My latest secret acquisition is a 2013 Giant TCR Composite Frameset in White Purple Silver colors. I believe Giant made this line of frames until 2014. You will see no TCR Composites in 2015. Please don't tell my wife about this.
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| This bike sleeps on the bed. |
This is going to be my first time to the Giant brand and carbon fiber composite material. I can't wait to have this weighed and built. I tried to compare this side by side to my Cannondale CAAD8 size 54 and they are basically the same size. The noticeable difference is that the seat tube angle of the TCR is way slanted to the back. The initial thought is that the TCR's geometry is more relaxed than the CAAD8.
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| I love the colors. Time to save up for those deep carbon wheels. |
I love the way Giant played with the livery. This is what attracted me to this frameset. While the purple may not be desirable of most of cyclists out there, I think it goes well with white. It blends quite nicely as opposed to a strong blue (TCR Composite 1) that gives a more contrasting look. The absence of "Giant" brand name on every tube is also a big plus. I'd say this is subtle.
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| Giant Composite Technology |
I took all these photos before my wife got home. Like those murderer masterminds you see in the movies, you had to plan where to hide the body before the police arrives. Our flat here is not really agriculture material with no nonsense rooms. I decided to hide it in the Balcony where she least visits.
That very same afternoon, for some inexplicable reason she went out there and decided to read her book. Probably the first time she did this. I just stood there at the adjacent room, looking through the window seeing her sitting down while the big bike frame is just behind her. She didn't notice, I thought to myself. The white paint of the wall matches the frame color very well and since the color scheme is not too contrasting, it basically hid itself as if it knew we were in this together.
Until now she doesn't know anything. But it is inevitable that she will know. Especially when my previous bike frame is Black!
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| Maybe knowing the size of my frame can help you visualize what I'm talking about. |
I have to get this weighed at the shop tomorrow. Stay tuned. If only I know how to swap frames, then I could have done this by tonight. For now, my hunt begins for a bargain Pressfit bottom bracket.
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| View at the front |
The overall frame finish is generally smooth but not as smooth as I expected it to be, after all this is not Giant's highest end offering. There are some areas that is visually "turbulent" such as the seat stay bridge, connections within the main triangle, and the fork.
Internet literature around this frame only states that this is made from T-600 carbon fiber. No other details from Giant were presented and I can only speculate that this bike frame was built from standard modulus carbon fiber on everything. Since Giant makes carbon fiber composite bikes for major brands (Colnago being one of them. Source:
http://www.canadiancyclist.com/races12/taiwan/parttwo/index.htm), can fairly say that they won't produce rubbish bikes.
Aside from the huge huge discount they offered me, the store where I got this gave me five years warranty. While this is a 2013 model bike, my warranty ends on 2021. How cool is that? Join me hand in hand as I gather strength to say this: I will not upgrade until then.
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| View of the back |
Click
here to my next blog entry where I weighed parts of this bike frame.
