Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0 Carbon Road Bike, Etap, Hollowgram Aero - 6.9kg - £5500

Description

Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0 Carbon Road Bike, ETAP, Hollowgram Aero – 6.9kg- £6750

£1400 O.N.O

Size 52cm

Here we have a truly excellent bike that received rave reviews such as:-

An exceptionally good race bike that combines stiffness and light weight

This was with standard wheels and dura ace mechanical groupset.The previous owner loved this bike so much that they improved it in every aspect possible. This bike is running full SRAM Red ETAP wireless Electronic groupset and rolling on a set of stunning Hollowgram Carbon Wheels, it is stunning throughout and a true pleasure to ride!

Ultra lightweight at only 6.9kgs full build!

Standard spec was £3800, the ETAP derailleurs and shifters come in at £1350 on their own and the Hollowgram SL 35 wheelset still sells for £1600 alone!

This is a very high end bike!

Below is a review from Roadcc –

Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0

VERDICT:

9

10

An exceptionally good race bike that combines stiffness and light weight, and a really strong spec

Weight:

6,830g

Get out of the saddle to maximise your power or chuck the bike about on a steep climb and the whole thing feels impressively strong and rigid. That's all the more surprising because the TCR doesn't look the most burly frame in the world. Don't get me wrong, it looks sturdy enough,but not massively overbuilt, Giant having slimmed down the tubes noticeably for 2016. It could still handle everything I could summon up and throw at it. The bigger you are and the more watts you put out, the more valuable that will be.

Giant says the rigidity is down to what it calls its Powercore design. This is an oversized bottombracket/chainstay area with an 86mm-wide BB and asymmetric chainstays. The idea is that this adds stiffness to the driveside, where it's needed most.



Then there's the MegaDrive down tube (every thing has to have a technical-sounding name these days). It's rectangular in section and is the part of the frame that most looks like it means business.



The front end is equally robust. Giant uses oversized bearings at both the top (1 1/4in) and the bottom (1 1/2in) of the head tube. This is what it calls its OverDrive 2 system (other brands do something similar). The lower bearing has been moved very slightly higher in the head tube for 2016 so that it's more inline with the down tube, designed to improve the transfer of force to the frame.

The tapered head tube and the fork steerer keep thebike tracking beautifully when you hit the corners hard and fast, and theknowledge that you're going to get the performance you want allows you moreoptions when duking it out close to other riders. The TCR feels like awell-tuned race machine in this respect – which is exactly what it is. The forkis actually a touch lighter than previously although Giant says that it alsoboasts increased rigidity. That's a clever trick if you can pull it off.



Climbing is another strength. Our complete bike ina large sized test model weighs 6.83kg (15.1lb) and it scales the heights witha real energy. It's well up for climb after climb, feeling like it's workingfor you on the slopes, egging you on, rather than a dead weight that you'redragging uphill against its will.

I'm a big fan of the 52/36-tooth Shimano Dura-Acechainset that you get here. If I was forced at gunpoint to choose one chainringcombo for all situations (an unlikely scenario, I'll admit), that wouldprobably be it. Granted, persuading the chain to move up from a 36-toothchainring is occasionally more difficult than from a 39, but it's worth it forthe lower gears on offer that allow you to keep spinning quickly on the steepstuff, rather than honking along out of the saddle. The 36x28 gear is prettysmall for a race bike (33.8in, to be precise) but, hey, you might findyourself using it from time to time. I did, and it's cool to have as an escapeplan if things get really tough.



Giant has given the TCR Advanced Pro a new Variantseatpost for 2016 in a proprietary shape. It's designed to improve the ridequality. The frame is built to Giant's Compact Road Design with a sloping toptube so you're likely to have plenty of that seatpost extending out of theframe – I had masses. The result is that you get quite a bit of movement at thesaddle to help deal with second-rate road surfaces. And third-rate ones, cometo that. The TCR Advanced Pro doesn't isolate you from road bumps and vibrationsto the same extent as some other road bikes out there, but for a race bike it'spretty smooth.



If you want more comfort, you could always switchto wider tyres. The TCR Advanced Pro 0 comes fitted with Giant's own P-SLR1tyres in a 23mm. They actually measure about 24mm on the Giant SLR 0 wheels(more on those in a mo), according to the road.cc vernier callipers.I'm a little surprised Giant doesn't do these in a 25mm width, that being whatall the kool kidz are using these days. The frame could easily take them.



I found the saddle pretty agreeable too. It'sGiant's Contact SL Forward design from its new performance range. The keyfeatures are the carbon base and the Particle Flow Technology. Two separatepockets of padding contain free-flowing particles – they move around to conformto your shape. According to Giant, this reduces pressure points by more than 20per cent (that's something else everything has to have these days: a quantifiedimprovement!).



I couldn't give you a percentage – my butt isn'tthat well calibrated – but I can tell you that I found it to be a very goodsaddle with a reasonable amount of give and not too much width across the nose(a pet hate of mine). I didn't give it a whole lot of thought when I was out onthe road, and that's usually a good thing. Cycling's hard enough (or it canbe), without you having to worry about saddle comfort.

In terms of geometry, the 2016 TCR Advanced bikeshave changed very little over the previous incarnations, the largestdifferences to stack (the vertical distance from the centre of the bottombracket to the top of the head tube) and reach (the horizontal distance betweenthose points) across the five model sizes being 0.7mm, and some of them beingcompletely unchanged.



We have the large sized model in for review, with a58cm top tube, an 18.8cm head tube, and 73-degree frame angles. It's certainlya race-orientated geometry, although it's not extreme. It depends what you'reafter, of course, but the TCR Advanced offers a fit that'll appeal to a lot ofperformance-minded riders.

I won't gibber on too much more about the geometry,you'll be pleased to know, but the sloping top tube does grant you quite a lowstandover height, if that's something that appeals to you. It's 80.5cm on ourlarge model.

Right, that's enough numbers, let's move on. TheTCR Advanced Pro has a frame and fork made from Giant's Advanced-Gradecomposite which, in turn, is produced from Toray T700 raw carbon fibre inGiant's own composite works. This is Giant's second highest grade of composite,the top-end TCR Advanced SL bikes – there are three complete bikes priced from£2,999 to £5,499 – using Giant's Advanced SL-Grade composite made from T-800raw carbon fibre.



The TCR Advanced Pro is available in threedifferent models with the same frame and fork: the Shimano 105-equipped TCRAdvanced Pro 2 at £1,799, the Ultegra-equipped TCR Advanced Pro 1 at £2,599,and our TCR Advanced Pro 0 at £3,799.

This bike is fitted with components from Shimano'stop-level Dura-Ace groupset, with mechanical rather than electronic shifting.The only exception to the Dura-Ace motif is the KMC X11SL chain. Dura-Ace isexcellent across the board, the braking a particular highlight.



Everything else comes from Giant's own range,including the excellent new SLR 0 clincher wheels I mentioned earlier. Theseare built in-house using full composite, tubeless-compatible rims (30mm high,23mm wide) and Giant's own alloy hubs, the rear one with a DT Swiss starratchet freehub.



Giant says, 'The all new SLR 0 climbing wheelsystemfeatures Giant's breakthrough Dynamic Balanced Lacing (DBL) technology whichensures rear wheel spoke tensions are balanced under load – not while static.The result of years of development with Giant engineers, product designers andpro athletes, DBL produces a wheel that offers improved acceleration andclimbing response along with durability, while optimised anchor points increaselateral stiffness for exceptional cornering performance.'





Overall, the Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0 is a reallyimpressive bike: lightweight and stiff with a top-level groupset and wheelsthat are equally accomplished. This is a very strong proposition.

Verdict

An exceptionally good race bike that combinesstiffness and light weight, and a really strong spec

Make and model: Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0

Size tested: Large

About the bike

State the frame and fork material and method ofconstruction. List the components used to build up the bike.

Frame Advanced-Grade Composite

Fork Advanced-Grade Composite, Full-CompositeOverDrive 2 Steerer

Handlebar Giant Contact SL

Stem Giant Contact SL

Seatpost Giant Variant Composite

Saddle Giant Contact SL Forward

Shifters Shimano Dura-Ace 22 speed

Front derailleur Shimano Dura-Ace

Rear derailleur Shimano Dura-Ace

Brakes Shimano Dura-Ace

Cassette Shimano Dura-Ace 11x28

Chain KMC X11SL

Crankset Shimano Dura-Ace 36/52

Bottom Bracket Shimano PressFit

Wheels Giant SLR 0 WheelSystem

Tyres Giant P-SLR1, 700x23mm, Front and RearSpecific, Folding




Perfectlyhappy to post a bike which I have done some many times without issue, pricewill be £100 with full insurance

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