Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

So can anyone justify paying $600 more for a 2012 Giant Advanced Tcr 0?

I am tossing up between the Azzurri and the Giant and to be honest haven’t found many bad comments about the Azzurri!

They both seem pretty stiff, both have full di2, Azzurri wheels slightly lighter than the Giant.

Anyone willing to convince me to buy the giant? The only thing is I can get a Giant straight away and the Azzurri I have to wait until November.

Hammo wrote: ....

Anyone willing to convince me to buy the giant? The only thing is I can get a Giant straight away and the Azzurri I have to wait until November.

Haven't ridden the Giant, but I wont tell not to buy the Azzurri

Have you read my ride review ?

Yes i did thanks for that!

I think if I can get over the fact one brand is better know and has a better name they seem to be very simalar bikes at least on paper!

Is the geometry pretty agressive?

Hammo wrote:Yes i did thanks for that!

I think if I can get over the fact one brand is better know and has a better name they seem to be very simalar bikes at least on paper!

Is the geometry pretty agressive?

A name credo is in your mind .

Geo is not aggressive.

I'm currently riding the Mezzo 90, and its a better frame by a fair way.

I am coming off a Fuji sst2.0 so i like the stiff agressive bike. Maybe I should stick with the TCR 0

Cycledelica wrote:If I had deeper pockets I might have gone for a more exotic brand like kuota or something but alas I don't and I am yet to see a really negative review on the Di2 forza so I bit the bullet and pre-ordered one last week. Missed the $50 price drop so got it for $2449.

Gonna be a step up though from my 9.5kg Kona Zing with 105!! My front derailleur on the Kona is really crap and keeps dropping the chain no matter how finely I adjust it, so I'm gonna be so happy to have a front shifter that works beautifully.

And another good thing is when it does need a bit of a tuneup it's all done by a couple of button presses, no tools needed.

I just did mine the other day due to a bit of chain noise in one or two gears, a few button presses later, beautiful and quiet again.

Now you just need to wait for it to arrive..........


Cheers

ozzymac wrote: And another good thing is when it does need a bit of a tuneup it's all done by a couple of button presses, no tools needed.

I just did mine the other day due to a bit of chain noise in one or two gears, a few button presses later, beautiful and quiet again.

Now you just need to wait for it to arrive..........


Cheers

I figure if I can put in some really solid kms before it arrives then I will do it justice first day out. I am most interested to see how much quicker I can ascend some of the Syd nth side climbs (ie: 3 gorges/akuna bay).

Hammo wrote:I am coming off a Fuji sst2.0 so i like the stiff agressive bike. Maybe I should stick with the TCR 0

Look at the geometry charts and compare. The Forza Pro and the Mezzo 90 are stiff bikes, but are different.

What you need to decide is what is the most important aspects and get that, regardless of the barnd.

I rode a mezzo 90 back to back with my a Giant. The mezzo felt like a wet noodle. It had far less road feed back but was much softer under power.


UPDATE/CORRECTION 20.11.2012
I rode a Mezzo Pro not the new Mezzo 90 so I take back what I said as I've never ridden a 90. Sorry for the confusion. Details here.

Cool thanks! What Giant do you have?

Marty Moose wrote:I rode a mezzo 90 back to back with my a Giant. The mezzo felt like a wet noodle. It had far less road feed back but was much softer under power.

UPDATE/CORRECTION 20.11.2012
I rode a Mezzo Pro not the new Mezzo 90 so I take back what I said as I've never ridden a 90. Sorry for the confusion. Details here.

Pffff haha

Marty Moose wrote:I rode a mezzo 90 back to back with my a Giant. The mezzo felt like a wet noodle. It had far less road feed back but was much softer under power.

UPDATE/CORRECTION 20.11.2012
I rode a Mezzo Pro not the new Mezzo 90 so I take back what I said as I've never ridden a 90. Sorry for the confusion. Details here.

Wet noodle ? Hmmm, each has their own definition of stiff and what they like, but I'd go out on a limb and say that the mezzo 90, and the Forza pro is anything but flexy.

Best to ride it yourself and make up your own mind.

Yeh each to their own, we all feel differently. The forza feels stiffer than the mezzo but the mezzo is smoother that's what I felt anyway. I have a Giant TCR adv 1. Go ride a few bikes back to back they do feel different to one another. At no point did I mean the mezzo is not good, mate loves his.

UPDATE/CORRECTION 20.11.2012
I rode a Mezzo Pro not the new Mezzo 90 so I take back what I said as I've never ridden a 90. Sorry for the confusion. Details here.

ozzymac wrote: And another good thing is when it does need a bit of a tuneup it's all done by a couple of button presses, no tools needed.

I can tune my mechanical groupset with a few turns of a barrel adjuster, no tools required and it runs good as new again... Whilst I've got nothing against Di2 (and will probably buy it when it trickles down to 105) I do think its a solution looking for a problem, apart from the FD, that is magic (opinion formed on a 1/2 hour test ride).

Marty Moose wrote:Yeh each to their own, we all feel differently. The forza feels stiffer than the mezzo but the mezzo is smoother that's what I felt anyway. I have a Giant TCR adv 1. Go ride a few bikes back to back they do feel different to one another. At no point did I mean the mezzo is not good, mate loves his.

UPDATE/CORRECTION 20.11.2012
I rode a Mezzo Pro not the new Mezzo 90 so I take back what I said as I've never ridden a 90. Sorry for the confusion. Details here.

Being smoother is not the same as a "wet noodle"

I actually think the Mezzo is stiffer, but has a rear end that is well planted due to the thin seat stays.

Just because it is not rock solid, doesn't mean it is flexy. Two completely different things

MichaelB wrote:

Marty Moose wrote:Yeh each to their own, we all feel differently. The forza feels stiffer than the mezzo but the mezzo is smoother that's what I felt anyway. I have a Giant TCR adv 1. Go ride a few bikes back to back they do feel different to one another. At no point did I mean the mezzo is not good, mate loves his.

UPDATE/CORRECTION 20.11.2012
I rode a Mezzo Pro not the new Mezzo 90 so I take back what I said as I've never ridden a 90. Sorry for the confusion. Details here.

Being smoother is not the same as a "wet noodle"

I actually think the Mezzo is stiffer, but has a rear end that is well planted due to the thin seat stays.

Just because it is not rock solid, doesn't mean it is flexy. Two completely different things

Compered to my usual ride under power the front end is really flexy like a wet noodle that's what I felt, does that mean its bad! this for you to decide yourself.

UPDATE/CORRECTION 20.11.2012
I rode a Mezzo Pro not the new Mezzo 90 so I take back what I said as I've never ridden a 90. Sorry for the confusion. Details here.

Hammo wrote:So can anyone justify paying $600 more for a 2012 Giant Advanced Tcr 0?

I am tossing up between the Azzurri and the Giant and to be honest haven’t found many bad comments about the Azzurri!

They both seem pretty stiff, both have full di2, Azzurri wheels slightly lighter than the Giant.

Anyone willing to convince me to buy the giant? The only thing is I can get a Giant straight away and the Azzurri I have to wait until November.

Bump!! I'm also looking for an answer to this question. For the same price as the Azzurri the best Giant on bikeexchange is a TCR 2 with composite frame, 105 running gear and housebrand wheelset. Best price on TCR advanced 0 with ultegra Di2 is $2799 with housebrand wheelset. So getting comparable here now. $300 more for the Giant but the Renyolds wheelset on the Azzurri is surely better than the Giant housebrand. Best price is $2899 more locally (Sydney) where I could pick it up.

I have read that Azzurri and cyclingexpress are both owned by the same company (learsport) hence it appears one way they are able to cut down costs is simply by removing the middleman. But the big question is....

Is the Giant frame that much better than the Azzurri that it is worth the extra $300 in addition to the cheaper wheelset? If I was to get a better wheelset at POS at the local store then I'm probably looking at a minimum of $500 extra.

Cycledelica wrote: ...
Is the Giant frame that much better than the Azzurri that it is worth the extra $300 in addition to the cheaper wheelset? If I was to get a better wheelset at POS at the local store then I'm probably looking at a minimum of $500 extra.

Ride both and make a decision from there.

Both are more than capable bikes.

If you are patient, you may luck on a 10% off special too for the Azzurri

Cycledelica wrote:

Hammo wrote:So can anyone justify paying $600 more for a 2012 Giant Advanced Tcr 0?

I am tossing up between the Azzurri and the Giant and to be honest haven’t found many bad comments about the Azzurri!

They both seem pretty stiff, both have full di2, Azzurri wheels slightly lighter than the Giant.

Anyone willing to convince me to buy the giant? The only thing is I can get a Giant straight away and the Azzurri I have to wait until November.

Bump!! I'm also looking for an answer to this question. For the same price as the Azzurri the best Giant on bikeexchange is a TCR 2 with composite frame, 105 running gear and housebrand wheelset. Best price on TCR advanced 0 with ultegra Di2 is $2799 with housebrand wheelset. So getting comparable here now. $300 more for the Giant but the Renyolds wheelset on the Azzurri is surely better than the Giant housebrand. Best price is $2899 more locally (Sydney) where I could pick it up.

I have read that Azzurri and cyclingexpress are both owned by the same company (learsport) hence it appears one way they are able to cut down costs is simply by removing the middleman. But the big question is....

Is the Giant frame that much better than the Azzurri that it is worth the extra $300 in addition to the cheaper wheelset? If I was to get a better wheelset at POS at the local store then I'm probably looking at a minimum of $500 extra.

the giant wheels are DT swiss and actually a bloody good wheel.. ive done 1000km on mine and i rate them above the fulcrum 5's i had on my old bike.. im a big guy as well and the giant wheels are nice and stiff and given no problems, they are far from a cheap wheel set..

I ended up buying the Giant TCR 0 on the weekend!

Have to agree the wheels seem pretty good quality.

For me it came down to service, I wanted to buy from a local shop and know I can take it back if there is any problems.

Ive got the Giant as well, never ridden the Azzuri or the wheels that come with it. IMO the biggest difference which is being overlooked by most is the bottom bracket, The Giant has a press fit dura-ace level, the Azzuri doesnt. I did 4000k's on the Giant wheels without anything going wrong and just replaced them with Fulcrum 3's. The hubs on the Giant wheels were driving me insane and I'm no bike mechanic but I cant see anyway that they can be serviced. Only had the Fulcrum's on a fortnight but top speed wise fairly similar, but the new wheels seem easier to maintain a speed of around 35k's which is probably just the slightly deeper rims.

I read your article Michael B which is what really influenced me into buying the Forza (although I had read several other articles). My other option was a Merida Scultera but was really cheese and chalk in the end because one has a "full" groupset the other doesn't. Can't wait for Santa to bring it as long as he doesn't try to push it down the chimney.

OppyA5 wrote:I read your article Michael B which is what really influenced me into buying the Forza (although I had read several other articles). My other option was a Merida Scultera but was really cheese and chalk in the end because one has a "full" groupset the other doesn't. Can't wait for Santa to bring it as long as he doesn't try to push it down the chimney.

Glad you liked the article, hope you like the bike as much as I did.

The Mezzo 90 test is also going very well - stay tuned for the report !!!

MichaelB wrote:

OppyA5 wrote:I read your article Michael B which is what really influenced me into buying the Forza (although I had read several other articles). My other option was a Merida Scultera but was really cheese and chalk in the end because one has a "full" groupset the other doesn't. Can't wait for Santa to bring it as long as he doesn't try to push it down the chimney.

Glad you liked the article, hope you like the bike as much as I did.

The Mezzo 90 test is also going very well - stay tuned for the report !!!

Any updates MichaelB on the Mezzo 90? Interested in your opinion and how it compares to the Forza Di2

Nhutty wrote:

Any updates MichaelB on the Mezzo 90? Interested in your opinion and how it compares to the Forza Di2

Just about to start the writeup this weekend. Have now done in excess of 800km and plenty of climbing

In a few words, "well worth the extra money". That was at $3,599, but now on sale for $2,999 making it even better.

Had one forum member come over for a quick try and he compared it favourably to his BMC SLR01 in terms of how the rear end feels transferring the power and soaking up the bumps.

Stay tuned