[quote=“urodacus”]good bike. go for it.
I have a Giant TCR Zero (frame only) from 10 years ago and it’s still going strong. Tight, comfortable, light, stiff. No worries: imagine what a newer one will be like![/quote]
I’m as giddy as a school girl! 
That’s a helluva deal. 20% off accessories is A LOT! I myself get a slight discount from the Giant store I go to for accessories, but nothing like a 20% discount. At most I get 10%.
I was very against my white handle bar tape, but I figured, once I got on the road enough. The tape would eventually be replaced.
[quote=“Ibis2k12”][quote=“ranlee”]TCR SLR would currently be my dream bike. Look at that frame and color!!!
http://www.giantcyclingworld.com/web/bikes_view.php?id=4eb2b16b-ce3c-49be-8d03-86a7767622cb[/quote]
Now they updated the Taiwanese website with all the Defy bikes available here.
The new Defy 3 looks pretty much the same as last year’s, apart from the double compact chainset instead of the triple. And the colors, of course.
I’m curious about the Tcr: last year’s TCR with Tiagra was TCR 2, this year it’s marked as TCR 1. Maybe there will be a new model with 105?[/quote]
Ok the U.S. colors are much much nicer than the ones available in Taiwan.
I will say that I’m still happy with my purchase. Not too many white bikes out there. 
That’s a helluva deal. 20% off accessories is A LOT! I myself get a slight discount from the Giant store I go to for accessories, but nothing like a 20% discount. At most I get 10%.
I was very against my white handle bar tape, but I figured, once I got on the road enough. The tape would eventually be replaced.[/quote]
My recently sadly deceased (as detailed elsewhere on this forum) Giant Defy 3 with carbon composite frame also came with white handlebar tape, but when I asked the shop where I bought it if I could have black instead, they just went right ahead and changed it to black tape on the spot for no charge. Your mileage may vary depending on the shop you’re dealing with, of course.
white handle bar tape quickly changes to grey, so no problem there.
Fizik microtex stays white, but it’s like cycling without bartape!
Why buy one color tape when you can have interchangeable colors. Well played.
In other news, this thread has veered waaay off the OP.
It’s a clear way of newbie bike purchases. Start at a low priced bike, end up spending almost 2-3x the amount you were planning on spending.
Why buy one color tape when you can have interchangeable colors. Well played.
In other news, this thread has veered waaay off the OP.
It’s a clear way of newbie bike purchases. Start at a low priced bike, end up spending almost 2-3x the amount you were planning on spending.[/quote]
I like the way newbies spend months agonizing (and I mean agonizing) over their first road bike. I think your first bike should be like your first time having sex, just get it over and done with, you know there’s going to better sex going on down the road.
Why buy one color tape when you can have interchangeable colors. Well played.
In other news, this thread has veered waaay off the OP.
It’s a clear way of newbie bike purchases. Start at a low priced bike, end up spending almost 2-3x the amount you were planning on spending.[/quote]
I like the way newbies spend months agonizing (and I mean agonizing) over their first road bike. I think your first bike should be like your first time having sex, just get it over and done with, you know there’s going to better sex going on down the road.[/quote]
Speaking of better sex down the road, I’m loving the looks of the new Defy Advanced SL and Advanced Pro. They seem like perfect Taiwan all-rounders and the paint looks great. However, I’m a little bit wary of disc brakes while the whole quick-release vs. thru-axle debate is being sorted out. Still, the Advanced Pro 1 with Ultegra and hydraulic discs for under 80,000 (list price 85,800) is mighty tempting…
Is there a consensus on how good or bad disc brakes are for the long descents common when riding in Taiwan? On my last bike, I got rather spooked on descents because of how hot my (traditionally braked) wheels were getting - I still haven’t figured out how hot they “should” be getting, or for that matter what best braking practices are.
Disc brakes work better than regular brakes under wet conditions and they’re better on descents because you don’t run the risk of overheating the rim. The main drawbacks of disc brakes for me are the cost of the brakes and the cost of the wheels. Disc brakes on roadbikes are still relatively new and a good set of wheels that can fit disc brakes can cost quite a bit, while a great pair of regular wheels won’t break the bank.
Their main drawbacks are weight (meh), risk of overheating the hub (extremely rare), higher coast of the brakes (ouch), much higher coast of the wheels (damn).
that’s one place where disc brakes shine. Well, brake hard enough and they glow, but you know what I mean. You cannot get the same grip or stopping power in a rim brake, for love nor money. Too hot on rim brakes and your tires explode anyway (or the glue melts if you’re on tubulars: see the 2002(?) TdF where Lance spears off into a ploughed field yet still manages to cross and rejoin the pack on the other side, because his line was borked by somebody’s tubular tire peeling off from excessive braking on a long descent, on perhaps Col d’Izouard?)
the discs can get super hot, up to maybe 200-300 degrees on a long descent like Taroko, so be careful touching them on your shin (ouch) when you dismount.
Disc brakes are also great in rough weather, when you’d have grit and dirt and mud on your rims. Also, bent wheels will still brake OK as the wobble is out on the rim, not the disc.
On a long hill, ya gotta brake. Simple fact of life. It doesn’t matter if you brake hard a few times, or a little often, as the same heat needs to be dissipated: potential energy (from height) converted to heat. Of corse, yes, you can bomb a hill without braking and use air resistance to slow down (barring corners), but good luck with that in Taiwan. I have various injuries and broken bits to prove that’s not viable in the long term.
for unfamiliar roads, trail the back brake all the time to keep speed down, and modulate actual speed with the front brake for the corners. brake early and smoothly, as the added force of descending can scrub the front wheel out unexpectedly. Keeping your speed down also gives you the option of slowing to a sudden and complete stop when confronted with Ama on a scooter doing a Uturn, or a pile of rotting fruit, or a dogfight suddenly spinning into the road. Or a cobra. or a sudden three inch step as the road falls away mid corner. Which wan’t there the day before…
the main drawback for road bikes for disc brakes is that the hubs need to be much stronger and thus heavier, and the brakes themselves weigh a wee bit more. Also harder to set up and adjust, especially replacing hydraulic lines, etc.
Edit: never consider riding on a wheel with disc brakes and radial spokes, It will collapse pretty damn quickly. Don’t ever let some random bike shop dangerous bastard talk you into buying one of those. Three cross spoke pattern at least for disc brakes.
giantcyclingworld.com/web/bi … 79482b7ba1
wtf is that? Giant, what are you doing.
[quote=“funkymonkey”][quote=“urodacus”]good bike. go for it.
I have a Giant TCR Zero (frame only) from 10 years ago and it’s still going strong. Tight, comfortable, light, stiff. No worries: imagine what a newer one will be like![/quote]
I’m as giddy as a school girl! [/quote]
The alternative would have been this one:
giantcyclingworld.com/web/bi … 0781fc7491
Added not long ago on Giant’s website, slightly different geometry, different color, same equipment apart from disc brakes.
Ibis2k12 and urodacus, thanks for the pointers and explanations on disc brakes. Very helpful.
Well done bike guru’s.
Ranlee, I know you’ve had issues with your knee, but how do you feel about the Defy 3? That’s the bike I’m leaning towards buying, mainly because it seems to be the “best” road bike that also has the eyelets/braze-ons/rack attachment thingies - even though the price is actually somewhat below what I was planning to spend. How does it feel going up hills?
Ranlee, I know you’ve had issues with your knee, but how do you feel about the Defy 3? That’s the bike I’m leaning towards buying, mainly because it seems to be the “best” road bike that also has the eyelets/braze-ons/rack attachment thingies - even though the price is actually somewhat below what I was planning to spend. How does it feel going up hills?[/quote]
I can’t give you an honest answer because I can’t compare to anything. Since I have never ridden any other bike than my Defy AND it’s also my first road bike.
However, in my couple of climbs I did before injury, I can’t say I have anything to complain about. It is very helpful for a newbee like me with more gear ratios at 27spd than most of the other bikes in the 20,000-30,000NTD price range. So if you’re new to road bikes, it definitely doesn’t hurt. However, keep in mind that the 2015 Defy Compact is 18 spd, my 2014 Defy3 is 27 speed. It hasn’t been long since the 2015 model came out, so you do have a slight chance in finding the 2014 model (and bargaining for a better price too)
Other than that, can I ask where you intend to ride? The Defy series is a more comfortable position and is geared towards long 60-70km+ rides, whereas TCR’s (I assume that’s what you were looking at) is a more rigid/stiff posture, is geared towards climbing, and better in short spurts. Both are still excellent bikes though.
To be honest, you can do all the research you want, but you have to get on the bikes and see what feels right.
If you’re in Taipei, I know that the Nanjing Giant store will only let you sit on the bike, but wont’ let you pedal. If you head over to the one next to Donghu MRT, (tell Lao Ban, I sent you) if he’s not amazingly busy (which he is every night), he’ll put the bike on the trainer for you to do some pedaling.
The guys at bikeradar did a pretty good job on a Defy vs TCR question
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12904567&p=18331734
Good luck, I hope that was helpful! Let me know if you need help at the store with translating or anything, I’d be more than happy to help.
::EDIT::
As for issues with my knee, that’s completely my own fault and also the numerous adjustments to the seat post that resulted in the seat being too low, thus, resulting in injury.
It sucks.
Thanks for the response!
What I was doing before I was warned off my aged and disintegrating bike about a year and a half ago: 50-80km rides along the riverside paths, once or twice a week, with more and more forays into the mountains, mainly over the shoulders of Yangmingshan: from Danshui into Sanzhi, or into Beitou. I was starting to feel like the 10,000NTD “hybridish” bike I’d bought in the year 2001 (EDIT: Giant ATX 850 mountain bike frame, but souped up when purchased in I-totally-forget-and-never-really-knew ways) was holding me back when I was in the hills, and besides the gearing never really worked properly anyway; apart from hills, the main limiting factor was actually back pain, in that around the three-hour mark I began to feel quite uncomfortable.
I want to do a lot more rides up into the hills, and longer trips, in the 100km range - I especially want to be able to easily get to places like Xindian along the riverside paths, and then start an interesting ride up into the hills. I hope to do occasional light touring (staying in hotels, but still needing to carry a jacket and a change of clothes), but that’d be perhaps 2-3 times per year, whereas I’ll be riding in the Taipei area a couple of times a week. The touring option is what’s currently pushing me towards the Defy 3 (not the Compact), because it’s got the eyelets for a rear rack should I want one. I also used to do plenty of grocery shopping with the saddle bags on my old bicycle (lots of stuff is unavailable out here in Danshui!), but I’m not sure if I’d do that with a more expensive bike. I used to always like those rides however - basically I’d use the combination of grocery-shopping and dinner out in Tianmu or Neihu or Gongguan to make myself get on the bike, rather than veg out at home after a day at work.
I also want to make a habit of shorter “painful” work-out rides up into the hills - they’re easy enough to access from where I live - but that’s more aspirational, and not something I’ve regularly done before.
I am certainly no speed demon. I’m interested in going further and longer with less effort. Don’t really care how fast I do it.
Yeah, but in some ways I’m not sure how possible it is to see “what feels right.” I haven’t really ridden in about a year and a half, so it’s going to feel weird to even get on a bike; plus I’ve never ridden with drop-down handlebars before, so that’s going to make me feel even more awkward at first. I’ve rented enough bikes while travelling over the years to know that lots of bikes feel fine for 10 minutes, but after 90 minutes are almost unrideable. And of course it’s almost impossible to determine whether or not my back’s going to hurt in three hours without, well, riding for three hours. Hell, the back pain may be inevitable and just my body telling me, “Sorry, you’re never going to regularly ride more than three hours. Give it up.”
Is there anywhere around town where I can rent different higher-end bikes? I assume I can’t get the newest models, but even trying out a three-year-old Defy would give me some idea if the frame and size are right for me - I assume their geometry remains somewhat consistent over the years.
Ok, so computer is running stupid slow and my response got deleted.
All in all, might want to hurry up on grabbing a Defy3, stores are definitely going to try to sell off that bike to make room for the Defy Compact. As for your back problem, I think that’s going to be all your own fitness, not that the bike, after a 3 hour session, will make your back crap out and make you get off the bike. That’s just my opinion though.
Do the other Defy models not have the rear rack option? If you’re going to be carrying a lot on trips as well as grocery runs, you would want a lighter bike, the Defy3 does weigh in at around 9kg-ish.
Speaking of doing grocery runs on this bike, I would never leave this bike in a place where you can’t see it. I don’t know what your hybrid looks like, but I’m sure at 10k, it looks nothing like a Defy. Don’t risk it, because it will get stolen. ::::Insert urodacus New York bike lock statement here:::: I know running errands is not your primary use for this bike, but do keep that in mind!
The Giant store over in Bali, right across the river from you, will have higher end road bikes for rent. Not sure of the models though. Book in advance! Keep in mind that not many places in Taipei rent road bikes, so demand is high, definitely not enough supply.
https://zh-tw.facebook.com/giant.rent13
If Jurriaan sees this, he can suggest the other place in Bali that rents out high end road bikes. His friend rented a Gusto from the shop. Those are not cheap bikes.
The only time I’ve ever had discomfort on my bike was on my accidental 80km+ ride where I was already exhausted, but had 40 or so km left to get home, at that time, I’m sure anyone would’ve been uncomfortable on my bike.