Giant or Cannondale ?

[fat and old]

Also, when I was considering looking at other bikes the Giant ALWAYS came better specc'd for the same money.

Have to agree with that, same experience here. Still didn't buy one tho. (Went completely different, no shade on the Defy at all. Looking as always at one as a commuter)

[g-boaf]

In that price range, I'd also consider the Canyon Endurace CF 7.0 at $2400 (incl del):

https://www.canyon.com/en-au/road/endur ... f-7-0.html

I think 105 is the sweet spot for groupsets in terms of value, as it is less than 100g heavier than Ultegra and performance is just as good. The 7.7kg weight is also much better than the Giant (over 8.5kg from memory).

That Canyon is a beautiful thing. Get some Dura Ace 9000 on that and some better wheels and you've got an amazing bike. That's the upgrade potential that I could see on that bike later down the track. And it looks good too.

Is a TCR so bad for general riding? Leaving the differences in geometry aside, is the ride quality significantly different?.

TCR will be fine, I have two of them, a TCR Advanced SL1 and a SL3 which I custom built up to SL1 standard with further upgrades above that. The way the TCR is for comfort is going to be influenced by how it is setup when you get a fit. I find the TCRs (well my Advanced SL versions) to be really easy/forgiving bikes to ride.

[rodneycc]

Definitely consider a TCR. If your flexibility is ok and you are mainly riding on good roads it would be ok as the TCR is just that little bit more nippy. As you get better at riding the TCR also gains in appeal (well it did for me). If it had Di2 I think it would be my favourite bike actually.

Footnote: try and test ride both side by side to get a feel for both. If you are buying secondhand try and find one with a few spacers or hasnt had the fork steerer cut down too far so you have those handlebars raised a bit.

[g-boaf]

Definitely consider a TCR. If your flexibility is ok and you are mainly riding on good roads it would be ok as the TCR is just that little bit more nippy. As you get better at riding the TCR also gains in appeal (well it did for me). If it had Di2 I think it would be my favourite bike actually.

Footnote: try and test ride both side by side to get a feel for both. If you are buying secondhand try and find one with a few spacers or hasnt had the fork steerer cut down too far so you have those handlebars raised a bit.

TCR's can be set up with a very upright position if you need that. Mine has a fairly slammed stem, but you can certainly put a huge stack of spacers in under the stem if you wanted to. For ride comfort, just add 25mm tyres, that will help a lot.

[hamishm]

That Canyon is a beautiful thing. Get some Dura Ace 9000 on that and some better wheels and you've got an amazing bike. That's the upgrade potential that I could see on that bike later down the track. And it looks good too.

As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It looks just like the 2012 Giant TCR Advanced 0, and nobody ever said that looked good.

[g-boaf]

That Canyon is a beautiful thing. Get some Dura Ace 9000 on that and some better wheels and you've got an amazing bike. That's the upgrade potential that I could see on that bike later down the track. And it looks good too.

As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It looks just like the 2012 Giant TCR Advanced 0, and nobody ever said that looked good.

My eyes must be not working, because that looks nothing like the black/stealth Canyon I saw.

[Duck!]

A point raised from the above.

Is a TCR so bad for general riding? Leaving the differences in geometry aside, is the ride quality significantly different?.
I ask as there is a price premium it seems for defy over TCR.
If I test ride a TCR and find the geometry OK, should it go into consideration?

Nothing at all wrong with the TCR for general use; in fact the latest generation has been tuned to mix the compliance of the Defy with the sharper race geometry it shares with the Propel. I have an older TCR, and have done rides over 300km on it, so it's certainly up to being an all-day ride.

The price difference will be down to the Defy only coming with disc brakes, where the TCR offers both rim and disc brake models; the disc variants will be priced similarly to the equivalent-spec Defy.

[Arbuckle23]

Thanks Duck, price is a big thing for me. Whilst disc's are nice to have, they are not the deciding factor for me.

[hamishm]

My eyes must be not working, because that looks nothing like the black/stealth Canyon I saw.

Ah, there's colour choices on that Canyon page. I got the blue one by default, which looks like my Giant. The other one is the "stealth".

[Arbuckle23]

Although I wasn't in a hurry I came across a great deal on a Synapse Ultegra 3.
Picked it up today and had my first proper ride this afternoon.
Very happy

So for me, Cannondale.