This post is actually more bicycle centric and less tri-related, but I figured I could find out what I needed to know with the international mix of particpants that frequent the forum…
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I have been trying to sleuth up any information or images on the soon (hopefully) to be released Giant TCR Advanced (830 grams for a Medium frame) which I think may also be referred to as the ‘TCR Composite Superlight’ in markets other than North America. In the past, Giant has typically started the marketing spin via a series of press releases as well as loose lips in the marketing department during trade shows and the ability for some racers to test ride (or at least touch/oggle) some of the prototypes. Unfortuntely more recently, Giant has either gotten more tight lipped as the whole process seems to have tapered off. This seems to be evidenced by the fact that the composite TT frames that ONCE used in the 03’ TDF where kept under wraps until just 1-2 weeks prior to the tour’s start.
Early last year I got wind of a new prototype - a lighter weight version of the TCR Composite that was referred to as the TCR Advanced. Near the end of the year, the UK Giant website even ahd a press release about the new frame but not much in the form of prototypes to preview. I have managed to glean various images of different iterations of some prototypes from some websites that turned up with a google search but google was not able to translate all of the sites and I was wondering if someone could help out with a passage from one site? Here is the text:
Alweer een Giant nieuwtje: niet UCI goedgekeurd (te licht) maar wel bijzonder. Iets meer als 4.5 kilo weegt deze fiets compleet! Je kunt er nog echt op fietsen ook. Het is een voorproefje van de nieuwe carbon techniek die Giant aan het ontwikkelen is. We wachten met spanning af.
For those who are interested, here are links to the images:
Not sure if it is dutch (maybe afrikaans) but from what I can make out they are describing what you already know, that it is a prototype from Giant’s new carbon technology and that it weighs a scant 4.5kg.
The most important part though is that they say it is NOT UCI legal, if that is of concern to you.
Again Giant nieuwtje: not UCI approved (too lifts) but particular. Something more as 4.5 kilos weighs this bicycle completely! You can cycle still real also. It is a voorproefje of the new carbon technique which is Giant for developing. We wait with tension.
Another piece of news from Giant: not UCI-approved (too light) but special nonetheless. This bike weighs a little over 4.5 kg complete. And you can really ride on it. It’s a teaser for the new carbon technology Giant is developing. We’ll wait with anticipation.
For the earlier poster - yes, one of the images is from the weight weenies site but I do not think it is indicative of the latest prototypes for the TCR Advanced. I am led to believe that the reason Giant is being so tight lipped about all this is because they have adapted some of the techinques in use at their aerospace subsidiary to help make very the next generation TCR (very light and very shaped carbon) frames. T-Mobile and maybe some of the Healthnet crew are apparently test riding/racing on a couple of the latest iterations!
“Voorproefje” is litterally a small sample of food. The “voorproever” in the time of the Romans was the guy who tasted the food to make sure it wasn’t poisoned (maybe a mafia analogy is more with the times).
“Voorproefje” is litterally a small sample of food. The “voorproever” in the time of the Romans was the guy who tasted the food to make sure it wasn’t poisoned (maybe a mafia analogy is more with the times).
So it’s “a little taste?” Yeah, that works pretty good, too.