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'n+1'? whats that mean.
The correct number of bikes one should own is n+1, where n is the current number of bikes owned.
what njee said ! I had to compromise to keep close to 'in the goodbooks' and I don't use the BadBoy much, even less once I put my Jake the Snake back to cx mode, so punting 1 bike keeps my overall number the same at 4
Ah I see!! this will be my first +1 ever! Divorce would follow even the mention of +2 I'm sure.......4???? good work!
Well the saga has finally come to a conclusion.... hopefully the right one 🙂
As said I had a organised a test ride on the Defy Comp 1 and a TCR advanced 3 as they were a similar price. but when I turned up the weather was awful so we got them set up on the trainer to see how things measured up.
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I was surprised to find that Im actually a Small not a Medium as in the other shop. This would explain why I wanted to try the shorter stem.
On looks alone I was settling on the TCR, the internal cabling and the frame shape was a piece of art. But I was reserving judgement till I had had a ride on both of them. Well yesterday I got to ride both and although they were both great to ride, I felt a little uncomfortable on the TCR, its definitely a much more focussed ride and I think I would really struggle to relax and 'settle in' to that on longer rides.
So I have opted for the Defy and if I wish to lower the bars in the coming months there's a good 30mm of spacers on the steerer so hopefully this will allow a little bit of flexibility.
Nice one. How tall are you BTW?
I'm 5'8" and ride a small TCR. I did buy medium SCR ltd once, but that was too big. The compact frame does make them look tiny though.
Im 5'7" and the small was pretty perfect after I knew what I was looking for.
Looking forward to picking it up on saturday 🙂
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hilldodger - Member...pics and first impressions later this week
....well, no pics yet but first impressions are all good 😀
Bike (TCR 0) is pretty much all I could hope for - light, taut, fast and the sort of ride that makes you just want to do another lap.
Tyres had me kacking a few times, don't know anything about current road tyres but the one's fitted (23mm Michelin Dynamic) don't look like a winter tyre and do skip about a bit on wet surfaces (ie just about everywhere in the current conditions)
The Ultegra kit is perfect, but then I guess anything brand new would be, and the Giant bars/stem/post/saddle don't do anything other than what they should.
Other than that it's too early to say, but the overall impression is that when you get off thinking you've done a half decent ride, the bike kind of sneers at you and says "is that all you've got punk" and to be honest, the bike's right - it's certainly not for pootling about on 🙂
Well picked up the Giant this weekend and managed to go for a swift 20 mile run on Sunday and a couple of commutes to see what I thought.
I definitely made the right decision in going for the Defy over the TCR, the TCR would have been too aggressive for my first bike, but I guess everyone is different but this at this time suits my needs perfectly.
The steering is very direct and pin sharp, took me by surprise to start with riding a MTB for so long. As said above the tyres were a little sketchy in the wet conditions (Giant P-SL2) under braking but Im sure I'll get used to that.
Also pleasantly surprised with the weight at 7.9 kgs (without pedals) don’t know how that compares to other bikes in this class. My friends Roubaix is 660gms heavier. weight weenie alert 🙁
Overall couldn't be happier with the purchase so Id better get racking up the miles and make the purchase pay for itself.
Poorly taken falling over pic below 🙂
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Hmmmm.....can I ask how much you got it for?
Yeah you can ask 🙂
A smidge under £1500 with all the Xmas offers applied 🙂
Decent deal. Must. Resist.
Enjoy 🙂
BadlyWiredDog - MemberWhen I bought my first road bike a few years back, it cost me 350 quid - Giant OCR2 second - because at the time I'd never really ridden a road bike and I didn't know whether I'd enjoy it or not and it seemed to make sense to buy something entry level to start with, and then, if I found I liked road-biking and once I had a better idea of what worked for me, invest in something a bit nicer.
Which is what I did. And I enjoyed riding the OCR and, if anything, its shortcomings, helped me when it came to working out what I really wanted to buy when I upgraded.
I've known a fair few keen mountain bikers who've tried road riding and hated it.
I guess if 1600 quid or so isn't a lot of dosh to you, then you might as well splash out on something nice, but I do think you'd have a better idea of what that might be if you actually got some experience on an entry-level bike.
Here's the thing, once you're used to a super-fast, super-slick tarmac burner, yes, entry level bikes do feel a little sluggish, but if you're straight off a mountain bike, you won't know that, you'll think any half-decent road bike is a rocket-ship, full stop...
This is what I ended up doing. I tried a couple of bikes out in shops up to about £1600 in value but in the end my inner tightwad won the day. I got a 2nd hand Wilier La Triestina off eBay for a smidgeon over £500. Pretty much as-new condition as the guy I bought it off had bought it to try out riding with his roadie mates and never took to it.
Bought primarily for aesthetic reasons, as it's a gorgeous looking bike, but the fit etc was still a punt, albeit an exhaustively googled and researched one. It's taken a bit of tweaking (new ergo handlebars and tyres) but I'm surprised how comfortable it is now it's set up to my satisfaction. Think I've been pretty lucky with the suitability of the fit and geometry as it compares favourably with the bikes I tried out in shops.
I was expecting an uncompromising filling-loosener of a ride compared to an MTB or even my steel-framed Roadrat but it's actually incredibly smooth.