TCR!
I decided that I wanted (needed?) a new road bike and found a Giant TCR Advanced SL frame available in my size. So I bought it and began thinking about the three big factors in a frame-up build: wheels, drivetrain and cockpit (or “everything else”).
On the drivetrain front I was torn between Red AXS, Force AXS and Ultegra Di2. For mostly valid reasons — parts availability, uniqueness, cost — I ended up ordering a 12-speed Ultegra Di2 drivetrain. 12-speed Di2 has a couple of important differences from past iterations. The shifters connect to the system — via the rear derailleur — wirelessly, so there are few parts to order and less clutter in or on the bike. The system requires only two wires, one from the battery to each derailleur. This made for pretty easy ordering, but I totally goofed up one thing. 12-speed Di2 uses completely different connecting wires than 10- and 11- speed Di2. Oops. Hardly the most expensive mistake I’ve made building a bike, but ordering the correct wires set the project back a couple of days.
Wheels! I went with a set of CADEX 36 wheels. I already feel like a bit of a pretender with carbon wheels, and anything deeper than these would make me blush. Heard of CADEX? It’s the “best we can do” stuff from Giant, and it is super nice.
I kept on with the CADEX for the cockpit, ordering a really nice handlebar and a CADEX Boost saddle. Both of those things look fantastic and weigh almost nothing.
Building the bike was a combination of funny and scary. The Advanced SL TCR frame has a crazy seat mast instead of a regular seat post. I’m confident that there are excellent, valid reasons for this, but it’s really nerve-wracking to cut the mast to the correct height. It’s not do-or-die scary, as Giant supplies shims in case you cut it too short. On the other hand, you can only shim it so much. After a lot of measuring and a fair amount of arithmetic (and, according to one of my coworkers, a good amount of stalling) I cut the post. Whew.
Another aspect of the Advanced SL frame: there’s no provision for shift cables. Whew! Good thing I was only looking at electronic drivetrains, because there’s no way to get a wired drivetrain to work on this frame. Serendipity!
Aside from the stress of cutting the seat mast, the bike assembled easily. The internal brake hoses were not difficult to install. Likewise with the Di2 battery and (correct) shifter wires. I’d done a decent amount of poking around on bikeinsights, so I knew what I needed as far as a stem and how to set this bike up to match my (very comfortable) old bike.
And then it’s ready to ride!
Five miles from home I picked up a nail or some other darn piece of detritus in the rear tire. It didn’t cause me to lose air, but I could feel the thunk thunk thunk every time the wheel came around. Whatever. Then, ten miles later, whatever was in the tire came out and sealant blew all over the place. Great. My riding buddy and I were prepared with a spare tube and CO2, but gosh dang if the valve nut wasn’t on too tight for us to remove it by hand. Hat (bike) in hand, we walked up the drive of a nearby house and borrowed a set of pliers. Shortly thereafter, we were back on our way.
An aside regarding sealant. Some folks are super-duper brand-specific about their sealant choices. I tend to think that all sealant is pretty darn good and just use whatever bottle is at hand — Stan’s, Orange Seal, Bontrager, curious Muc-Off jelly: I love ’em all. Random, unorganized experience leads me to think some products are better at sealing tires on setup and some are better at plugging holes, but they’re all pretty great. This “first ride on the TCR” experience is a pretty good case in point. When my tire lost air, I did all the tricks to try to get it to seal. They didn’t work, and a lot of sealant poured onto the ground (while I cursed myself for forgetting to bring some sort of plug). I thought for sure that I’d killed a new, expensive tire. The next day I took it to the shop and threw some different sealant in there. Bang! It set up perfectly with no leaking at all. I’ve ridden the bike a bit since then with no loss of pressure. There’s not much moral to this story beyond suggesting that maybe different sealant might yield different results.
I struggled with the fit just a little bit, some of which had to do with getting used to a new saddle and some because I kept forgetting the bag of shims required to adjust saddle height. This was a solid learning experience: were a client to purchase a bike like this, I’d strongly suggest that they use the saddle they have now or perhaps find a saddle they like beforehand. It’s not that the bike lacks adjustment; it’s that the adjustment is limited and is a way more involved than just raising or lowering a seat post.
I’m very pleased with the 12-Speed Ultegra Di2, which is not surprising. I enjoyed the older stuff. As noted above, this Di2 installation was only slightly more involved than SRAM’s AXS. It’s a slick setup, giving most of the simplicity of AXS with the longer battery life of Di2. In use: lovely. I think the shifts might be a little faster (than 11-speed), and maybe the shifters are a bit more comfortable. It’s a little bit weird: we’ve seen lots of AXS in the shops, but this is only the second Di2 bike. We should get more Di2.
Thumbs up on all the CADEX equipment. The wheels are incredible. The handlebar and saddle are also dandy, light and comfortable.
This bike should be nice, right? This is Giant’s pro tour frame; it’s as good as it gets. The equipment is top shelf. It was built with love and care. It ought to be nice. And it is. Really nice. Super light. It has that smooth, no-rattles, comfortable, competent, high-quality feel to it. I love it, and have high hopes for a fun, long-term relationship.
