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2nd Hand Giant Defy or Something Else

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

2nd Hand Giant Defy or Something Else

Old 04-07-19, 03:36 PM
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Witterings
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2nd Hand Giant Defy or Something Else

I've been doing a lot of MTB riding over the last couple of years and more recently on a gravel bike and want to get a dedicated road bike to start doing some club rides, they have 3 groups for differing fitness / speeds with a no drop policy for the slowest group so though that'd be a good place to start.

The only road bike I'd seen any feedback on was a Defy where a couple of people happened to mention they loved theirs in a Gravel Bike thread.

I'm looking to buy 2nd hand mainly so if I don't keep it up (we're too spoilt for choice with gravel rides around here) and sell it on I won't lose much and the Defy's seem to be available from around £250 for some of the lower end models up to around the £700 mark for carbon and there are quite a few for sale which means I'll hopefully pick something up in a few weeks rather than having to wait months to find one.

Not knowing anything about them ... are these good bikes, any major plus's / minus's for them and anything else I should be looking at as "better" that will be around the same price bracket??

Last edited by Witterings; 04-07-19 at 03:52 PM.
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Old 04-07-19, 04:38 PM
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Maelochs
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I checked them out some when shopping for an relaxed-fit road bike and I like them a lot. Good frame, decent components, fine as they come and room to grow.

I have never heard any complaints of systemic faults ... nor really any complaints at all, ever. They do what they are built to do very well.

Whatever else you like depends on what's on the market where you live. I have no idea what people ride on the wrong side of the ocean.
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Old 04-07-19, 04:48 PM
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Defy is the predecessor to the current Contend. They are excellent value for the money. I ride a converted Giant Rapid, which is very similar to the Defy's geometry. I've noticed that used ones are priced marginally lower than similar models from Trek, Specialized, or Cannondale.
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Old 04-07-19, 07:11 PM
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Defy used to be the Giant relaxed fit bike, both Al and CF. Now CF Defies are called Defy and Al Defies are called Contends. if you get a Contend or an old Al Defy, don't get the most basic base model. I think one or two rungs up the quality ladder the frame improves drastically ... might be Aluxx to Aluxx II or something, i forget. Ask around. From what i read at the time, the better frame and frame technology is the same one shared all the way to to the top tier of Giant bikes, while the low-level frame is just a decent Al frame.

if you get a CF Defy, no such issue as i recall, but again, multiple sources might reduce the risk of error.
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Old 04-07-19, 08:39 PM
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I got a 2014 Defy 5 as my first road bike. I now have a Giant TCR and a Giant Revolt that also see regular use; picked because of the positive experience that I had with the Defy. The original 8sp Claris groupset is long-gone (upgraded to 105 after 5,000 miles), but only after I wore it out. The Defy still has more miles on it than any other bike I own.

Keith
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Old 04-08-19, 03:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Maelochs
I have no idea what people ride on the wrong side of the ocean.
Definitely the "wrong side of the ocean" at the moment with Bl**-y Brexit going on!!!!!

A couple of comments re it being a "relaxed" bike .... is that relaxed as compared to hard core racing lines or is that relaxed as in it's verging on more gravel bike geometry ... if I do get a road bike it'd be as I've found my gravel bike too MTB geometry orientated ... flip side of the same coin I'm no spring chicken so don't want "The Most Aggressive" racing position but do want something classed as road bike specific but erring towards than more relaxed rather but not something that goes so far it'[d be considered a 1/2 way house.

How would say the Specialized Roubaix SL4 compare to this and any other suggestions worth looking at??
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Old 04-08-19, 07:47 AM
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Roubaix .... do you like the Future Shock stuff/ Domane, is Trels version, i think. Cannondale offers the Synapse. All basically equivalent. I liked the Giant because of value .... better frame and decent components for less cash. I ended up getting a Fuji Sportif ... that and the CF version the Gran Fondo, also strike me as good values.

At any price point all the bikes will have almost exactly the same features. It comes down to specific needs and desires. Giant had a (reputedly) a better frame at a lower price point, which means when the original group wore out, upgrading would make sense. Trek, Spec, and Cannondale wanted more money for the same stuff. I went with the Fuji only because it just happened to be a Performance Bike Triple Points Weekend (now defunct, I think) so I got $300 free merchandise with the bike. I absolutely love the bike (rode it last night, in fact) and it has never let me down in anyway. i use it for rain, groceries, hauling heavy loads (50+ pounds) as well as general riding. The only things I have changed are the seat and seat post. it is the only unmodified bike I own---it is already there, there is no further I could take it, so i just ride it.

I rode with several Synapse owners who loved their bikes ... but only because of price, it never made my list.
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