Talk me out of a Defy Advanced SL

[slowK]

Nice bike! Let us all know how it rides.

[rjk]

Rides Absolutely beautifully the thing is a comfortable rocket soaks up the bumps better than my steel salsa I got mine from boxhill cycle works vlad let me take the 5.2 test bike for the weekend nothing felt as good after that

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[rodneycc]

Lovely bike mate. Think I know why you're gone for it as it just looks really solid with the thick head tube and joins and slight curve fork. Love the colour too. (What is it - midnight blue or is it just the photo? - it sparkles!).

Sent via Tapatalk so expect the odd typo and mis-posting!

[rjk]

the colour is smoke blue vapour coat, the bottom half of the bike is extremely solid and stiff, when you apply the power it gets up and flies, the iso post absorbs all of the shocks so none of it is transmitted to you.

I believe from memory that it is 30% stiffer than the madone, the frame is from a different factory from the madone made in taiwan where all the top carbon frames are made now and shipped to the US for painting so it will not have the bottom bracket issue either.

LOVE IT

[slowK]

the colour is smoke blue vapour coat, the bottom half of the bike is extremely solid and stiff, when you apply the power it gets up and flies, the iso post absorbs all of the shocks so none of it is transmitted to you.

I believe from memory that it is 30% stiffer than the madone, the frame is from a different factory from the madone made in taiwan where all the top carbon frames are made now and shipped to the US for painting so it will not have the bottom bracket issue either.

LOVE IT

Hi rjk,

Sounds fantastic - well done. A question about the Project 1 process: I notice you have wheels/tires/saddle that aren't part of the Project 1 options. Can you select not to get certain components if you have/prefer some non-Trek/Bontrager stuff?

[rjk]

You can but I just went with the cheapest parts of the bike and my lbs kept some and kept the oters as spares. Go play with the project 1 on the trek website

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[slowK]

You can but I just went with the cheapest parts of the bike and my lbs kept some and kept the oters as spares. Go play with the project 1 on the trek website

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk

Thanks - appreciated

[slowK]

Bit of a gravedig, but an update of where this little story ends.

Did a bikefit (Body Geometry fit with a Retul fitting bike). Was very useful. My position changed a fair bit - saddle up 3cm, bars up 2cm, saddle back around 2.5cm too. Lots of fiddling with cleat position and focus on knee tracking. It felt different at first (taller, obviously), but quickly settled into a very comfortable and efficient position with no niggles. I mainly notice my knees and ankles not wobbling in and out during the pedal stroke, and am also more comfortable in the drops. It also gave me the confidence to interpret geometry charts especially focusing on stack and reach. So for me I think it was worth it.

I checked out the Defy Advanced SL in the flesh. It didn't wow me. The value was obviously there (the price had dropped to $3500 for 11sp Dura-Ace and a 800g frame), but it just didn't have that x-factor that made me want it.

Vacillated for months about buying a frame (a BMC GF01 was the top of the list) to build up with SRAM Force 22, but it would have been very expensive.

Then yesterday, for no great reason apart from "oh, there's a bike shop in this shopping centre, I may as well go have a look" I went into a shop selling Treks. Chatted to the shop guy, he mentioned that they have 20% off the Madone 5.9 in Dura Ace or SRAM Red 22 ($5000 down to $4000). The geometry of the 50cm is within a few millimetres of my current Roubaix (surprisingly, the 50cm Madone has a shorter reach and taller stack than my 49cm Roubaix). No 50cm SRAM Reds, but they can get in a a 50cm 5.9 Dura and a 52cm SRAM Red and swap the groupset over for me. I know that some people have had issues with the Bontrager direct mount brakes on the Madones, but I'm happy to take a punt - can always upgrade the brakes later.

Paid the deposit today.