Krakatos

My local bike shop has the year-old 2013 Giant TCX 1 on sale for $1350, down from $1850. It seems like a good deal, as it has the Rival group set that I'm familiar with on my Trek Madone 5. However, the new 2014 SLR 2 is now available, too, for only $1500 list (it's a little cheaper in Canada). The SLR has disc brakes, internal cable routing, the Shimano 105, and apparently bit lighter frame. Which is the better deal?

Most people seem to prefer Rival to 105 (I'm used to Rival but have never used 105, myself), so the older TCX 1 seems like the right pick, except it doesn't have the better brakes on the replacement SLR (and I've had trouble with adjusting cantilevers before). I can't make up my mind. By the way, I'm not going to use the bike for any cross racing. I'd like to ride 50-100 km solo and with my club on mostly gravel roads in the country and some road. Any opinions?

TCX 1: https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/...1/12345/58333/
SLR 2: https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/...2/17669/73500/

Gus90

The disc brakes are nice on the SLR. I just picked up a slightly used 2013 TCX Advanced SL frame for $700 which I'm putting all my 105 parts on from my road bike which I just upgraded to ultegra. Never used Rival but I don't think you can go wrong with 105 either. I also think you'll appreciate the internal cable routing over the TCX1.

AlTheKiller

Have you ridden either? Beware of a dangerously high stand over if you need any sort of stretch on the tt. It might be slightly more pronounced for me being more torso/arms than legs. But let's just say that if I'm not careful, and wearing flat sneakers, I could have a bad day since I come from traditional road frames it is no issue to me, so at six foot tall I got the large, and while in the saddle it fits like a dream.

The brakes: take note of what discs the slr ACTUALLY comes with. The sites all say Shimano, the early examples we saw all had trp spyres, yet when mine came in I was disappointed to see bb7 brakes on there. But not the end of the world other than the fact that setting them up as provided is often a lost cause unless you have loose standards

As far as actually choosing goes, the key things are brakes, groupo, and routing. Canti versus disc is a toss up for me, I don't particularly like either. I will choose 105 over sram any day of the week, personal preference. The fully intently rooted can be nice. Or can make certain maintenance issues a bit of a chore, depending on how you look at it. Oh, and this year had the d shaped seat post, I don't think last year did. This was a bit of an issue for me, since I buy bikes for long term and that makes a future accident potentially turn your bike into a paperweight if you can't find a replacement. But my amateur butt tester really likes it, and it does seem to add a bit of shock absorption, but obviously this could just be the frame + tires, and without testing an identical bike which is equipped with a round seat post, I may never know.

I'm in love with my slr2, but I'm pretty sure I'd love the older version too .m. And as potentially cool as the slr frame build is, the bit of weight savings seems to be lowest on the list of things to vote for.

Dragonboy13

I bought the Giant TCX SLR 2 and it came with Avid BB7 road disc brakes as well! I am wondering why Giant decided to go with Avid BB7's instead of the Shimano BR-R515 as listed on their website?

The TRP Spyres and Shimano BR-R515 were recalled at one point. Maybe this is why they switched to Avid BB7's . It's just more reliable, easy to maintain and align. Either way, I love my TCX SLR 2! I take it off-roading quite often.

Dragonboy13

For the price, you can't go wrong with the TCX SLR 2. The frame is light, internal cabling and the Shimano 105's are good enough! However, if you are used to Rival's and prefer that over the 105's (assuming you've test road) then stick with what you know. Just a $50 difference between the TCX 1 and SLR 2 in your case.

I'm 5'11 height, 32 inseam so Medium (54.5cm) or Medium/Large (56cm) frame fits me. I went with a medium frame because I trek through forest trails a lot.

AlTheKiller

Yeah, either way really fun bike. I really didn't have much intention of purposefully riding a lot of dirt or gravel, but on its maiden voyage I just had to try it, and let's just say I've been taking some detours on the way home whenever I have day light.