scrming

After changing my mind a half dozen times... ended up with a Giant Defy Advanced 4! Was only able to take it for a short 17 mile ride tonight due to other commitments... but so far so good!!! (Even on the horribly cracked and heaved cement roads right by my house!!!)





and it matches the Garmin!!! LOL

Seve

Beautiful bike.

I have to ask if you notice a big difference in the ride quality of the carbon over aluminium or whatever you had before?

scrming

Thanks!

Yes, definitely love the ride quality of carbon! When I was riding 10 years ago I had a carbon and I had forgotten just how nice the ride is!

Here's what I was riding... GT Tachyon 2.0... this has also been a spectacular bike... but just wanted something a bit better for those longer rides...

Mr. Beanz

I'm not sure if it's the same size frame but I've seen some highend Giants that have some HUGE heatubes and bottom bracket areas.

Is yours the same size? I don't know enough about all Giants to know if it's the same diameter on all roadframes. Looks OS in the pics but can't tell for sure., If so, those frames look very interesting!

Nice!

scrming

The frame is a medium/large.. which is something like in the 56 or 57 cm range.

And yes, the BB and headtube are oversized!

From Giant:

1/ Massively oversized bottom bracket area to enhance stiffness and ensure every watt of your power is transformed into forward motion.
2/ A tapered and oversized head tube which ensures a super stable front end for precise steering under any conditions.

I did a few sprints last night and wow! Item #1 certainly appears to be true!!!

Mr. Beanz

OS, yes I can see some in the pics but in person, these suckers are huge. Pics don't do it justice. They look stiff. If a bike ever called me out to take it for sprint, it would be this one!

Seattle Forrest

Welcome to club carbon! Again. I looked at one of those Giant bikes recently, and it was very nice. Light to pick up, too. Sadly, the bike shop that had one in my size had platform pedals on it, and they just didn't do it justice.

Now that you have a stiff, light new bike, you have to go out and be fast on it.

scrming

Ok.... took her out for a 45 mile ride tonight... highlight was at the end, riding with another club member... wasn't a full out sprint... rather a side by side, let's see what you got kind of moment... got up to 29 MPH before the other guy backed off... road was a bit rough but the Giant just ate it up!!! Felt incredibly stable! I am incredibly happy with my purchase decision!

spthealien

Right on! Another Defy Advanced/Garmin Edge 500 owner. Actually, you're the only other one that I know.

Man, those 2011 colors look sweet.


Oh, the places we will go. by spoonser, on Flickr

scrming

Thanks!

Now I just need to by a new blue helmet so i can be color coordinated! My current red helmet just isn't cutting it! LOL!

3Truck

Very good looking bike! I only have one Giant dealer in town and he has a limited stock, no defy's for me to try. Did you try the specialized Roubiax? If so how does it compare and why did you decide to go with the Defy?

spthealien

I tried the Roubaix out. The 2009 Roubaix was nice, but the Defy seemed far "livelier" and spritely in response to my pedaling. After trying out more bikes, I decided that many carbon bikes seem to feel "dead" in comparison. So that's why I picked up the Defy Advanced.

3Truck

I wonder if them changing the 2011 Roubaix out to the SL2 frame will help! Anyone have any experience with the SL2 Frame? Oh to only live in San Diego great weather out there

scrming

I did not try any other carbon bikes... but I completely agree the Defy is very lively and responsive!!! Main factor for me was the price point on the Defy Advanced 4... $1,650... just an incredible bang for your buck, IMHO!

spthealien

Damn. That's barely above the price of the frameset.

And San Diego is pretty nice, I can't complain about the weather. Gas prices and mortgage, on the other hand...

scrming

Well, i put 135 miles on the new Giant since Tuesday, including a 43 mile ride this morning... I am extremely impressed with the bike. The Tiagra components seem to work just fine... very smooth... especially like the quickness of going from the small chain ring to the large chain ring... quick, smooth and almost effortless!

One interesting observation... seems i train "harder" on this bike than my GT... must be a mental thing... This bike is definitely faster than my GT... On this new bike I find the increased speed seems to motivate me to push myself harder... I noticed it today... where before I would ride in the 14 to 16 MPH range, with my HR typically in the high 120/low 130s, on the new Giant today I was cruising 18 to 20 MPH, with some fairly long jaunts in the 21 to 22 MPH range... and I found myself moving along with my HR in the mid to low 140s! Just thought it was kind of funny...

skilsaw

Oh, the joys of the honeymoon with a new bike.

scrming

perhaps some it it... but my GT was new back in June and looking back through my logs it doesn't appear that I was pushing myself as hard on the GT as I do on the new Giant... even though at the time I thought I was pushing myself pretty hard on the GT!

spthealien

Wow. That's a low heart rate compared to mine. I typically ride around 150-170 and then when the hills come along, I can go up to 195 for several minutes. I'm a big guy. I figured this was normal.

scrming

Wow... that's a high heart rate compared to mine... LOL!

Ok.. towards the end of our 22 mile ride tonight we did a couple of over-pass sprints... fairly long... MAX heart rate was 156!

But yes, overall my max heart rate is low... at 47 years old, the calculators put my max at 175... but I can't get anywhere near that!