Giant Shows Off Their Delicious Defy Bikes and There's Something for Everyone in This Bag

Folks, the name Giant Bicycles has been around since 1972, and today, this worldwide crew has a dealership in just about any town where human beings exist, as in, everywhere! And the way they grew to such a level is through rigorous R&D that continues even to this day. After all, you don’t remain an industry, well, Giant, without staying ahead of the pack, and their freshest lineup, the Defy Advanced, seems to be designed to keep you in front of everyone else. It also achieves this comfortably to ensure you out-distance, out-pace, out-whatever everyone else in your cycling group.

All that starts with nothing more than the frame for a bike, and it’s also here that Giant has taken considerable time to perfect your ride. Three bikes are available in the lineup, but no matter if you pick up the Defy Advanced 0, Advanced 1, or even the Advanced 2, all are completed from nothing more than “raw” carbon fiber. this stuff is also produced and manipulated in-house, allowing the manufacturer to tune each bike they build to their preferred “stiffness-to-weight ratio.” Well, tune is precisely what Giant did to the Defy series.

Let me begin by pointing out that all the raw carbon that goes into each bike we see is put there by hand. Next, the front triangle is “assembled and molded as one continuous piece,” also known as a monocoque frame. The rear triangle, too, has seen extensive attention, and asymmetric chain stays help find the right balance between “stiffness and stability” while also absorbing shocks and vibrations from the road, leading to a more comfortable experience.

The seat post and handlebar system are designed to achieve the same result; smooth sailing. Why? Simply because a comfortable rider is a happy rider, and a happy rider can just go on for hours, like a two-wheeling Energizer bunny. Since road bikes also lack a suspension system, these little tweaks add up to a machine that may feel like it has a suspension.

Now, I mentioned that there are three different machines in the lineup, and in reality, it appears that the only differences may be in the components added to each one. Personally, I couldn’t make out any changes to the composition of said carbon fiber or if the frame shape differs; all I noticed were different secondary components.

For instance, the Advanced 0 cruises in with an SRAM Rival eTap AXS and is selling for $4,100 (€3,900 at current exchange rates), while the Advanced 1 uses a Shimano Ultegra and GRX drivetrain and is going for $3,650 (€3,500). The Advanced 2 option is the least expensive of the bunch, using a Shimano 105 drivetrain and requiring just $2,800 (€2,650) to be yours. By the looks of things, it all comes down to the sort of cash you want to spend on a drivetrain.

At the end of the day, there’s only one way to figure out if any of the Defy machines are for you. Find one at a local dealership, set up a test ride, and possibly bring along at least $2,800. Who knows, you may be leaving with a carbon fiber road bike tuned for comfort, speed, and good ol’ eco-friendly fun; you’re the engine here.