I’ve always tried to ensure everything works together in an aesthetically pleasing way, though.Ī crankset is always a centrepiece of any groupset and though this SRM Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 power meter may be old, it’s still a solid workhorse and, I think, an object of real beauty.
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The only parts I didn’t pay for are the wheels and the rear derailleur, both of which I salvaged from testers at BikeRadar.Ĭonsequently, it’s a bit of a mishmash of parts I considered to offer good performance and value. Having only recently been initiated into the church of cycling journalism, I’ve always had to pay for my own kit (fetch the tiny violins). The story of this bike is that it’s essentially built with whatever I had access to. It’s a road race bike and it does excel in that regard, so I can’t mark it down too heavily for that. It was never designed to be an all-day cruiser, though. That combined with the stiff frame makes it uncomfortable when the road surface isn’t great. A thoroughbred race bike of an era in which 19 to 23mm tubulars were the norm among professionals, the frame only has clearance for 25mm tyres. If I could change anything about this bike it would be to add more tyre clearance. I wanted a set of HED Jet 6 wheels for a long time, but investing in expensive rim brake wheels didn’t make much sense to me once it became clear disc brakes were the direction of travel for the industry. This bike is eleven years old now, but Giant’s Compact Road Design still looks modern. The external cable routing shows the frame’s age, but if I put an electronic groupset on it (for which there is internal routing), I think it could easily pass for a much more recent bike. The TCR’s angular tubes and classy, gloss carbon and white finish still look the business even today, for example.
![giant tcr advanced get uncomfortable on long rides giant tcr advanced get uncomfortable on long rides](https://cdn.road.cc/sites/default/files/styles/main_width/public/giantdumoulinpink-010.jpg)
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Until recently, changes to non-aero road bikes have seemed fairly incremental rather than revolutionary. The main reason it’s still my number one bike is that, as a pure road bike, it’s just so capable.