New road bike.

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Jayce

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I posted a while ago that I picked up a 54cm 2010 GT GTR Series 3 road bike. After more roading I began to feel as though it wasn't the best bike for me. It had an extremely racey feel to it and despite the fact it was a nice bike, the bars were much lower than what I wanted. I wanted a bike that I could ride for 90 miles and still feel great. So I decided to sell it and began shopping some more.

I took my time this time around. I rode several bikes. The Specialized Secteur, Giant Defy 1, Trek 2.1 H3, etc etc etc. I also broke down the warranty and additional features of each bike to really figure out what I wanted.

- I liked the Specialized Secteur, but @ 1400 I expected a decent crankset with hollowtech bb, not some integrated spin off of square taper like they had on the Secteur Apex Elite.

- I liked the Cannondale Synapse, but it's BB30 "open" standard hasn't seen the best reviews yet. While light, a lot of people complain about creaking noises that are unavoidable.

- The Trek 2.1 H3 was a nice ride, but the H3 is only available in silver/blue (wtf?), and it's bold lettering of TREK TREK TREK 3 times on each side in size 800 font is beyond obnoxious. Other than that, it was a good ride.

- The Felt Z85 was sweet, but once again it seemed to have less than favorable reviews in regards to the crankset.

Ultimately, I checked out the 2011 Giant Defy 1, seen here:

http://www.jtcycles.com.au/images/product-images-large/defy12011-1_lg.jpg

I was unsure of this bike at first, and did not want to make an impulse buy. Giant uses a compact geometry, which threw me off when I realized that the 53.5cm was the absolute perfect fit for me. Oddly, the 53.5cm by Giant was bigger in a lot of regards to the 56cm Trek 2.1 H3. I rode the bike and could not get off of it. I spent about 20 minutes at the bike shop just doing laps around the building. Somehow, I walked away from the bike and slept on it.

Further comparisons revealed several things. The Giant was 100 bucks cheaper than any of the other bikes I checked out and it had the best warranty, lifetime/frame lifetime/fork. It also had a solid crankset as well with the hollowtech setup that I expected. The only other bike that compared was the Trek 2.1 H3, which was nearly identical except it was 100 bucks more and had a lifetime/frame and 5 yr/fork warranty, which while good, wasn't as good as the Giant's. I also found out that Giant makes frames for a lot of manufacturers, and I believe Specialized and Trek were in there as well, which kind of makes sense why those bikes cost more cause instead of Giant-Bike Shop-Customer, you're going from Giant-Trek-Bike Shop-Customer...

SO... I got the Defy 1. Last night I rode around in 37*F weather for about 20 miles or so in shorts with it. I can't say that was one of the brighter things I've done in life, but nonetheless it's a sweet ride.

From my road bike purchase experience I would advise that anybody out there looking into road bikes ride as many as you possibly can. While bikes are very customizable in size (different length stems, stem flipped up/down for more rise/drop, swapping out spacers to drop/heighten handlebars, etc) it's amazing to see the difference from one bike to another. Ride as many as possible before you make a buy.

Any other roadies out there? If so, whatcha got?
 
Last I knew Giant didn't make the frame, and frames for others.... They use a Chinese frame maker that makes their frames, aswell as for a few other companies.

Ehh. I'm nearly positive Giant is a Taiwan company, and that they do indeed make their own frames + Trek/Specialized/Insert 12 other brands' aluminum frames. Only recently did Trek begin making their own Carbon frames.
 
Really wish I could afford a road bike about now. I haven't gone biking in about two or three months because of knee and back problems. I miss it dearly, and now that winter is upon us they will be put away for the season. How much did the Giant cost if you don't mind me asking.
 
Really wish I could afford a road bike about now. I haven't gone biking in about two or three months because of knee and back problems. I miss it dearly, and now that winter is upon us they will be put away for the season. How much did the Giant cost if you don't mind me asking.

1,129 for the 2011. They were also selling 2010's cheaper than that, I think in the 1,049 or 1,099 range.

It was the cheapest FULL 105 component road bike I could get my hands on that was a 2011. Everything else either halfassed the 105 component setup (I'm looking at you, Felt; Specialized...) or their warranty just wasn't attractive enough to compare. The only other thing that was more comparable to the Defy 1 was the Trek 2.1 H3, which was 1,199 but has a lifetime frame/5 yr fork warranty. Giant had the cheaper price @ lifetime frame/lifetime fork warranty.

The Trek was **** nice. But I'm very happy with my purchase.
 
Have you taken the plunge into clipless on the road bike?

Yeah, I did. I did however get mountain shoes instead of road shoes, since they seemed to be a little more friendly in regards to walking around in if need be. I definitely see the benefit of this setup on a road bike, but I will forever wonder how some people swear it's a great idea on a mountain bike. I've had enough near-falls that I've been able to save myself from because of the ability to slam my foot down quick that it makes me wonder how some people swear by it on trails. I also witnessed my buddy taking a serious fall due to not being able to unclip in time. No thanks. But hey - whatever works. :p
 
Once you ride them enough, it becomes second nature to just twist your foot as you start leaning... I raced downhill in them, as well as trail riding. As long ads youre not doing jumps or big drops, clipless is so much better.

Most don't crank up the tension on the clips though, just enough to keep you in them.
 
Once you ride them enough, it becomes second nature to just twist your foot as you start leaning... I raced downhill in them, as well as trail riding. As long ads youre not doing jumps or big drops, clipless is so much better.

Most don't crank up the tension on the clips though, just enough to keep you in them.

I suppose so... for me, I do enough technical riding that I'm just not sure about it.. Sure there's some swooping single track where it might be nice, but there's also a lot of slow paced technical climbs that I do, where I often come to an abrupt and unexpected stop and I find myself grasping for the nearest tree to hang on, or put my foot down to prevent my rear end from tumbling down the hill I just somehow managed to climb.

I guess it just depends on what you're doing. Like I said, though... they fricken rock on that road bike. ;) And fortunately I DID get the mountain shoes... maybe someday I can swap pedals to the mountain bike for a ride and see how it goes...

I have to wonder... why are they called "clipless" if you're... clipped in?
 
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