Giant TCR Advanced 2

Giant's TCR Advanced 2 has a brilliant balance of comfort and performance thanks to a stiff frameset, great geometry and plenty of exposed seatpost. It also feels very light and sprightly, which makes it a capable race bike straight out of the box.

If the TCR Advanced 2 is too high (or too low) for your budget, check out other options in our guide to the best road bikes, from £300 to over £13,000.

Ride

Even after all these years it's great to see Giant has retained that early DNA of the TCR, with its heavily sloping top tube creating a compact frame for lightness and stiffness, offset by slender seatstays and a lot of exposed seatpost to soak up the bumps and create a smooth and comfortable ride.

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On the road.cc scales this TCR is just a few grams over 8kg, but it feels even lighter than that. A lot of that is down to the geometry, with this medium size getting a short 980mm wheelbase which makes it feel nimble in your hands. Pair that to the steepish 73-degree head angle, which gives very direct handling, and the whole bike just feels lively. It's a lot of fun!

With a seat angle of 74 degrees it puts you in a forward position which really lets you get the power down, even from the saddle. I've lost count of the number of times I went out for a ride on the TCR with the intention of a bit of a recovery ride after a tough couple of days, and ended up smashing it around the loop, just because that's what the TCR makes you feel like you want to do.

The head tube length is just 145mm so you can properly hunker down in the drops, getting low and aero, which again gives the TCR a racy feel to it.

As you can see by the huge diameter of the down tube and resulting press-fit bottom bracket junction width, the Giant is all about getting the power down, and it's something that it does very well indeed.

Massive efforts out of the saddle won't result in any noticeable flex, whether on the flat or when stomping your way up a hill. The TCR has a very compact rear triangle and this is noticeable during those hard efforts.

On the descents the TCR is also a belter. That direct steering gives you proper race bike handling; it's a real point and shoot machine that not only handles positively but is also very responsive to shifts in your bodyweight, and changes to the centre of gravity.

This makes technical descents a lot of fun, and rewarding too, especially those with opposing corners following each other where you bank the bike from one side to the other.

The TCR feels very balanced indeed.

The tyres are Giant's own, the Gavia AC 1s, and they are probably the only weak link in the whole build. They are good training tyres, but they don't really suit the performance behaviour of the TCR rolling-wise, they lack a bit in the grip department, and generally feel a bit subdued compare to some lighter, stickier rubber.

One thing that I was impressed with was the amount of feedback that the frame and fork provide. It's a bike that really lets you know what is going on, transmitting the information from the tyres and road through to your contact points. For such a stiff frame it manages to mute the road buzz without taking the edge off that information too, especially with some uprated tyres fitted, as I did during testing.

Frame and fork

Giant is one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the world, and it produces its own Advanced Composite Technology frames and forks from raw carbon in its own composite factory.

As I've mentioned, the frame and fork have a very satisfying ride quality, so there is no question about Giant's ability to design tube shapes and carbon fibre layups to deliver that high-end feel.

The fork is full carbon fibre, in that the legs and the steerer are made from it.

That massive down tube is pretty much a rectangle with rounded corners, which then flows into a tapered head tube. That isn't it for the oversizing, though, as the head tube end of the top tube is also wider than most frames.

But it tapers back quickly to probably half of its width as it reaches the seatpost, where the focus on comfort begins.

The seatpost is of an aero persuasion, mimicking the shape of the seatpost. Non-round posts can tend to give a harsher ride than circular ones, but there is a lot of post on display, which allows for flex. Not in a way that makes the rear end feel soft – I'd really hate that – but if the road surface is broken up it just takes the sting out of it. During hard efforts in the saddle, things still feel tight.

As for attachment points, there are very few. If you want mudguards, look elsewhere; this is a proper race bike, and by giving clearance for guards you'd take away the whole identity of the TCR.

What you do get are mounting points for a couple of bottle cages and... nope, that's it. Oh yeah, it will accept Giant's RideSense sensor and accompanying hardware.

As you may have noticed, the Advanced 2 is running rim brakes, so that does limit tyre clearance to those that will run through the callipers. The wheels fitted here have a 22mm inner width, which nudges the 25mm tyres out to 28mm wide; that's plenty for a race bike, and lack of clearance isn't something I'd criticise the TCR for.

Size-wise, the TCR is available in five options, ranging from S through to XL (S, M, M/L, L, XL). I've touched on the geometry above, but if you want the full details then Giant has a comprehensive geometry table on its website.

Groupset

While Shimano has made the jump to 12-speed Di2 for 105, the TCR Advanced 2 is running the previous R7000 mechanical version.

As you can see from Dave's review, it's an awesome groupset, and on a bike like the TCR Advanced it's kind of in its natural home. The 105 groupset is good enough to be raced on, basically, but doesn't cost the earth to replace should you be involved in a smash – handy if you aren't a sponsored rider.

Giant has specced an 11-30T cassette with a 52/36T chainset – racy gears for a racy bike.

As always with a 105 setup, the gear shifting has a light action to it, but one that is also crisp and precise, while the braking from the dual-pivot callipers is powerful, with plenty of bite from the stock Shimano pads.

Finishing kit

I've already touched on the seatpost, but I haven't mentioned that it's carbon fibre for the main section, with an alloy clamping assembly. It's easy to set up and adjust, while the Giant Approach saddle that sits on it is comfortable thanks to its curved shape and minimal padding.

The handlebar and stem are both from Giant's catalogue and are called Contact. Both are aluminium alloy in construction and do their respective jobs, without being overly flash.

The handlebar has a 31.8mm clamping diameter like most, but then the diameter narrows considerably. With the thin bar tape, I found the bar narrower than most and I'd like a little bit more girth for comfort. Thicker, padded tape would be a quick and relatively cheap solution, so it's not a major issue.

Wheels and tyres

The wheels are Giant's own too: P-R2. With no disc rotors mounted on the hubs they can go lighter on the spoke count, with just 16 on the front laced radially, and 24 on the rear laced 1x on the drive side and radially on the non-drive.

With shallow alloy rims the P-R2s are actually quite a light set of wheels for a stock setup, and are tubeless compatible. In fact Giant sets the wheels and tyres up tubeless before sale – not something that is common from most brands.

I found the wheels stiff enough for sprinting and when climbing out of the saddle, and there were no issues with durability either.

The Giant AC 1 tyres, as I said earlier, are fine for general riding or training. They seem robust too – I've had no issues with punctures throughout the winter period of testing, where the roads have been littered with the usual debris after rain and hedge-cutting in the countryside.

Value

This is the only model in the TCR Advanced 'lineup' (there are a few options in the TCR Advanced Disc range), and it's pretty good value at £2,249.

It's good to see that Giant is sticking with rim-braked bikes (and framesets) in its catalogue – a lot haven't, such as Specialized, Scott and Trek, for instance, or they have been restricted to lower priced offerings like the Boardman SLR 8.9 Carbon, which I reviewed back in 2020 (though that is impressively good value for money at £1,200 with a carbon frameset, and the majority of a Shimano 105 groupset).

It's about 800g heavier than the Giant, though, and geometry-wise it's more endurance style. The Giant's frameset is superior in terms of ride feel and stiffness, too.

Ribble offers its Endurance SL in a Sport build, which comes with 105 mechanical including rim brakes, Mavic Ksyrium SL alloy wheels and Level alloy finishing kit. It has a more endurance-based riding style to it than the Giant, though, and it'll cost you £2,499, so not as good value as the TCR.

Conclusion

The rim-braked race bike is a dying breed, and this TCR Advanced 2 shows that this is a shame. Even with this modest, mid-range spec list it's a fast, lightweight race machine and its eagerness to be ridden hard is infectious. The quality of the ride is very impressive, and while it is a modern, advanced road bike, there is a lovely feeling of simplicity and 'old schoolness' about it, especially when looking down at those slender hub bodies.

Verdict

Beautifully simple, classic looking race bike with great performance and ride quality