logical

Its the Giant branded saddle that came with the bike. Giant color matched the bottom of the saddle to the bike paint scheme.

str8jakett

How does it ride? I see a few listed on ebay and I wouldn't mind taking a shot at one if I can find some matching bar tape.

logical

Not too bad. I preferred my fizik one a little more but not enough to unmatch the color scheme of the bike... haha

Kimmo

As a mechanic, I can tell you that there is something off about the gear cable routing on Propels.

It's extremely problematic: for a start, the housing stop in the top tube is only secured by cable tension, which given the stiffness of gear cable housing, wasn't a great move.

Furthermore, it gets worse - inside, there are two lengths of brake housing type stuff extending from the housing stop, about 80cm long, just flopping around inside, again merely located by cable tension.

Woeful. I'd be extremely unsurprised if many of these bikes don't want to shift down to the two smallest cogs.

I've seen so many bikes over the last few years with internal routing that appears to have been 'designed' as a cursory afterthought. I would've hoped Giant would be above such crap, but certainly not in the case of the Propel; it's one of the worst.

Kimmo

Here's my bad boy, BTW:





Just under 6.8kg including lights and pedals.

Nifty details - lightened and countersunk KCNC expander plug; shaved headset top cap; trimmed chain catcher; repositioned cable guide for symmetry; shaved 3mm from stack height off pedals; hidden seat clamp bolt; 7700/7400 brakeset (7700 QRs on both); 12t/14t resin thick/thin pulleys; Ti/Al billet cassette machined to fit on a 7s freehub body, overhanging the hub flange on a 132mm axle, 1.25 more turns of tension on NDS.

Silver Steve

Good looking bike. Especially like the skull light on the face plate. What bar is that?

Kimmo

Hah! Chinese carbon, cheap and nasty. And when I say cheap, I mean AU$40 delivered! Toseek brand.

Cons: A little on the flexy side, but not a problem with a stiff stem. I tried to break them when they turned up, and heard a few fibres give way initially, which means they don't even test them. Not entirely symmetrical, but on close inspection, that seems limited to the very ends of the drops which I cut off anyway because they pointed up when the rest of the shape looked properly oriented; about 40mm, but the offcuts weren't the same length! (It was painstaking to determine the cut locations; much eyeing up with the bars taped onto the edge of a tabletop.) Finally, the graphics are a bit chintzy and somewhat wonky, although the critical alignment marks at the stem seem perfect. The alignment marks for the levers are a joke.

Pros: Did I mention they cost AU$40?! Free delivery! They weigh 220-230g (@40cm). The shape is damn sexy once they're trimmed (which is no doubt why you asked about them), and after using them, I can say the shape works as well as it looks. The droop on the tops is great; it works really well when you're holding them, and the humps at the top of the hooks are brilliant - they catch your hands beautifully when changing positions, hold your forearms very nicely for the phantom aerobar position, and are really ergonomic as a position between the tops and the hoods. The droop is also pretty damn nifty if you can't quite slam your stem as far as you'd like due to too much head tube (I've considered trying to find a low-pro to build a commuter cause I'm such a badass )

I liked the shape (and the price) so much, I bought another couple of pairs (the weight is just a double helping of gravy). The first bar I got had a pretty yuck asymmetric graphic on the tops which kinda necessitated a full wrap which was a bummer (thinking of getting it stripped), but I found the same model with much cooler graphics, although it lacked the embedded grit at the stem and lever clamp areas the first one has.

But yeah, that shape is awesome. It'd be nice to know who they ripped it off from, so you could get it made from something other than offcuts off the floor, but I've never seen that shape from a proper brand. Could it be, they came up with it themselves...? If so, wow. They should get the guy responsible to do their graphics.

Also, the seat was AU$20! I'd love to find one in an old school shape without the stupid groove...

Kimmo

Now that I look again, there are now two or three promising shapes... there's even an Arione copy.

Silver Steve

Thanks for the info. The thing that caught my initially was the drop. Seemed on the shallow side. Probably due to trim job you did.

Kimmo

As I mentioned, the bits I cut off curved up. They're a shallow drop... there's an eBay link in my post.

str8jakett

Was the internal routing pretty straight forward for the SRAM Red?

cmon4day

Alright. Here is a picture of my Defy. Last year put on about 2500 miles. Had very little problem with it. The only issue was with the rear Performance Tracker Road Disc sealed bearing. Took it into my LBS where i purchased the bike and was replaced under warranty by Giant with no problems. Instead of replacing just the hub, I got a whole new 2018 wheel that is tubeless ready.

Kimmo

Yeah, pretty much the same as any internal-routed bar.

I wanted to have the cables twist inside the bar so the brake/gear exit points were reversed for a nicer route between frame and bars, but no could do. Pretty sure it'd be the same story for 9/10 aero bars anyway though.

Silver Steve

Here's my 2016 TCR Pro 0 with DA 9070 Di2

Noctilux.95

Very nice.

str8jakett

Well... it's back from the dead. Carbon repair guy said ride the heck out of it so I moved all the Rival group to the 2015 Propel frame and retired the 2008 TCR. Funny to see a well worn mid range group on this bike but first ride last Thursday and it felt like it could fly.

On another note, those are 700x28 Gatorskins that I originally put on the TCR to handle gravel. Talk about a cushy ride. Brake clearance is very, very tight though and that is with using some worn out pads and lots of tweaking. Probably end up with 25s.

kbarch

I luuv that frame.

RCDheliracer

Here's my 2017 Defy Advanced Pro 1. Best investment I've ever made. I've got an eTap Red system coming for it. Can't wait!!

derf36

Are those Schwalbe Pro One's? If so, 25's or 28's? I have the identical Defy AP 1 and am thinking of the 28's. I'd appreciate hearing how your's fit & ride.

RCDheliracer

Those are indeed Schwalbe Pro one's. I run 25's. I haven't tried 28's yet because I've been enjoying the feel of a 25 size tire. I have switched to a different tire that I like a little better than the Schwalbe though. Had a couple side wall issues with the Pro One. I'm currently running Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Season tires. They just feel better when they roll to me and I haven't had any side wall issues. My only complaint is they are a pain in the rear to get to seat on the bead. Ended up having to get a Presta attachment for my compressor to get it done.

Dickybird

Here's my Giant TCR SLR 1 with Swiss Side Hadron 625s.

San Pedro

No picture

Kimmo

3T Aeronova.

tomme

bobzz what size is that TCR frame? medium? bb to saddle height (cm) ?

str8jakett

This bike has become my experimental platform, and the latest trial is a set of China bombs. I went with the 38mm x 25mm, but the 12k twill was a straight out blingy decision. No test ride as of yet.