reason for buying this bike were the fit co-ordinates, i.e. the higher stack height, but as I[‘ve got fitter and more flexible I have dropped to bars to teh lowest position (more comofrtable for me now), the bike just really wants to go!

I would definitely consider another one if I were in the market, at the moment its too good to swap, alos waiting until there’s omore standardisation of dropouts for disc wheels before I think its worth moving over. Have never heard any cables rattling in my frame.

As for SPDs, I used them when I satrted riding and the were useful when commuting in London but as I started riding further and further they became a little less comfortable and I moved over to a stiffer, carbon road shoe with SPD-SLs for a much more secure, wider pedalling base.

Im 5’7″ as well but with long leg so have small frame with a fair bit of post a med is possible but just not right
Will take a PIC of the setup for you tomorrow.

Was looking at these last week. I’m 5’6″ and shop (BW Bristol) measured me up and suggested a medium would fit best.

Depends on the fit im bang in the middle of the sizes I rode both and preferd the feel of the small,med I had no stand over at all was right on the TT hens the long post on the small to allow and felt stretched on the med I’m in Bristol as well(work in giant Bradley stoke) by all means pop over and try both back to back we have a range of sizes in defys and a cycle path to test on(bring id)

I own a 2015 Defy Advanced 3, which has been my first “proper” road bike after years of only riding MTB.
Love the bike, nicely designed, i have found though that the disc brakes judder quite a bit so i have just ordered new pads and will tweek around with it for a bit and hopefully get that sorted.
I also use SPD’s on the Defy, as i ride and MTB, a Gravel and Road bike with the same set up.
My commute is only 12 miles each way so i use the Defy for this on dry days and never tend to do more than 30 miles if i’m out after work in the week or at the weekend so wouldn’t be able to comment on aching feet.
Haven’t noticed any internal cable knocking.
Bought mine from Giant Bromley, great service from those guys.

PS, ditched the white bar tape for black and replaced the white saddle with a black charge spoon as both were getting grubby real quick.

Bought mine from Giant Bromley, great service from those guys.

Yep, same here – super helpful and really know their stuff.

When it is time to upgrade my Defy it will be to another Giant, and i’ll get it from these guys.

I’m 5ft 8in with short legs and perfectly happy on a medium.

I’d definitely try both sizes out if poss.

5′ 10″ here with a 32″ inside leg – Medium fits me perfectly, but I guess i’m on the upper end of the scale.. I did sit on an M/L, which also felt OK.

5′ 8″ and perfectly happy on my small Defy 0. Tried the medium and felt a bit stretched out – maybe that’s what a road bike is supposed to feel right but it wasn’t for me.

A 5 hour/75 mile ride most weekends and never an ache in sight so I think I made the right call.

5’10” here and was dithering between M and M/L for my 2012 Defy Composite. Had a bike fit at LBS and ended up on the M with a 10mm longer stem.

Great bikes, in fact just last week bought iaincjunior a Defy 5 in Small for his 13th birthday at the end of the yr 🙂