my opinions based on a weight conscious view on...

bike weight claims are very hard especially when comparing between models from different manufacturers... that is unless they come to state a claimed weight for a particular size.. which is why most manufacturers stay away from it nowadays.+

so when you put a focus in question with a giant... the first question comes first, did the majority of the weight savings came from the frame or components?

frame
the focus is a 60cm in the review and as you mentioned from bicycling's review of an XL which is 58 is almost 700grams lighter (which i pretty much doubt) if they are both weighing in the same manner and their scales are calibrated correctly... most of us asians unless you are yao ming sort of height would be getting something in the range of a 48 to 52cm..54cm at max so it might be as low as sub 10kgs easy and not accounting for the 32 spoke wheels vs what i think is a xero xr-200 (sub 1700gram vs a tad over 2000grams easily)

if the giant frame really did get so much weight savings compared to a focus, then the question is did they manage to skimp on materials to make the frame lighter and end up compromising the stiffness of the frame or did they use a different grade of aluminum than focus did.

components
giant did fit the SL2 with some fairly nice cockpit, composites seatpost and high grade alloy bars and stem which accounts for some weight savings

if you really are looking at an TCR SL and not a TCR, you do have to bear in mind the one important thing. TCR SL runs on the new overdrive 2 which they launch for 2012 models. This means both the stem and headset is now specifically for their fork steerer tube which is slightly larger than most current standards. You might have trouble finding a different sized stem if you have fitting issues or even a replacement headset when the fitted one wears out. If your shop has the stem and headsets in stock, then no big issues. Just a limited brand options to choose from.

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/gian...d-launch-30729/

at the end of the day, if most of the weight came from components and you know you will be itchy handed some 6months down the road after purchasing it, then here is where i think the focus is no different from a giant since you will be swapping all the stuff that is saving you the weight in the first place. If the frame is the main weight saver, then giant is a good place to start with if $$$ not an issue.

Decisions, decisions. personally, i would go and weigh the bike bike at the shop first with both weight on a similar manner, no pedal, bottle cages and any other extra clamp on stuff.

you can't really get a carbon bike at RM5k unless you are looking for those taiwanese brands like stepdragon, tw26 and whatever i have yet to see before... the carbon frame is cheap but so does the quality of the layup work of the material in the building process..

reputable brand's entry level carbon with shimano workhorse groupset like 105 goes for RM10k starting.

as i mentioned above, an alloy frame is very finicky as metal fatigue is an issue... if they skimp on materials on sections where they think bears little stress to make the frame light.. the frame will begin flexing more due to fatigue some 2 or 3 years later depending on your ride volume and especially when your body weight is in the upper regions of your scale.

this is the downfalls of alloy frames compared to carbon which has no fatigue life... but this allows beginners some leeway especially when you have a tendency to crash it... alloy is more crash worthy compared to carbon in this sense.. and less expensive to begin with.

i've gone through 3 bikes in the last 4 to 5 years not because i am finding excuses for a new one (partly i have to admit is an excuse) but also that i felt the frame has deteriorated over time...don't ride carbon cause i can't afford one and don't have a good sense of balance..

This post has been edited by butthead: Jan 8 2012, 01:19 PM

Hehe ya agree on the carbon frame... here is some info i gotten from Giant Singapore regarding the lower range TCR Composite bikes:

2012 TCR C1 SGD3000
2012 TCR C2 SGD2500
2012 TCR C3 SGD2200

According the the reply the Singapore TCR Composite is as per Giant International website specs.

Anyhow no idea how much Malaysia prices are, or the availability....

don't expect the prices for simillar bikes to be a direct currency conversion here.. it never works unless you are willing to travel over to said country and get them yourself.

if you look at taiwan or china, there are many instances where similar bikes are illogically cheap when you do a currency conversion but never gets close to it when it reaches our shores. not sure if price jacked up or due to some shipping charges of some sort.

so back to your point, a TCR composite series bike

Giant USA retails a TCR C2 for 1850 USD about the same as your Singapore MSRP... RM5.9k
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/bikes/...e.2/9007/48840/

In China a TCR C2 for 9800 RMB, even cheaper after conversion...RM4.9k
http://www.giant.com.cn/zh-ht/bikes/model/tcr.c2/8807/48051/

Here is the closest comparison without browsing through all the available countries.

In Canada for a TCR SL2 for 1899 CDN, RM5.8k
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/bikes/...e.2/9746/49341/

Back to ryan3721's aluminum giant
A TCR SL1 in canada costs 1.4k of their money, RM4.3k here..
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/bikes/...r.1/9748/49342/

by now you should be able to make a relation based on Ryan and Canada's price and what to expect for your carbon rig.

Ryan3721's SL2 is RM4.8k without discount and assuming this is their official retail price for malaysia. Assuming a hopeful 10% discount brings it down to RM4.3k bearing in mind that this is spec'ed with lower end components than the SL1 sold in canada for RM4.3k.

you can ask them to test the waters
http://www.facebook.com/pages/GIANT-BICYCL...123416481013368

i do remember seeing giant put up a tent at the kiara MTB carnival last year and they had a old model TCR not sure if an "advanced" model and i presume a 2010 model equipped with SRAM rival. They claim a huge discounts was given due to old model and still costed RM6.8k.

crazy, but i never like to compare or i'd be wondering why i never live in a particular country

This post has been edited by butthead: Jan 8 2012, 07:45 PM

The canada bike in your link is for TCR1, which is lower spec with mixture of 105 and Tiagra, where as the TCR SL2 in Malaysia is as per Giant International spec, with full 105.

Can try ask in Giant Malaysia facebook page but I doubt you will get any useful info there. When asked for the dealer list, MSRP in Malaysia and available models (basic information which Giant Taiwan/Singapore/USA put online for EVERYONE to see), they will ask you to email them and they will reply to the email, instead of putting them in the facebook page.

You can see there are ALOT of interested and potential buyers making similar price/dealer enquiries again and again on the facebook page but Giant Malaysia will either ignore them or ask them to send in email instead. And all my previous comments requesting the info to be put online, are all DELETED.

Anyway butthead thank you for your useful and helpful information in helping novice like me and others making the correct decision in buying our 1st bike.

sorry.. had too many tabs opened at once.. and too many currencies to crunch... it is a non-SL TCR 1 which you are rite...

just doubt that there is any reputable brands that has an entry level carbon at RM5k.. not that i have a disbelief for it, but my aluminum rig costed me almost RM5k without wheels and pedals when i switched bikes last year. starting at RM7k i trust there is some lower grade carbon framed 105s available..i'd be punching my nutbags if there is a carbon one available for 5k...

you can email giant for their MSRP... that gives you a good gauge... just dun expect a huge cut of discount, maybe 5 %or 10%... i trust they don;t want to post it on facebook due to preventing competitions checking them out and they would use email as more of a 1 to 1 channel instead...

pink bike trading , cassie is another source you can ask.. they are in bukit mertajam.. http://pinkbiketrading.com

asked them for a giant trinity last time and they gave me the price but unfortunately no stock...

unfortunately, due to different demographics, giant is able to post retail prices on the site but malaysia could be complicated as the giant distributor is being transferred around for the past few years i guess...

you're most welcome, just offering my opinion which might not be 100% correct and accurate.

This post has been edited by butthead: Jan 8 2012, 10:34 PM

TIME to compromise.

This post has been edited by dinraxxx: Jan 8 2012, 10:37 PM

compromising my wallet ain't gonna happen but 2 can play at that game

Look 695 on mavic ksyrium slr or rsys slr

and lightweights



This post has been edited by butthead: Jan 11 2012, 01:32 PM

dun think u gonna punch ur balls lo... coz u not even dare to ride a carbon...

if you buy me a carbon SL4 or 695... i am sure i am up to the task of riding it.. i jus don't have the pockets to ride carbon... different reasons, they are...

argument is invalid...

my argument has never been valid before..

wow..so many choices of frameset....at where is this shop?

Don't know which you are referring to? but...tembak all

1st and 2nd pic, Look bikes are KH Cycle in Mutiara Damansara
2nd and 3rd pic, specialized bikes are GH Speebikes in Kota Damansara
Last 3 pics, BMC bikes are KSH Bikes in SS2.

arrrrghhh.. recovering from my first 90km ride...

haha ... try a century next time

90k over rolling terrain or 90k flat?

This post has been edited by butthead: Jan 9 2012, 10:46 PM

Rolling, with quite some nice downhills to coast down to recover after the climbs.

Trying out a 90-100km route first to see if I can survive a century ride or not

route map's here: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abv...120108-0630.kml

This post has been edited by malleus: Jan 9 2012, 11:09 PM

thought the hulu langat loop was longer than 90K... this is the one that passes a hill first into the semenyih dam right? near the broga area... quite a tough ride this is...

on days that i have nothing to do... i like to take my ride to batu caves -> ulu yam -> batang kali -> gohtong jaya -> genting sempah -> gombak and back home...

just over 100K from home and over 4000 feet of elevation... if i were any better a climber, i'd try genting highlands before i go down from gohtong jaya... but furthest i reached on my good day was the temple before i gave up.. the gradients are a bit too tough for me beyond those points and i have to worry about getting home...

nowadays i just find excuse to not go far... hardly even go genting sempah anymore

century is not hard if you have companions... i've done the longest at 190K which i spend like 2 hours slogging the last 30K of flat road going home... totally depleted of everything on that day...

This post has been edited by butthead: Jan 9 2012, 11:41 PM

My ROTW fren: http://www.umct.org/

First time doing that loop actually. Not sure what the actual distance is supposed to be. We started out at the car park next to the Masjid in Semenyih, crossed the road to Jalan Sungai Lalang, then went north from there, passed the 3 memorial parks, till we hit the dam area. Kept following the road till we came to a fork on the road, then turned to the west which took us up a killer 2.5 km climb. Followed the road till it loops back at the dam area, then back south down to where we started at again.

Planning to go there again this Sunday, same place but slightly longer route according to the guy leading the ride. 110km this time.

mari~ gohtong jaya~