giantdefy

IJust bought this medium 2015 BH quartz disc last week from my local bike shop (Precision Bikes in Vacaville CA). Waited for the custom Light-Bicycle.com U-shaped carbon wheelset to come in. 25mm wide, 35mm deep. Wheelset weight is 1510g, stock wheels are 2100g. The quality on the wheels is way better than expected! Looks like they placed the decals on the rims, then blasted the rim, peeled off decal, leaving only a shadow of the decal. Came out really really nice! Bike weight is 17.05 lbs. Ill wait till it warms up later to test it out in the hills!

gsa103

Great looking bike! Hopefully the ride matches the looks.

ThinLine

Very Nice Bike !

Jiggle

I can"t find 38mm U shaped on their site. Is it the 35mm?

giantdefy

Sorry for the typo. It is 35mm depth. I fixed it. Thanks!

Test road the bike in the mountain. The brakes are insanely strong, yet modulate very well and I don't have to squeeze as hard as I do with caliper brakes. This is the reason why I chose road disc. I've had my caliper brakes on my Tarmac heat up to the point where I almost lost all braking power. Scary moment flying down a mountain and trying to keep it under 40 mph due to twisty roads. Same feeling you get when your caught in the rain and squeeze the brakes only to get nothing.
I was having steering issues on fast downhill speeds and felt a little wheel wobble. I thought it was the wheel itself, but happened to be a flexy eBay titanium skewer. I noticed the hub moving when I pushed the wheel laterally. No issues on the rear since I had a standard skewer installed.

giantdefy

More BH love! Rode again today on the flats. Steering is spot on now that I have a standard skewer in place. Light-bicycle wheelset is much stiffer laterally than any of my aluminum wheelsets. Bike rolls really smooth over rough pavement, must be a combination of 25c tires, the Syntace P6 carbon seatpost and endurance frameset. Bike also accelerates fast, I'm guessing it's due to the short chain stay length of 406mm. I sold my roubaix, coz it felt to sluggish for my taste. Bike is a blast to ride!

giantdefy

First ride of the year! absolute blast! Impressive ride quality! This is the bike you want if you ride long distance. It really smoothes out very rough roads and the bike feels very light and responsive when accelerating.

Jiggle

Cool. I ordered a set of those rims.

Campag4life

Nice ride and review. Looks to be a sweet bike the way you have it set up and makes sense to me if that you prefer disks riding in the mountains on high speed descents. You mentioned you sold your Roubaix because it felt sluggish by comparison. Which model and year Roubaix did you have? Your riding position on your new BH looks to be semi aggressive. Are you set up more aggressive on this bike compared to your Roubaix which has a taller head tube?

GuitarBob

Nice looking bike -- digging the wheelset too. Mind if I ask how you spec'd them? Did they build them for you or did you build them yourself? Thanks...

MileHighMark

Very nice. BH loaned me a demo model with Ultegra Di2 and it was tough having to send it back.

giantdefy

I had a 2011 spez roubaix elite. I swapped everything except for frame/fork and headset. Bike weighed 15.7 lbs. When I bought it new, it was 20lbs stock. but for some reason the roubaix does not have the liveliness of my 2013 tarmac. Felt lethargic by comparison. Keep in my mind the roubaix frame I had was the low end carbon FACT 8R which I think had something to do with the way the bike felt. The BH Quartz's liveliness is similar to my Tarmac and has the same willingness to want to move forward. The ride on the BH is also WAY smoother than the roubaix, I'm curious if the carbon wheels/tires have something to do with it. The BH has a 1cm taller head tube, but the seat to handlebar height was the same as my Roubaix (3 inches). The one thing I liked about the roubaix was that it handled fast downhills with confidence.

giantdefy

They built the wheels.

35mm tall /25mm wide U shaped No braking surface
Disc Hubs: Black, Novatec front D711-100mm standard QR/ rear D712-135mm standard QR for Shimano 11s. 24f/ 24r disc specific hub
Spokes: Black, Pillar Aero X-TRA 1420 aero
Nipples: Pillar PT 734. black

so far I'm very very impressed witht the quality of the wheelset. Actual weight is 830 grams Rear / 680 grams Front

GuitarBob

Many thanks for taking the time to reply, and the feedback on the wheels. Enjoy the new bike!

Campag4life

Thanks for the comparison with the Roubaix. The 2011 Roubaix you owned was likely 2 models behind the current model and hence your impressions.
Your BH looks like a very nice bike and the wheelset looks sweet as well.
Have fun.

giantdefy

the FACT 8R frame felt rather flexy in the wrong places specially when hammering hard on it, hence the lethargic feel. Im sure the newer models have a much improved layup.

Campag4life

Yeah...Spesh has changed the entire bike twice since 2011...both geometry and they offer a higher modulus lay up in their more premium models.
SL2 Roubaixs were as you describe....soft and comfortable but not racy.
Your BH looks to be the right bike for you. Have fun. If I lived in the mountains, I would give strong consideration to disk brakes as you have chosen.

BHsupernova

HI,

I have a BH quartz too and have upgraded it to a Red groupset and ZIPP 404. I was wondering if I should upgrade the frame to either a Sworks Tarmac/Venge or Bianchi Oltre X2 or Cervelo S2/S3.

I'm looking for more speed but I don't want to sacrifice comfort. What are your thoughts? I ride around 50km once a week on a track around the airport where my avg speed is 31 km/h. The winds are strong on the 2nd half of the way.

I like to do some grand fondos but time is an issue. Have only done a 70 km mixed trip...the BH climbs like a goat...was still on alu wheels so not sure if the ZIPP 404 could hold the descents of 60km/h.

Thanks.

giantdefy

I've only ridden the Venge and own a Tarmac. The Venge is stiff and fast, great if you don't mind a rough ride and weighs more than the Tarmac. The tarmac and BH Quartz both feel the same when it comes to acceleration, except the BH has more long distance comfort.

vanrider

Im considering this bike, it's my first road and it's between the the quartz, the synapse carbon ultegra disc, and defy advanced pro 0. Was wondering if you have had any tips on either bike for me? Thanks in advance.

titanium bolts

Beautiful bike!

Jaredmagun

Nice bike...why did it have a cheap skewer? Was that what it came with? Some dealers have steered me away saying BH was a secondary company. As far as I know they have been making bikes for 100 yrs. How is the quality and weight stock?
Thanks

Jaredmagun

Giant defy?

giantdefy

I have not been on this forum for a while. I swapped for some chinese titanium skewers, which did not work well, so i put back the shimano skewers. The quality on the frame is outstanding, its what you would expect from any high end company. I currently have 3 road bikes. A specialized tarmac sl4 pro (15lb), a lynskey titanium and the BH. The BH is my go to bike. The smoothest, most comfortable, and most fun to ride. Stock is 19lbs, swapped wheels and a few other parts and got it down to 17lbs.