Price Paid:  $1500.00 at UK £ frame/forks

Favorite Ride:
TCR Advanced

Bike Setup:
Deda Newton Bars/Stem
Dura Ace 10 speed groupset inc pedals
USE carbon seatpost
Mavic Ksyrium SLs with Conti Force/Attack tyres
Selle Italia Flite carbonio saddle

Summary:
I have had a few Giants and I'd agree with the previous reviewer that the Advanced is a more serious racing machine than the others - really stiff BB and headtube and it climbs like nothing else I've tried. My 03 carbon frameset was a lot more comfortable though so it's the usual trade off between efficiency and comfort.

If you buy it and expect a thoroughbred race machine then great, but I don't think it's really suitable as a nice runabout for pootling on a Sunday morning. It's a bit like the Scott CR1 team frameset in this respect.

On word of warning though, I had a minor stack on the Advanced and although there was no big impact (I got pushed into a hedge) the top tube split nearly all the way around. I was amazed at how easily it was damaged.

Strengths:
Weight - 930g frame, 300g fork, whole bike 15.2 lbs - size M
Super stiff
Looks great
New seatpost clamp design stops carbon posts slipping better than previous efforts.
Not many around!

Weaknesses:
Fragile, easily broken

Similar Products Used:
Giant TCR alu (02)
Giant TCR Composite (03)
Cannondale Six13 (06)

View Comments (1)

Would you like to Comment?
Join RoadbikeReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.

Price Paid:  $800.00 at underthesun

Favorite Ride:
ride

Summary:
light...frame and fork (small) 2.9lbs.
full DA, ssc sl wheels, newton, usealien carbon, slr=15.lbs
decent ride, a bargain compared to other carbon frames. comfy, but a little soft on climbs. when im running the big chain ring up front and the third gear in the back, when idle, the chain has plenty of clearence at the front deraillure, but under hard excelleration and steep climbs, i can hear the chain rubbing when pushing hard on the left pedal...which means lots of bb movement=mushy feel kinda like riding with low pressured tires. i sometimes stop to check the tires but they have 120 psi. my 16.7lbs GT ZR all 7000 alu and triple triangle has been the best climber ive ridden yet. its amazing how weight dosent matter (to some degree) when frame rigidity is solid in a climbing sprint.
on the other hand...descending is supurb..corners like its on rails, eats road imperfections. stable and fast.
im looking for a harder carbon frame, maybe the orbea opal, or a merckx mxm, and if i can test ride giants tcr advanced , maybe another giant, i heard they stiffened the advanced frames by 20 percent.

Strengths:
weight
matte finish...2003 was the only year for matte finish in giants line up
compact geometry for descending fast

Weaknesses:
mushy
soft
climbing

Similar Products Used:
gt zr 1.0
surly (steel)
specialized m4 s-works