Giant Defy Advanced vs Triban RC520

I managed to snag a Giant Defy advanced 1 for $3300, full Carbon, ultegra (minus crankset) and hydraulic discs. I got extremely lucky that it happened to be available when I was looking online.

It is one thing that's a easy upgrade, but that's pretty common with entry-level bikes. Usually They're built for robustness and not speed. Here's a c...

The bike comes setup tubulars. Very few companies do actually seem to send their bikes out to Bliss. They all come to Bliss ready which means we're gi...

Its a bit heavy with around 10.4kg on the M size no pedals but I think its decent for a entry level road bike.

I currently have the Gaint Defy Advanced in a size Small(In the middle of S and M) and its amazing, had it just for a week and already put in about 300km on it. My previous bike was a carrera racer on a size M and had it for about 10 years before upgrading, never knew about bike fitting or anything, still managed to do a couple of century run on it but developed lower back and arm pain due to the size being too big for me. I was told that if your in the middle range of the two sizes it be better to pick the size down as you can always adjust the seat and stem as for a larger frame it be more difficult.

I purchased the medium frame and I am 5'9, so bang in on the size for me, I would say anyone at this height who wants more comfortable geometry should go up a frame as my seat is now a good few inches over the top of my handle bars. All in all the bike is solid, flys around with no issues and nobody moaned with the free try outs at my bike club. What went down very well there was the paintjob and the fact it looks different in light and darker conditions. The only niggle is the positioning of the rear gear cable, it seems to pop up from under the frame a bit early and if my right foot is out of position my heel can catch, this is not a problem when I have my cleats (Shimano A530s) on but is a problem for stop and start riding