The Giant Rev Mips is a top-of-the-range helmet that brings together some really good features at a very competitive price. The only difference I can see compared with helmets that are twice the price is about 50g.

A helmet is only ever as good as its fit, as it doesn't matter what kind of protection it provides if its uncomfortable and unstable on the head. For me, the Rev Mips' traditional but effective harness and dial system at the back on the head works very nicely. Twisting right tightens, left loosens, and there is a decent range between each click, making micro-adjustments simple and quick. It tightens and loosens from the back rather than around the entire head, but it is still comfortable thanks to the pads used.

> Find your nearest dealer here

The helmet straps have a divider that is relatively simple to adjust: by flipping the central element down it can be moved up or down, then pressing it back up again secures it. The straps certainly didn't move around too much during use. They're also nice and soft and slide under the MIPS system, meaning they don't tend to twist.

Giant Rev Mips Road Helmet - side 2.jpg

The helmet comes with three sets of pads of varying thicknesses, each of which works well, and they dry out quickly which helps prevent them getting smelly after repeated use. They stick onto the inside of the MIPS system, and cover the edges well – which can catch on other helmets. The system has been integrated well into the helmet and, unlike others I have used, doesn't feel like a retrofit that's been jammed in, which says a lot about the thought that's gone into the design.

Giant Rev Mips Road Helmet - inside.jpg

I confess I didn't test the helmet's protection properties in a crash situation, but it feels well made and secure, and the MIPS moves freely inside the shell. For those unfamiliar with MIPS, the idea is that it sits securely on your head while the helmet shell moves independently, so in a crash situation decreases the rotational impact that is the leading cause of concussion. I've yet to have a fall severe enough while wearing a MIPS helmet to qualify whether this is true, but the science seems to be fairly solid. You can read more here.

Giant Rev Mips Road Helmet - back.jpg

Ventilation on the helmet is strong, with 21 vents across the helmet channeling air across the top of the head and, combined with the pads, moving excess heat away well. Though they work well for ventilation, the vents aren't the best for glasses storage, with only one option at the front but the arms stick into your head a bit.

Giant Rev Mips Road Helmet - side.jpg

In terms of looks the helmet isn't quite as svelte as others I have used, but hardly creates a mushroom head and has decent lines. I'm not sold on the stylings on the helmet either; to my mind the stripes being used look a little dated, but they are fairy subtle and the matt black version I tested generally looks fairly low key.

> Buyer's Guide: The best performance helmets

The helmet weighs in at 282g on the road.cc Scales of Truth, which is decent for a (just) sub-£100 helmet. It is also fairly rare to find a helmet worn in the pro-peloton for £99.99, especially one that includes a MIPS system, so it's pretty good value.

> Need a cheaper lid? Check out six of the best

Overall, the Giant Rev Mips might not be the lightest, but it more than makes up for it with competitive pricing and some decent tech used throughout. I'd like more options for storing your glasses, but this doesn't take away from a strong performing lid at a really competitive price.

Verdict

A well-priced pro-level helmet with strong ventilation and the reassurance of the MIPS system

The Giant Strive MIPS Aero Road is an understated and generally well-thought-out helmet that meets its everyman design brief well. That said, some detailing fell below my expectations for this end of the market.

Giant says the Strive is based upon the Rivet, but with improved ventilation and accessory-specific features. Generally speaking, the specification is precisely what I'd expect. We have a matt black polycarbonate outer shell fused to the EPS liner and CE1078 conformity. Despite daily use and some filthy weather, I've not felt the need to add any rejuvenating matt preserve to date.

> Find your nearest dealer here

> Buy this online here

Unusually, there are only 12 vents – but this theoretically makes the design safer in a crash. I might sing a different tune on a long, gruelling Continental climb in the height of summer, but the airflow system seems to provide a temperate climate, whether bombing or grinding along, suggesting Giant has the balance right.

Giant Strive Mips Aero Road Helmet - side 2.jpg

'Transtextura' anti-bacterial pads wick moisture, passing it through the rear 'exhaust' vents, neutralising any residual stuff into the bargain. Talking of wind, there's been no conversation-muting roar or distracting whistle on blustery descents.

Giant Strive Mips Aero Road Helmet - back.jpg

The MIPS technology is the thin yellow layer between head and helmet, designed to work like a car's roll cage, protect the brain from twisting forces associated with a more traumatic crash. Hopefully we'll never need to depend on it.

Giant Strive Mips Aero Road Helmet - inside.jpg

The thumbwheel cinch-fit is extremely intuitive and easily tweaked on-the-fly to accommodate caps and other headwear – the same goes for chin and Y-straps.

Giant Strive Mips Aero Road Helmet - side.jpg

The teardrop shape is not only flattering but fits really snugly and has some practical benefits, though how much of an aerodynamic advantage is difficult to quantify without windtunnel facilities.

Extra specifics

There's a channel at the front specifically designed with action cams in mind. I've mixed feelings about the aesthetic, and generally prefer handlebar mounting, especially with my Tom Tom Bandit. No dramas with Go Pro patterns, mind.

Round the back sits an embossed panel. Removal is straightforward and reveals a magnetic light mount. It's definitely neat but you'll need to invest another £20 in Giant's integrated Numen Plus Link tail light; leaving the panel in situ and using the mother of all 'O' rings, you might get lucky, but so far I've been unsuccessful in persuading any of my rear blinkie collection to fit.

Conclusion

On the one hand, there's a lot to like here. The slightly unusual shape is actually quite subtle and won't look odd when you've hopped from fixer to tourer or gravel bike to hybrid. It delivers pretty much everything I need from a road biased lid and a cap arguably works better than a plug-in peak in these riding contexts.

> Should you buy an aero helmet?

That said, given the asking price and Giant's purchasing power, it's disappointing that the polycarbonate shell does not extend around the rim. Okay, so this might add a few paltry grams, but it would also offer greater defence against accidental everyday carelessness.

Verdict

Nice road helmet with some really clever touches but the polycarbonate shell should really extend around the rim

The Giant Contend SL 1 is an absolutely spot-on all-day ride. It's a comfortable and versatile sportive/endurance bike with a dependable feel that encourages you to keep going and just do those extra few miles.

> Find your nearest dealer here

It takes whatever it encounters in its stride with an unflappable assurance that's just what you want in a bike for long rides, handling everything from twisty descents on smooth surfaces to tatty dirt roads, Belgian cobbles and even singletrack trails with equal aplomb.

The ride

Shortly after the Contend SL 1 landed for test, I had a week's family holiday in Belgium booked, so I took it with me. The rolling hills and vast range of road surfaces of the region provided the perfect testing ground. I was able to ride classic Belgian cobbles, beautifully smooth fresh tarmac, dirt roads through farm country, concrete-surfaced cycleways and even singletrack through woods, thanks to an interesting bit of routing provided by some bike-specific open-source maps.

Giant Contend SL 1 - riding 3.jpg

As I'm a fat git, climbing is my weakness, so let's talk about that first. The Contend SL 1 is a steady, efficient climber. Sit down, hunker into the Giant own-brand short-reach bar and it carries you uphill with calm focus. This isn't a superlight, mountain-conquering race bike, urging you to whizz frantically uphill like you're chasing a Tour podium rival, but it gets the job done without fuss. In other words, it suits my climbing style, which doesn't exactly involve dancing on the pedals at 6W/kg.

When the road surface gets crummy the Contend SL 1's Giant P-SL 1 tyres come into their own. They're fast, thanks to a smooth tread pattern, grippy on everything from smooth tarmac to packed-down soil, and confident, with plenty of cushioning and suppleness to keep the bike on track.

Giant Contend SL - frame detail.jpg

They're not fat enough to fully isolate you from cobbles and the bigger lumps of stony farm road surfaces, but they certainly make rough roads a lot more fun than 23mm rubber. I didn't get a chance to try anything fatter in the Contend, but I suspect it'd be an absolute hoot with 28mm tyres and there's just about enough room.

The Giant D-Fuse seatpost is supposed to help take the sting out of the road too, but I couldn't tell. Maybe my arse just isn't sensitive enough (stop sniggering at the back) but the composite post just didn't seem to move enough to absorb any significant amount of road buzz.

Giant Contend SL - seat tube detail.jpg

For me, the Contend SL 1's only slight weakness is that its high-speed handling isn't quite as precise as that of a pure race bike. I like to go downhill fast, and I never felt quite as comfortable pushing the Contend into high-speed curves as I do on a racier bike. That said, I've ridden much worse sportive bikes, with front ends so tall and short there's way too little weight on the front wheel to glue it down in turns. The Contend's not a bad descender, it's just not a corners-on-rails 50mph thriller.

Giant Contend SL 1 - riding 4.jpg

The final ride of my holiday took place in Essex and Cambridgeshire. My family dropped me just off Junction 7 of the M11 so they could drive home via a detour to pick up a new addition to the canine pack while I rode.

It was a glorious sunny day and the Contend SL 1 and I had reached that point of man-bike harmony that you achieve after a few weeks' riding if the bike is right. I blatted through the lanes at an average of 19mph, aided by a south-by-southwesterly wind, but I never felt like I was having to exert myself especially hard.

In short, if you've a grand to spend and you want a bike that was born to tap out 20mph all day long, this is it.

Fit

Our size ML sample has a reach of 381mm and stack of 586mm. That's similar in reach to many of its competitors and slightly lower. I replaced the 10cm stem with a 13cm unit to get the reach to the handlebar right, but I have a long back.

Giant Contend SL.jpg

Bar, stem and cranks are all sized proportionally to the frame across the size range. The cranks on this size are 172.5mm. It's good to see that they go down to 165mm on the XS.

Giant Contend SL - crank.jpg

The Giant Connect bar here is 42cm wide, with a relatively short throw and shallow reach. That has pros and cons. The short throw is part of the reason I needed that slightly silly 13cm stem to get the reach to the hoods right, but on the upside, the drops are within easy reach. You don't have to be a gymnast to get into the tucked position, so switching between hoods and drops is easy. I often found myself just cruising along in the drops, especially when I wanted the extra control that position provides to handle rougher surfaces.

Frame

The Contend SL 1 gets its fine ride from a carefully designed aluminium frame made from the 6011 alloy that Giant calls ALUXX SL. It has the full suite of modern features: tapered head tube and fork steerer; internal cable routing; extensive use of tube shaping and butting to tune the ride and save weight; and a wide bottom bracket shell with press-fit bearings.

Giant Contend SL - top tube shape.jpg

The seatpost is held in place by a concealed internal wedge clamp. The seat tube and post have a D-shaped cross section to keep the saddle aligned. All very tidy-looking.

Giant Contend SL - rear dropout.jpg

There are also mudguard mounts front and rear if you want to stay drier when it rains, and Giant offers a clamp for the seatpost so you can fit a rack if you want to carry stuff.

Components

Shimano provides the Contend's shifting, with 105 brake/shift levers and derailleurs popping the chain between 50/34 chainrings and across an 11-32 11-speed cassette. The 34x32 low was welcome on the short but steep Belgian bergs, but despite my affection for going downhill fast I don't think I ever needed the 50x11 top gear.

Giant Contend SL - rear mech.jpg

When the 105 group was first released, our Stu called the shifting 'spot on' and I can't disagree. Trimming the front mech remains slightly tricky, though.

Giant Contend SL - front mechq.jpg

Giant's used the cheaper, solid, five-arm RS500 crankset instead of the four-arm hollow 105 crankset. Aesthetically that's slightly disappointing, but there's no significant difference in function.

Giant Contend SL - drivetrain.jpg

The brakes are also a departure from the full 105 group, being Tektro R540. They're not bad at all, but they still don't have the authority of Shimano's brakes. An upgrade to Shimano R55 pads would make a substantial difference for not much money.

Giant Contend SL - rear brake.jpg

I'm ambivalent about the seatpost's D-shaped cross-section. On the one hand it means your saddle is always straight, which is a nice faff-reduction feature, and it makes for a tidy but internal frame clamp. But it also means nobody else's seatposts will fit and I can't imagine a spare being easy to find if Giant stops using the design.

Wheels and tyres

Like many manufacturers, Giant specs own-brand wheels and tyres, and there's a surprising amount to talk about here. At 807g for the front wheel and 1088g for the rear (with rim tapes), the PR-2 wheels aren't light, but those are perfectly respectable numbers for wheels with 23.5mm rims and 24 Sapim Race spokes front and rear.

Giant Contend SL - front hub.jpg

Despite battering the Contend SL 1 over all sorts of challenging road surfaces, I had no problems with the wheels and they're as straight now as they were when they came out of the box. That's testament to the strength that comes from wider rims, and as a non-svelte rider I'll cheerfully put up with the extra weight to get improved dependability.

Giant Contend SL - rim.jpg

The wider rim has another advantage too: it fattens up the nominally 25mm Giant P-SL 2 tyres to 27mm across, improving their already good grip and cushioning. Giant says the front and rear tyres have different rubber compounds, but there's something else going on here too, because the rear tyre is heavier than the front: 258g v 238g.

Giant Contend SL - front brake.jpg

The tread turns out to be about half a millimetre thicker on the rear tyre. That's smart thinking. Rear tyres wear quicker because they slip very slightly when you pedal, so a bit of extra rubber will extend the tyre's life.

I suffered just one penetration puncture while riding the Contend, when a centimetre-long thorn went through the tyre at the edge of the tread, apparently sneaking past Giant's Deflect 2 anti-puncture strip. My annoyance at having to stop and fix it was alleviated by the discovery that the tyres can be taken off without tools.

Giant Contend SL - tyre.jpg

That's no small boon. The ETRTO (Eurpoean Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation, the standards-setting body for tyres) seems to have lost control of the way bike tyres and rims are supposed to fit together. It's a complete crapshoot whether any random combination of tyres and rims will be easy to fit, and some of the worst pairings are almost impossible to deal with in the field. It's reassuring to know that when you get a puncture you can easily change a tube.

You might want to buy a second set of lighter or more aerodynamic wheels for events and other special rides, but for everyday training and especially for commuting, the stock wheels are excellent.

Rivals

You have a vast range of choice at this price. Cube's Attain SL has a slightly taller stack (despite being billed as a race bike) and 105 brakes and chainset, but no provision for mudguards, and skinnier wheels than the Contend SL.

> Buyer's Guide: 17 of the best £1,000 road bikes

If you want something racier, then the Trek Emonda ALR 4 would be hard to go past, even though it means a step down to Shimano's Tiagra group, and if you want something more rugged you have lots of disc-brake-equipped choices like the GT Grade Al Tiagra. And if you want something very similar but with discs, Giant has you covered with the Contend SL 2 Disc, which is why I'm not going to blather on about disc v rim brakes here.

Conclusions

Despite a couple of niggles, the Giant Contend SL 1 is a great bike for £1,000. It has a fine balance of long-ride comfort and assured, sustainable pace and it refuses to be fazed by annoying trivialities like crummy road surfaces.

It's also a bike that hits a target with amazing precision. It's fast enough and comfortable enough for long days in the saddle chasing sportive and audax personal bests, while its ability to take mudguards, and tyre-expanding wide rims mean it'll point and laugh at bad weather and it eats potholed streetscapes for breakfast.

Giant Contend SL 1 - riding 2.jpg

As I said in our Just In, the Contend SL 1 is what we used to call a fast road bike. It's not 100 per cent racy, but it's quick and versatile in a way that makes it spot-on for club riding, audaxes, long commutes and adding the lovely swish of bike tyres to the sounds of the countryside all year round.

Verdict

Balanced and assured aluminium endurance bike equally suited to long rides at pace and commuter pothole-bashing

• With elongated tube shapes and other wind-cheating features, aero road bikes provide a small but handy speed boost.

• Sleek shapes make for a distinctive look.

• Recent aero road bikes have alleviated the harsh ride that plagued some early models, thanks to improved use of materials.

• Frame aerodynamics is still a marginal gain; if you're wearing flappy clothes an aero bike is a waste of money.

In just a few years aero road bikes have gone from The Next Big Thing to a mainstream bike option. The latest models have been tweaked to be faster than ever, according to the manufacturers, and to alleviate the harsh ride that characterised some early aero bikes.

Aero road bikes essentially draw the aerodynamic features from time trial bikes into a road frame, and balance the demands of weight and stiffness into a package that, on paper, looks to be the ideal all-round choice.

At any decent speed, most of your effort goes into overcoming air resistance, so reducing a bike's drag means you'll go faster, or ride at any given speed with a lower power output. Who doesn't like the sound of that?

Most of your air resistance comes from your body. Wearing non-flappy clothing will help, as will losing weight. But the 20% or so of air resistance from your bike is enough for engineers and designers to focus on making road frames and products more slippery in the air. In the pro peloton aero road bikes have been quickly adopted, where the margins of victory are very slim and there has been a focus on gaining ever smaller performance gains over the years.

Jos Van Emden Giant Propel - front brake

Weight, and the lack thereof, used to be the main driving force of frame development. Along with stiffness, these were the two cornerstones of bike design. These days most bikes are light, many well below the UCI’s 6.8kg weight limit (which doesn’t affect non-racers anyway), and come with more stiffness than is sometimes comfortable.

All that has made aerodynamics more important for manufacturers. Specialized has built its own wind tunnel, for example, and most manufacturers are testing in wind tunnels. Nevertheless, aero road bikes haven't converged on a perfect, slippery common shape. Different engineers prioritise different ways of improving aerodynamics but there are shared design trends: skinny, aerofoil-shaped tubes, integrated brakes, and internal cable routing.

Let's take a look at the latest aero offerings.​

Colnago Concept — £3,500 (frameset)

Colnago Concept.jpg

Colnago has joined the aerodynamic arms race with the brand new Concept, a full blooded aero race bike that is a serious step forward from the Italian company's first aero road bike, the V1-r, from a couple of years ago.

The Concept has all the capability to dice with the fastest in a race situation. The Concept's stiff frame, Vision deep-section wheels and 7.2kg weight give it an insatiable appetite for speed. It's quick in all circumstances: climbs, descents, flat and undulating roads – everywhere, the bike really shines. It's an exciting bike to ride fast, and like all good aero road bikes encourages you to ride flat-out.

That firm ride, and frame and fork stiffness ensure the Concept accurately follows your inputs, whether through the handlebar or pedals. It reacts very positively to your body language, whether you're blasting up an uphill sprint finish or bombing through a curving descent.

But all-out speed isn't all the Concept is about, and it's not just a bike for racing. The Concept provides adequate composure and comfort, allowing you to tackle long distance rides at a few notches below race pace and not be dealt a hammer-blow to the lower back the moment the tyres encounter anything but a billiard-smooth surface. The front end of aero race bikes can often be overwhelmingly harsh, but the special headset and fork steerer tube that Colnago has developed mean it's smoother up front than would normally be expected on an aero road bike.

Read our review of the Colnago Concept
Find a Colnago dealer

Rose X-Lite CWX Disc — from £3,770

Rose X-LITE CW-4100 Di2.jpg

The Rose X-Lite CWX-4100 is a quick, fast-handling aero road bike with disc brakes, and although £4,700 is clearly a lot to spend, it represents good value. You really are getting a lot for your money here.

The CWX-4100 – the name sounds to us like it should belong to some sort of droid – is at its best when you're hammering. The aggressive riding position and the frame's aero features announce loud and clear that this bike is intended to be ridden fast.

Weighing in at just 7.46kg (16.4lb) – light for something with deep, aero-optimised tubes and disc brakes – and with loads of stiffness through the central section of the T40/T60 carbon-fibre frame, it feels every inch a race bike whether you're tearing along flat roads or scampering up the climbs.

Read our review of the Rose X-Lite CWX-4100 Di2 Disc

Merida Scultura 6000 — from £1,700

Merida Scultura 6000.jpg

The Merida Scultura 6000 just feels right when you get on it. The position, the ride, the comfort… it's one of those bikes that gives you the confidence to push it as hard as you want, knowing that it isn't going to bite back. It's a bit of a bargain too when you consider the frame is being ridden in the pro peloton and weighs a claimed 750g. It's a hell of a lot of bike for the money.

For this revised version of the Scultura frameset Merida has concentrated on increasing comfort, and it's obviously paid off. The frame is handmade in Taiwan, and by tweaking the carbon layup in certain areas it has been able to bring in quite a bit of extra damping without sacrificing stiffness.

Aerodynamics was another target for Merida, using computational fluid dynamics in the design process and wind tunnel testing of various incarnations. It even used a dummy with moving legs to replicate the effect the rider's pedalling has on wind resistance.

Read our review of the Merida Scultura 6000
Find a Merida dealer

Boardman Elite Air — from £1,799.99

Boardman Elite Air 9.2 - full bike.jpg

Boardman's Elite Air 9.2 is just the ticket if you're looking for a fast bike with a good spec but you haven't got very silly money. It's a good package and the performance is impressive straight out of the box.

If you're buying an aero bike, chances are you're doing so because you want to go faster; that, or you just like the look of deep-section tubes.

Do you go faster? The anecdotal evidence suggests a yes: you go faster on this than on standard road bike. Our tester grabbed a downhill KOM on Strava, hung on longer before getting blown out the back of a crit with riders a grade above him and added 10km/h to his top speed on a favourite descent.crit with riders a grade above him and added 10km/h to his top speed on a favourite descent.

Read our review of the Boardman Elite Air 9.2
Find a Boardman dealer

Storck Aerfast Platinum — £10,949

storck-aerfast-platinum-full-bike (1).jpg

At £10,949, the Storck Aerfast Platinum is a massive outlay, but boy, oh boy do you get one hell of a return on your investment. It's a sub-6.5kg race weapon, with aerodynamics that work in the real world, and it offers comfort levels to challenge most endurance bikes.

Taking plenty of things it's learnt from its astonishingly good Aernario, Storck has pushed the design even further down the aerodynamics route, and what it has created in the Aerfast is a bike that's not only unbelievably fast, but light and stiff too.

If you're in the market for an aero bike, speed is going to be topping your list of priorities, and it's where the Aerfast truly excels. Below about 23mph the Storck feels like any other bike to ride, any other superlight bike that is, but all the same it feels like it requires some effort; you've got to work at it.

Get above that speed, though, and the aerodynamics really come into play. It feels like a permanent tailwind is nudging you along, a friendly hand on your back as you watch the numbers climb on the Garmin – with no more effort required than there was 5mph ago. It's a wonderful feeling, and one you never tire of.

Read our review of the Storck Aerfast Platinum

Find a Storck dealer

Cervelo S5 — £3,999

Cervelo-S5-Ultegra-Road-Bike-2016.jpg

Long hailed as the fastest aero road bike by people who know a lot about aerodynamics, the Cervelo S5 has received quite a makeover this year. It still looks like an S5 but Cervelo claims to have finessed every tube profile and found significant drag reductions. It’s also increased frame stiffness in the head tube and bottom bracket to improve handling. Another change is the shorter head tube to put the rider in a lower, and more aerodynamic, position. Cervelo has also developed its own aero handlebar which is compatible with a regular stem.

Read our coverage of the Cervelo S5 launch
Find a Cervelo dealer

Ridley Noah SL — £5,299.99

Ridley NOAH SL

The Noah FAST packs a lot of innovative aero technology, including slotted forks and seat stays, integrated v-brakes and small ridges on the leading edges of the frame surfaces to smooth airflow. It’s still available, but the Belgian company has released the new Noah SL which is lighter than the previous Noah with a 950g claimed frame weight. It still features the innovative F-Splitfork, but there’s no slotted rear stays and the raised ridges have been incorporated into the tube shapes. The integrated brakes are gone, in their place regular caliper brakes in front of the fork and at the seat stay.

Read about Greg Henderson's Ridley Noah SL
Find a Ridley dealer

Pinarello Dogma F8 — £3,899 (frameset)

Pinarello Dogma F8

Developed in collaboration with Team Sky and Jaguar, the Dogma F8 is the first aero road bike from Pinarello, and it’s just won the 2015 Tour de France, though we reckon Chris Froome could have won on any bike. The F8 uses FlatBack tube profiles, a Kamm Tail sort of shape, with a rounded leading edge and chopped tail. Pinnarello has also lowered the seat tube water bottle cage and it’s further shielded by the down tube. Meanwhile, up front the fork has been derived from the company’s Bollide time trial bike with an aerodynamic shape, and the crown closely nestles into a recess in the down tube.

Find a Pinarello dealer

Canyon Aeroad CF SLX — from £3,249

Canyon Aeroad CF SLX

The second-generation Aeroad CF SLX has been inspired by the work on its futuristic Speedmax time trial bike, with razor sharp aero tube profiles and an optional one-piece handlebar and stem assembly. Much of the company’s focus with the new bike has been in reducing the frontal surface area, so along with the new handlebar there’s a narrower and hour-glass shaped head tube to help reduce drag. Other changes include the new tube profile, a variant of the Trident shape used on the Speedmax, and a seat tube that hugs the curvature of the rear wheel. Unlike some aero road bikes that integrate the brake callipers, Canyon has opted for direct-mount Shimano brakes in the regular positions.

Read our review of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 7.0 Di2
Read our review of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc 8.0 Di2

Specialized Venge Vias — £5,999.99

Specialized Venge Vias

Out with the old Venge, in with the new Venge Vias. The Venge has had a radical makeover, with an all-new aero frame with the most interesting integrated brakes we’ve ever seen. Manufacturers have been integrating brakes into the frame in an effort to reduce drag, but the Specialized approach, with custom designed brake calipers, is claimed to produce zero drag. Elsewhere, a new aero handlebar and stem provides full internal cable routing, there are almost no visible cables on this bike, a further measure to reduce drag.

Read our review of the Specialized Venge Vias Expert Disc​
Read about Mark Cavendish's Venge at the Tour de France
Find a Specialized dealer 

Scott Foil — from £2,399

Scott Foil Premium

The Foil arguably kicked off the whole aero road bike trend, bringing aerodynamic design that was once the preserve of time trial bikes to regular road bikes. This update has been a long time coming but it’s evolution, not revolution that is the news here. Changes to the front-end see the down tube lowered and wrapped around the fork crown, and a smaller rear triangle and new internal seat clamp in the top tube. The rear brake is also positioned underneath the chain stays.

And don't think this is just a uncomfortable aero bike, Mathew Hayman rode over a few little bumps on his way to winning Paris-Roubaix.

Read our coverage of the 2016 Scott Foil launch
Find a Scott dealer

Trek Madone — from £5,199.99

Trek Madone WSD

Once an all-round lightweight race bike, the Madone has been given a complete aerodynamic makeover. It features a version of the Isospeed decoupler borrowed from the Domane to provide some comfort (aero road bikes have traditionally compromised comfort in the quest for speed) and it’s wrapped up in a frame with Kamm Tail shaped tubes. Like Specialized, Trek has also developed its own brake callipers, and they’re concealed within the fork and seat stays. To keep the cable routing of the centre pull front brake nice and clean, the head tube features flaps that open and close when the fork is turned.

Read our coverage of the 2016 Trek Madone launch
Find a Trek dealer

Merida Reacto — from £1,000

Merida Reacto DA

Merida’s Reacto features tube profiles shape in accordance with NACA airfoil principles, and using the popular Kamm tail approach of chopping off the trailing edge, tricking the air into acting as if the trailing edge were there. More than any other bike here, the Reacto looks like a time trail bike in drag. There’s an aero seat post, internal cable routing and the rear brake is positioned underneath the chain stays. The front brake, meanwhile, is found on the front of the fork.

Read our review of the Merida Reacto 300
Find a Merida dealer

Canyon Ultimate CF SLX — from £2,999

Canyon Ultimate CF SLX

Canyon has given its latest Ultimate CF SLX a light touch of aerodynamic influence. It has developed a new D-shaped down tube, seat tube and seatpost, which along with a new internal seat clamp, adds up to a claimed 10% reduction in drag compared to the previous non-aero Ultimate. It doesn’t challenge Canyon’s Aeroad CF SLX for outright slipperiness in the wind tunnel, but does point to a future where all road bikes might one day be shaped in the wind tunnel.

BMC TimeMachine TMR01 — £3,799

BMC TMR01

Launched in 2013, the TimeMachine grew out of the understanding of aerodynamics BMC derived from its TM01 time trial bike project. It uses a truncated wing profile (not unlike a Kamm tail) for the main sections of the frame. To reduce the air turbulence over the frame members BMC puts a smooth groove at the leading edge of forward facing sections, called a Tripwire. This delays flow separation and keeps the air attached for as long as possible, minimising drag — in essence it's doing the same job as the dimples on a golf ball.

Read our coverage of the BMC TimeMachine launch
Find a BMC dealer

Giant Propel Advanced — £6,298.99

Giant Propel Advanced SL 0

The Propel Advanced SL 3 was Giant's bold entry into the aero road bike fray and gave rise to a whole range of highly-regarded Propel bikes. 

Key to the frame is the AeroSystem Shaping technology that is the result of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) research and wind-tunnel tests. Every tube has been carefully shaped, with a teardrop shape in evidence wherever you look. Interestingly, the down tube has been shaped with a water bottle in mind. It’s flattened where the water bottle normally protrudes from the sides of a conventional down tube.

Read our review of the Giant Propel Advanced 1  
Read our coverage of the original Giant Propel launch
Find a Giant dealer​

The Giant Numen Plus Link TL (it stands for Tail Light) is, as the name suggests, an integrated rear light designed specifically for Giant's own range of helmets. It's a bit of a niche product in some respects and many standard lights can be persuaded to fit road and trail helmets too.

Magnetic attraction

The Numen Plus Link TL attaches neatly to Giant helmets via magnets, one on the light, the other hiding behind the Giant branded panel. These aren't the most powerful connection but it's firm enough for most people's needs and some mixed terrain shenanigans hasn't dislodged it. You can also mount it on the seat post, as per the photo above.

Buy Giant Numen Plus Link TL
Find a Giant dealer

Charging

It also uses magnets to link with the charger. This is neat from a designer's perspective but commits you to not losing Giant's cable. On a day to day basis, this isn't a problem but will require a more disciplined approach to refuelling; you can't use any old micro-USB cable like those almost universally used with phones. It takes three hours to charge from fully depleted.

Unit

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This is a relatively sleek design but blessed with plenty of peripheral presence. Twenty lumens is a decent amount if light for most situations, although especially for a light on your helmet. Over the past few years, I've experimented with helmet-mounting 50 and 60 lumen models but found them unnecessarily harsh and more likely to dazzle other road users.

It's brighter than numbers alone would suggest, thanks to 'chip on board' (COB) LED construction technology, which crams multiple emitters into the same space, increasing their intensity and impact. A heat sink is employed to regulate temperature and increase their useful life.

Auto Engagement

To eke out as much run time as possible there's a sensor that automatically switches the light on/off according to light conditions. Nothing new, Shimano Nexus dynamo switches had this function some 17 years back. Both required some trial and error moments, although given the unit's location, you'd need to be doing some serious green laning to obscure the sensor and therefore constantly engage the switch.

Read more: Buyer's guide to rear lights — make sure you're seen at night

Switch

Talking of engagement, the switch is a sensibly sized rubberised affair that is intuitive enough to operate in gloved hands but requires a definite press, so accidental engagements have not been an issue.

Held for two seconds and it comes alive, then prod firmly to cruise through the four modes. At its most basic, we only need flashing and steady options but four settings will suit most situations. We have high and mid constant settings, which appear to be 20 and 10 lumens respectively and two strobing: flashing and 'patrol'. The latter is essentially a quick pulsing.

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Weather-proofing

Giant don't list an IPX rating but suggest it's water-resistant enough to fend off heavy rain. I've not had any problems and subjected it to my usual garden hose test without incident. However, a few days into testing the press-fit rubberised switch cover came adrift, leaving circuitry and other sensitive electricals open to the elements. I'm confident ours was simply a rogue model and decent retailers would simply replace under warranty.

Run times

Giant don't break this down by mode but cite a middling five hours maximum. That's disappointing when pitted against similarly priced competition, like the Cat-Eye Rapid Micro X[/url. Admittedly, the Micro X a 15-lumen unit but it will flash away for almost 30 hours. Our Giant has returned 4 hours 54 minutes in flashing and patrol modes. High modewas good for 1hr 30min, mid for 2hr 30min. Those are fair numbers given the overall performance and for secondary lighting but this reinforces the point that you'll need to be disciplined about recharging.

Visibility/Output

While not daylight modes in the commonly accepted sense, flashing and patrol were surprisingly conspicuous in cloudy/overcast conditions, hence I tended to run them by default. The auto engagement function is reliable enough and while there was some occasional disparity between its optics and my eyes, the Numen Plus Link TL is intended as secondary lighting and I never felt the need to override it.

Along pitch black lanes, approaching riders reckoned they could spot me from around 200 metres: impressive. Given competing illumination, expect to be visible from around 100 metres through town. The 180 degree arc provides some welcome presence when entering the flow of traffic or tackling roundabouts. Twenty lumens is sensible in this context too; easily enough to snare and maintain driver attention but without dazzling at close quarters.

Of the constant modes, I've erred towards the highest through town, although it does put quite a significant dent in the run time. Expect to be visible from 70 metres through town, 100 on the open road and relatively clear nights. The mid steady mode is visible from 40-50 metres in town, 70/80 on the open road, and seems a good choice for group riding.

Overall, I've enjoyed using the Giant Numen Plus Link TL. Output and build quality are what I've come to expect from this end of the market and the auto function is surprisingly useful. However, the need for a dedicated charging cable can be awkward, especially if you've run out of juice and need to refuel at the office or a friend's house.

Verdict

Useful second light if you have a compatible Giant helmet

road.cc test report

Make and model: Giant Numen Plus Link TL

Size tested: 20 lumens

Tell us what the light is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Giant say "Featuring a super bright COB outputting 20 lumens, Link has four modes with a max run time of 5 hours. USB rechargeable using the magnetic charging pod. (Fits Giant Roost, Strive, Strive MIPS & Prompt and Liv Coveta, Lanza, Lanza MIPS, Unica & Luta helmets".

My feelings "Overall, a surprisingly capable light if you have a compatible Giant helmet. Magnetic coupling system for charging may not suit everyone either."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the light?

* Output: Super bright COB, 20 Lumen

* Modes: 4; High / mid / flash / patrol

* Power: USB rechargeable

* Run time: Up to 5 hrs

* Mount: Magnetic

* Feature: Auto on/off, responds to the condition

Rate the light for quality of construction:

6/10

Generally good but rubberised switch cover wasn't the perfect fit it should've been on our sample.

Rate the light for design and ease of use. How simple was the light to use?

6/10

Rate the light for the design and usability of the clamping system/s

6/10

Stable and secure magnetic mounts ensure a clean aesthetic too.

Rate the light for waterproofing. How did it stand up to the elements?

6/10

No problems to date, in the everyday sense.

Rate the light for battery life. How long did it last? How long did it take to recharge?

5/10

Middling charge times and run times, by no means poor but still disappointing compared with some other brands' budget models boasting similar outputs and price tags.

Rate the light for performance:

7/10

Output and presence are pretty good across the board.

Rate the light for durability:

6/10

Build quality on par with others at this end of the market and generally good but switch cover was a potential entry point for water ingress on our sample.

Rate the light for weight:

7/10

Rate the light for value:

6/10

Tell us how the light performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Overall, the Giant numen plus link TL is a surprisingly potent secondary light that, due in part to its location is more attention-grabbing than the 20 lumens might suggest. The intelligent auto sensor system, though nothing new (Shimano dynamo switches had these back in 2000) but effective and avoids unnecessary battery consumption. Magnetic, model specific charger has charm but I missed the option of being able to plug it in via micro-usb chargers.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the light

Decent output, sensible settings and sensor system.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the light

Integrated design is a double-edged sword.

Did you enjoy using the light? Yes

Would you consider buying the light? Possibly.

Would you recommend the light to a friend? If they had a compatible Giant helmet

Use this box to explain your score

Neat and capable light but brand specific integration limits the appeal, especially since many standard blinkies with rubberised straps can be successfully helmet mounted too.

Overall rating: 6/10

About the tester

Age: 43  Height: 1m 81cm  Weight: 70kg

I usually ride: Rough Stuff Tourer Based around 4130 Univega mtb Frameset  My best bike is: 1955 Holdsworth Road Path and several others including cross & traditional road

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, commuting, touring, fixed/singlespeed, mtb,

If you have £1,000 to £1,500 to spend on a road bike, you really do get a lot for you money. A benefit of spending this sort of money is that the bikes start to get much lighter than those costing half as much, which will have a significant impact on the ride quality and performance, and your times up your local hills.

Shimano 105 and Tiagra are the dominant groupsets in this price range. While there is a lot of own-brand kit for parts like wheels, handlebars and saddles, which is no bad thing (manufacturers have really raised their game with own label components), there is a lot more branded kit from the likes of Mavic and Fizik.

Giant Contend SL Disc 1 — £1,149

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Giant’s Defy has long been a benchmark for bikes that combine comfort, endurance and value. For 2017, the aluminium-framed versions have been renamed Contend to differentiate them from the carbon fibre Defy range.

The Contend range includes four models, of which the Contend SL 1 Disc is the top. It has Shimano's excellent-value Shimano 105 11-speed transmission, and Giant's hydraulic disc brakes.

Find a Giant dealer

Ribble CGR — £1,202

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Cross, Gravel, Road, that's what the CGR initials stand for on Ribble's latest all-rounder. A disc brake-equipped, mudguard-shod 'do a bit of everything' machine that makes a lot of sense for the rider who doesn't always want to stick to the tarmac. Thankfully, this jack of all trades is no master of none.

Thanks to Ribble's online bike builder, you can have any spec you like. The CGR starts from £799 with Shimano Sora; the price here is for the option with Shimano 105 and hydraulic brakes, which gives a good combination of slick shifting and powerful stopping.

Read our review of the Ribble CGR

Fuji Roubaix 1.3 — £999

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Fuji characterises its Roubaix as a race bike and has completely reworked the frame for 2017, putting it firmly in the category of Very Light Aluminium at a claimed weight of 1,100g.

The fork is all-carbon, as befits a lightweight bike, and there are Shiano 105 gears and brakes to make it stop and go. The Oval Concepts finishing kit includes a chainset with Praxis rings. It looks like an excellent package for the money if you're in the marker for a fast, light traditional road race bike.

Boardman Road Pro Carbon — £1,450

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Boardman is making some great bikes this year – both in terms of performance and value – and the Road Pro Carbon is no exception. If you're after a disc brake road bike that's engaging to ride, you should certainly take a look at this. If you're looking for a more versatile all-rounder, it's not such a good fit.

Given that this bike comes from an endurance mould you might expect the ride to be more forgiving than it actually is. The Boardman doesn't have the surface-taming characteristics of something like a Cannondale Synapse or a Trek Domane, it's much more of a road bike feel. It's not uncomfortable, but it is firm. It's well balanced in that the front and the back give about the same level of feedback from the road.

Certainly the frame and fork are a package that's worthy of some upgrades here: it's a very well-balanced bike that responds well to pretty much every kind of road riding. The steering is very predictable and never nervous, and I had no issues with any wobbles, vagueness or lift-off descending at speed.

Find a Boardman dealer

Read our review of the Boardman Road Pro Carbon

Cannondale CAAD12 105 — £1,400

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Last year, the CAAD12 set a new benchmark for all-aluminium frames; it still puts a lot of carbon bikes to shame. With a frame weight under 1,100g for the disc brake and regular versions, it's not much heavier than carbon either. Cannondale package the frame with a full Shimano 105 groupset, carbon fibre fork with tapered steerer tube, 52/36 crank. Mavic Aksium wheels and a Selle Royal Seta S1 saddle. You can also have it with disc brakes for an extra £300.

Read our report from the CAAD12 launch
Find a Cannondale dealer

Canyon Ultimate CF SL 7.0 — £1,349

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German company Canyon has made quite an impression in the UK with its direct-to-consumer business model meaning big savings for those prepared to bypass the bike shop for their next bike purchase. The Ultimate CF SL is produced using the same mould as that the Ultimate CF SLX we tested a while ago, it's just using a cheaper carbon fibre. That keeps the price lower. Although the weight does go up a bit, it's still light at a claimed 940g. This is the entry-level model built with a full Shimano 105 groupset, Mavic Aksium wheels, Continental GP 4000 25mm tyres, Canyon's own bars and stem and a Fizik Antares saddle. It's nominally a 2016 bike, but Canyon is still listing it at this price.

Focus Cayo Tiagra — £1,399

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The Focus Cayo Tiagra uses a race-proven carbon fibre frame and fork with a more relaxed fit and geometry than the German company's racier offerings. The frame is fitted with Shimano Tiagra brakes, gears and semi-compact crankset, along Continental Grand Sport tyres. Focus uses its own-brand Concept components for the wheels, handlebars, stem, and saddle.

Find a Focus dealer

Trek Émonda S 5 — £1,500

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With a lightweight carbon fibre frame and Shimano 105 group, this speedster from Trek's racing range is a good deal.

The Emonda line is Trek's take on making the lightest road bikes it can produce for a given price, which means the frame here is worth upgrading as the parts wear out; it wouldn't be shamed by a Shimano Ultegra group.

Find a Trek dealer

Vitus Bikes Zenium SL Pro Disc - Superlight Ultegra — £1,394.99

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Recent price increases mean getting a full Shimano Ultegra group with disc brakes on any bike under £1,500 is unusual, making the offering from Chain Reaction's house brad excellent value with it spec on an aluminium frame. It comes with Michelin's fast Pro 4 tyres in 25mm width and there's room in the frame to go up to 28mm for versatility.

The frame is the same as the 2016 Zenium SL Disc, which our Stu Kerton really liked when he reviewed it. The SL tames the previous Zenium's harshness a bit, but this is still a fast bike. "I like it,"Stu wrote. "It feels purposeful, a kind of 'this is what I am, deal with it' type of thing. With a lot of bikes these days trying to be a bit of an 'everything' option, it's good to get on board something that can just be smashed about a bit and ridden hard."

Read our review of the Vitus Zenium SL

Specialized Allez DSW SL Sprint Comp — £1,500

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If your tastes run to fast and sharp-handing road bikes, but your budget won't stretch to the astounding Specialized S-Works Tarmac Disc, this everyman race bike will provide a big chunk of the thrills without holing your bank account below the waterline. It has Specialized's light, nimble aluminium frame with a Shimano 105 groupset providing the stop and go bits.

Find a Specialized dealer

Giant Bicycles and Dumoulin’s Sunweb team presented the 2017 Giro champion Tom Dumoulin with this very pink race bike to celebrate his victory. And now an exact replica of the frameset that made up this special bike could be yours!

Complete guide to Giant's 2017 road bikes

Tom Dumoulin's Maglia Rosa Giant TCR

While Dumoulin himself didn't actually get to ride the pink Giant TCR Advanced SL at the Giro (it of course went down to the wire with Dumoulin in fourth on the final day, before emerging victorious after a storming TT effort) one rider will be able to use it to their heart's content if they strike lucky by winning this very special comp. 

It's exactly the same as Dumoulin's regular Giant TCR Advanced SL and the lightest frame in the company’s range, which takes full internal cabling and is made of Giant's advanced grade carbon composite. 

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You simply have to provide your name, email address and frame size to be entered into the competition, which is open to UK entrants only and closes on the 18th June at midnight, with the winner being announced on the 19th at 10am - so you've nothing to lose and, potentially, a very snazzy piece of cycling history to gain. You can enter here on Giant's website... good luck! 
 

The DealCatcher's been thoroughly taken over today by the folks over at Cycle Surgery who have some fantastic deals for you lot today.

We kick things off with a deal on Giant's 2017 Defy Advanced 3, which is followed by a great offer on Fox bib shorts.

We then feature two deals on women's cycling clothing, specifically Mavic shoes and Proviz jackets.

Our final three deals are a bargain Fabric track pump, and a nicely discounted Garmin 820, with a buy-one-get-one-free deal on Muc-Off spray rounding things off.

20% off Giant's 2017 Defy Advanced 3
WAS £1549.00 | NOW £1249.00

Giant Advanced 3.jpg

So you're after a new set of wheels. You're looking for a comfortable quick ride at a reasonable price. Well, you can stop looking.

Giant's Defy Advanced 3 is the bike you're looking for if those are your criteria.

A carbon fibre frame, Shimano's Tiagra groupset, Giant's SR 2 disc-ready wheels and Shimano's BR-RS405 disc brakes cover the main points of componentry interest.

If you want to know even more and see a close up of what the Defy Advanced 3 has to offer, check out our Video Just In below:

- Watch: road.cc's Video Just In: Giant's 2017 Defy Advanced 3

42% off Fox's Ascent Comp Bib Short
WAS £119.99 | NOW £70.00

Fox shorts.jpg

Not usually the brand you'd expect to find in a road cycling deal round-up, but Fox's Ascent Comp Bib Shorts fit the bill for road cyclists.

With a large rear pocket, reflective detailing and premuim italian fabrics, these shorts are an excellent option if you're looking for performance shorts at a reasonable price point.

- Read more: road.cc's Best Cycling Bib Shorts Buyer's Guide

20% off Mavic's Women's Ksyrium Elite Shoes
WAS £99.99 | NOW £80.00

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While the Giant Defy above strikes a comfortable balance between performance and, well, comfort, the Mavic Ksyrium Elite Road Shoes hit a high performance balance between the two factors.

Inside the shoe there's Mavic's Endofit tongue. Designed to give the shoe a glove-like fit while the Ergo ratchet system on the outside does an excellent job of keeping your feet secure and ready to lay down some serious power.

40% off Proviz's Switch Women's Reflective Jacket
WAS £99.99 | NOW £60.00

Proviz jacket.jpg

Sure, summer's on the horizon, but if you're like us living in the UK you'll know that the last thing we can expect is a dry summer.

So, if you're going to protect yourself from the elements, why not tick off a couple of other boxes too? Namely, style and safety.

Proviz's reversible jacket will keep you safe and dry in the daytime with the hiviz yellow shell, and by simply turning it inside out it'll keep you safe at night with its silver shell.

30% off Fabric's TP02 Floor Pump
WAS £50.00 | NOW £35.00

Fabric Pump.jpg

If you're after some accessory deals, Fabric's entire range over on Cycle Surgery's website has seen some serious discounts.

We've picked out one deal in particular: the TP02 Floor Pump.

It's got a 140psi capacity with a convenient extra long hose and a big diecast aluminium gauge.

We like Fabric pumps, too. Check out our review of the R200 below:

- Read more: road.cc's Fabric R200 hi-pressure road pump review

11% off Garmin's Edge 820
WAS £370.00 | NOW £330.00

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While it's seen the smallest discount here, we liked the Garmin Edge 820 so much when it came our way for review we thought we'd pop it in.

In an already feature packed system, it was difficult for Garmin to upgrade the fantastic Edge 810, but they managed it.

The 820 is simple to use, the GPS connectivity is strong, and our man George Hill called it the "best performance and navigation computer I have used."

- Read more: road.cc's Garmin Edge 820 review

Buy-one-get-one-free on Muc-Off Bike Cleaner
WAS £18.00 | NOW £9.00

Muc Off Spray.jpg

Finally, Muc-Off's fantastic Bike Cleaner spray is currently flying out of Cycle Surgery HQ at double rate.

Buy one today, and you'll get another free.

Not sold on the kit? Check out our review below, it might change your mind.

- Read more: road.cc's Muc-Off Bike Cleaner review

Giant are going to be giving away one set of climbing wheels a week for each of the next three weeks. You will only need to enter once with winners picked at random on Fridays.

The prizes are of escalating value. On Friday July 7, a set of aluminium SL1 wheels will be given away, followed by SLR 1 wheels on July 14 and then top of the range SLR 0 wheels on July 21.

The SLR 0 feature DT Swiss hub internals, aero spokes and are clincher and tubeless compatible. They weigh just 1335g and have an RRP of £799.99.

You can enter here and that one entry will get you into all three draws (provided you’re in time).

You’ve an abundance of riches in the £1,500 to £2,000 price band, with bikes that are light, well-equipped and great value for money.

You also have a big range of choices. Carbon fibre frame, or the latest ultra-sophisticated aluminium? Caliper brakes or discs? Racing geometry, more upright for comfort or something in between? How about taking the the byways and bridleways on a gravel bike? Whatever type of riding you have in mind, there’s a bike in this price range that’ll suit you perfectly.

Genesis Datum 10 — £1,709.99

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The Genesis Datum 10 will take pretty much whatever you can throw at it, on or off-road. The spec represents excellent value and the ability to jump between town and country use positions it as a sound contender for an 'only bike' that you won't be sheepish about getting muddy on, while being worthy of a shine-up for the Sunday morning group ride.

At launch two years ago, Dave rated the Di2 11-speed Datum 30 at 4.5/5, finding it a 'hugely capable bike that is loads of fun over all sorts of terrain'. Later that year it won our Sportive Bike of The Year Award, with only the Shimano Di2-influenced price holding it back from taking overall honours. At £3,200 in 2015 money, the Di2 version was a hefty price to pay, so this time around it's the base model £1,899 10-speed Tiagra model on test. Again, for this spec it's not a class-leadingly cheap bike, but the overall package is worthy of inclusion on anyone's to-be-considered list.

Read our review of the Genesis Datum 10
Find a Genesis dealer

Merlin Nitro SL — £1,750

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Merlin Cycles has been offering its own brand of bikes for a while, and the Nitro SL is an excellent addition thanks to its balance of speed, light weight and comfort. It's bsed on Ridley's Helium SL frameset , which holds its head up high and delivers across the board against the competition.

The ride is sublime, that balance of stiffness and the way it deals with the bumps in the road is a masterclass in carbon fibre layup and tube design. The Nitro SL just seems to take everything in its stride with regard to road surface imperfections.

Read our review of the Merlin Nitro SL

Vitus Vitesse Evo Disc Ultegra — £1,900

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If it's a modern, carbon fibre, disc brake-equipped road bike built around a race-focused geometry that you crave, the Vitus Vitesse Evo Disc is the bike for you. At £1,999.99 (currently discounted by £100) it's an affordable package, backed up by superb performance.

It doesn't take long before the real character and potential of the Vitesse Evo are revealed. It offers visceral performance, quick steering and unexpected speed that takes a few miles to dial in to. It's a thrilling and rewarding ride, backed up by decent equipment choices, and all at a competitive price.

Read our review of the Vitus Vitesse Evo Disc Ultegra

Raleigh Mustang Comp — £1,500

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With Raleigh's aluminium-framed Mustangs, carbon Rokers and steel Mavericks the Big Heron jumped into gravel bikes with both boots a couple of years ago. Raleigh's folks say they started revamping their endurance road range, then realised that for a lot of British riding a bike with a long wheelbase and fat tyres was better able to cope with back roads trashed by the combination of bad winters and hacked road maintenance budgets. The Mustang Comp has SRAM hydraulic brakes and 11 speed SRAM Apex 1 gears.

Find a Raleigh dealer

Cannondale CAAD12 105 5 Disc — £1,359 (reduced from £1,700)

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Proving that composites don't quite reign supreme, Cannondale's meticulously engineered CAAD12 frame wrings every last gram of performance potential out of aluminium. Cannondale combines that frame with Shimano 105 shifting, its own HollowGram Si chainset and Shimano 105 hydraulic disc brakes for a thoroughly modern fast road bike.

Find a Cannondale dealer

Boardman Road Pro Carbon SLR — £1,800

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If you want to put that race licence to good use, smash those Strava KOMs or just want a fast, comfortable, easy-to-ride road bike, then the Boardman Road Pro Carbon SLR needs to be on your shortlist. With a full-carbon frameset, SRAM Force groupset, Mavic Ksyrium wheels and weighing in at just 7kg (15.5lb), the SLR is a real contender even before you take the price into account – and that challenges even the direct-to-consumer specialists.

The Road Pro is a stunning bike to look at. That mirror effect silver paintjob makes it stand out, especially in the sunshine; you're going to get noticed for sure.

That beauty isn't just skin deep, though. In a cycling world where bikes are starting to cross as many disciplines as possible, the Boardman knows exactly what it is: a proper race bike that just begs to be ridden hard. It likes being on the tarmac, getting chucked downhill on the ragged edge of the tyre's grip, or being sprinted hard up that 20 per cent climb without the slightest hint of flex from the frame.

Read our review of the Boardman Road Pro Carbon SLR

Giant Defy Advanced 2 — £1,775

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Giant's Defy line is one of the most popular bikes in the endurance and sportive sector, and is the company's best-selling model, combining smart geometry with a full range of competitively priced builds. It was completely revamped for 2015 with a whole new frame design providing enhanced comfort and, for the carbon frames, disc brakes only. The 2017 bikes are all carbon fibre, as the Contend range replaces the previous aluminium Defys.

Read our review of the Giant Defy Advanced SL
Find a Giant dealer

Specialized Tarmac SL4 Elite 2018 — £2,000

2018 specialized tarmac sl4 elite

Specialized's £2,000 Tarmac Elite is a smart looking and well packaged bike that offers the sort of fast and engaging ride that will suit budding racers, along with sportive cyclists who favour a less upright position than is provided by the company's Roubaix model.

Read our review of the (very similar) Specialized Tarmac Comp
Find a Specialized dealer

Trek Émonda SL5 — £1,800

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Part of Trek's line of Émonda lightweight race bikes, the SL5 demonstrates one of two approaches to speccing up a bike in this range. Trek takes the second-lightest of its Émonda frames and equips it with Shimano's midrange 105 group for a bike that doesn't cost the earth but has plenty of upgrade potential.

Find a Trek dealer

Specialized Ruby Elite Disc — £1,900

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There are some superb women's bikes in this category, of which Specialized's Ruby Elite Disc is a great example. It has the same shock-damping steerer and seatpost as Specialized's Roubaix (the men's equivalent) and the same spec as the Roubaix at the same price.

Find a Specialized dealer

Merida Ride 5000 — £1,900

Merida Ride 5000 2017

The Merida Ride 5000 is a quick road bike that offers plenty of comfort, splitting the difference between a standard race bike and an endurance bike. Jump aboard the Ride 5000 and within yards you can feel a bit more give than you get from most road bikes. There's just a touch more movement at the saddle to cancel out all the little bumps and hollows in the road surface, and the big hits when you ride over a drain cover or pothole aren't quite as big any more.

Read our review of the Merida Ride 5000
Find a Merida dealer

Rose Xeon CDX-2000 Disc — £1,769.15

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Rose claims an impressive 7.8kg for the CDX-2000 and given that its stablemate the Xeon CDX-4400 comes in at 7.5kg (16.6lb), we believe it. The ride is quick, easy to live with and delivers a lot of fun miles. Yes, it's slightly over the budget, but keep an eye on the pound/Euro exchange rate and you might bable to pick it up cheaper. It's a cracker of a machine ready to be ridden flat out or cruising the lanes.

Read our review of the Rose Xeon CDX-4400

[This article was last updated on August 3, 2017]

Giant's Defy Advanced 3, the most affordable Defy in the current range, is an endurance road bike that offers a smooth ride and the precise power of hydraulic disc brakes, and it's very good value.

This isn't an especially lightweight bike, weighing in at 9.5kg (21.0lb), but the fact that it's so comfortable means you can happily keep ticking off the miles all day.

> Find your nearest dealer here

As ever, the geometry has a huge effect on the Defy Advanced 3's character and comfort. I've been riding a large sized model with a 575mm top tube and a seat tube that's 535mm, much shorter than it otherwise would be because Giant slopes the top tube downwards in its usual Compact Road Design style. The idea – and it's one that Giant has been basing designs on for over 20 years – is that this reduces the size of the front and rear triangles to create a lighter, stiffer frame. On the flip side, Giant does need to fit a longer than usual seatpost in order to get the saddle height right.

Giant Defy Advanced.jpg

Anyway, the head tube on this large size is 210mm, and that's pretty tall; the reach is 390mm – not too far – and the stack is 605mm – generous.

For comparison, a large sized Giant TCR race bike has a stack that's 24mm lower and a reach that's 11mm longer, putting you into an archetypal racing position. The Defy Advanced, in contrast, is fairly relaxed. I've not found myself riding bolt upright in the saddle over the past few weeks – far from it – but the handlebar is positioned a little higher and a little closer to the saddle than on a standard race bike, meaning you don't need to bend your back as much, or extend your neck to the same degree for a clear view of the road ahead. If a standard race bike geometry leaves you aching, perhaps this setup, dialled back a couple of notches, will work better for you.

Giant Defy Advanced - riding 3.jpg

Even putting the geometry to one side, I found the Defy Advanced 3 to be really comfortable. For a start, it comes with 25mm-wide tyres, although that's pretty much the norm nowadays. There's plenty of clearance for 28s if you want to go wider, and I tried 30mm tyres too, although that left just a tiny arc of daylight between the rubber and the fork crown.

Giant Defy Advanced - fork clearance.jpg

The seatstays are slim and taper to almost flat at the point where they reach the seat tube. That junction is low so the angle of the seatstays is small, and Giant says this helps dissipate vibrations from the road. The top tube has a D-shaped profile, flat at the top, rounded at the bottom, and this is designed to do a similar job.

Giant Defy Advanced - rear.jpg

Then there's Giant's D-Fuse seatpost. As the name suggests, it's D-shaped too, the flat edge at the back. The idea is that it can flex slightly in that direction to help remove road buzz (the shape has the side benefit of ensuring you never set your saddle slightly off-centre by mistake). The Compact Road Design that I mentioned earlier means you'll almost certainly have loads of seatpost extending out of the frame and that makes a big difference to the way the bike feels. You can occasionally feel the post bend just a touch if you really whack the bike into a pothole, for example.

Giant Defy Advanced - saddle and post.jpg

I won't go on about the saddle too much because tastes vary so widely, but the best I can say about the Giant Contact (Neutral) is that I didn't really notice it all that much. Usually when you notice a saddle it's because it's inflicting pain or at least annoying you a bit. If I'm not particularly aware of a saddle then everything's dandy.

Giant makes some really good saddles these days. The Contact is fairly flat with quite a broad nose. The upper features a pressure relief channel down the centre, high-density foam padding and what Giant calls its 'Particle Flow Technology' where material held in pockets within the structure can mould to your body.

Giant Defy Advanced - saddle.jpg

Anyway, you get the idea: this is a really comfortable bike. I'd have preferred a larger diameter handlebar to spread the weight on the hands a little more and, while we're about it, some thicker bar tape, but the sum total of all the design features is that you can ride the Defy Advanced 3 for hours without feeling too jolted, vibrated or generally shaken up.

Giant Defy Advanced - bars 2.jpg

As mentioned up top, this isn't an especially lightweight bike but it still responds well when you increase the watts. I was actually surprised when we put the Defy Advanced 3 on the scales because it rides like a lighter bike with a distinct performance edge.

The whopping great lump of a bottom bracket/chainstay area (it takes an 86mm-wide BB) holds steady even when you crank out a power PR and the tapered head tube – it's Giant's Overdrive design with a 1 1/8in upper bearing and a 1 1/4in lower bearing – offers plenty of steering stiffness (although not as much as you get with the Overdrive 2 setup on the higher level Defy Advanced Pro and Defy Advanced SL models). You'll have no worries at all on that front.

Giant Defy Advanced - bottom bracket.jpg

Tearing downhill is a definite positive in all conditions thanks to a well-balanced frame and the key feature that I've not yet mentioned, the Shimano BR-RS405 hydraulic disc brakes.

Giant Defy Advanced - front disc brake.jpg

Nine times out of 10 when we review a disc brake bike we say that if you're not down with the brakes, no sweat, just go with a rim brake bike from the model range instead. The thing is, though, that Giant makes its Defy bikes (all of them, including the Advanced Pro and Advanced SL models) disc-brake only these days. There's no rim brake Defy in the range anymore so if you're not into discs, well, you're going to have to look elsewhere, I'm afraid. Sorry about that and all.

Giant ditched rim brakes on its carbon Defys for 2015, initially sticking with open-ended dropouts front and rear. Now the wheels are held in place by thru-axles to better handle the forces associated with disc brakes. Dropping out a wheel isn't quite as quick but that's unlikely to be a huge issue with a bike of this kind.

Giant Defy Advanced - fork detail.jpg

The Shimano BR-RS405 brakes are Tiagra level and they work well on 160mm rotors to provide loads of smooth, easily regulated power. I must say that I struggle with the bulbous look of the shifters. I'm not one for judging bikes and components on looks – I try not to do that, anyway – but these aren't pretty. They're functional, though, and provide a vast acreage of space where you can perch your hands, and I'm sure they have a great personality once you get to know them.

Giant Defy Advanced - bars and shifter.jpg

Tiagra is a 10-speed groupset and here you get a wide-ranging 11-32-tooth cassette matched up with a 50/34-tooth chainset, as you do on every other Defy right up to the £3,699 Advanced SL 1. It's a setup that suits an endurance bike where the ability to tackle a tough climb comfortably at the end of a 100-miler is more important than sprinting full-gas to the finish line. Tiagra is a really impressive groupset that doesn't lag far behind next-level-up 105 these days.

> Read our review of the Shimano Tiagra groupset here

> Find out how Shimano 105 and Tiagra compare here

Overall

The Giant Defy Advanced 3 isn't a lightweight gazelle of a bike but it handles superbly and it's highly comfortable. This bike is at its best when getting in the big miles on less than perfect roads and, with the ability to take mudguards and wider tyres, it'll happily do that year-round. Plus, with a really good frameset, Shimano Tiagra groupset and hydraulic disc brakes, it offers impressive value for money.

> Buyer's Guide: 10 of the best £1,000-£1,500 road bikes

In comparison, Trek’s endurance-focused Domane ALR 4 Disc is aggressively priced at £1,400, but although that bike has a similar parts package the frame is alloy rather than carbon. Merida’s £1,600 Ride 4000 has a carbon frame and a full carbon fork, and it also has a 105 groupset – a level higher than the Giant’s Tiagra components. Unlike the Giant, though, it has rim brakes rather than hydraulic disc brakes.

If you’re after a carbon frame and hydraulic disc brakes, the Giant is a great buy.

Verdict

Smooth-riding endurance bike that offers hydraulic disc brakes and plenty of value

Today the DealCatcher's bringing you even deeper deals than usual. Today we've got coupon codes that'll knock even more money off the great cycling deals we've got for you!

First up is a brand new set of 2018 wheels from Campagnolo that have had an extra 8% of the original asking priced knocked off thanks to 10% coupon code 'NT10'. It's only available for two more days, so you better hurry!

Our second placed deal is actually one of many. Over at Ribble, using the coupon code 'HELMET20' you can get 20% off any of the helmets available on the site. The one we've picked out got an 8/10 on road.cc review.

Our final deal of the day comes straight to you from Cycle Surgery. The Giant Contend SL 2 has had a decent 28% of its asking price wiped away. So if you're in the market for a new road bike on the cheap, check this deal out.

ProBikeKit.com

28% off Campagnolo's 2018 Neutron Clincher Wheels
WITH COUPON CODE 'NT10'
WAS £499.99 | NOW £359.99

Campagnolo Neutron Clincher Wheels.jpg

Today's first deal is not only coming to you from the future, it's got an even bigger discount than it first seems.

Campagnolo's 2018 Neutron Clincher Wheels are super lightweight carbon-hubbed clinchers that Campag says will suit riders of all abilities.

Remember that you've got to pop the coupon code 'NT10' into the relevant box at checkout, or else you won't be getting the full value of this deal.

Ribble Cycles

44% off MET's Rivale Road Helmet
WITH COUPON CODE 'HELMET20'
WAS £109.99 | NOW £67.55

MET Rivale Helmet.jpg

While we're on the subject of coupon code deals, the MET Rivale Road Helmet is one of many helmets over at Ribble feeling the effects of an extra 20% off thanks to a coupon code.

You can check out the full range here, but we highlighted this one thanks, in part, to its excellent performance on road.cc review.

Check out our 8/10 review of the Rivale below. Our man George Hill called it a "well thought out helmet" with "good innovative elements."

- Read more: road.cc's MET Rivale Helmet review

Cycle Surgery

28% off Giant's 2017 Contend SL 2
WAS £849.00 | NOW £699.00

Giant Contend SL 2.jpg

The day's final deal comes to you from Cycle Surgery.

The Giant Contend SL 2 is designed to take you budding climbers higher and faster than you've ever gone before.

At an entry level price, Giant's ALUXX SL Aluminium frame keeps things light, while Shimano's excellent Tiagra groupset will get you moving.

Taiwanese brand Giant is the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world with a huge range of road bikes designed with various different types of riding in mind.

The vast number of models might seem daunting at first but the range is structured very logically so it’s actually pretty easy to work out which is the best choice for you. The word 'Advanced' in a model name means that the frame is carbon-fibre. 

Giant also has a women’s specific brand called Liv that offers an impressively large range.

TCR Advanced range

The TCR Advanced bikes are performance road bikes that are designed to be lightweight, stiff and agile, roughly the equivalent of a Trek Emonda or a Specialized Tarmac.

All the TCR models are made from carbon fibre in various grades, and they come in race geometries: low and stretched.

Giant updated the frames of all of the TCR models for the 2016 model year, the idea being to offer the best stiffness-to-weight possible, and added some disc-braked models to the range.

TCR Advanced SL

Whereas brands like Trek, Merida and Bianchi have all introduced superlight race bikes to the market recently and other brands have concentrated on improving aerodynamic efficiency, Giant has gone after stiffness-to-weight.

The TCR Advanced SL is the flagship frameset in the range with a claimed frame weight of 856g and a claimed fork weight of 302g. It’s the brand’s lightest road frameset ever.

Giant says that the TCR Advanced SL comes out higher than any of its competitors in both a frameset pedalling stiffness-to-weight test and a frameset and wheelset pedalling stiffness-to-weight test, although other brands would doubtless dispute this.

When we got the chance to ride the TCR Advanced SL we described it as “an amazingly stiff race bike that’ll suit aggressive riders who prioritise all-out efficiency and super-sharp cornering in their efforts to get to the finish line first”.

Mixing seated riding with out of the saddle stuff for the steeper bits of our test rides, the bottom bracket was locked in place. It was the same deal in sprints: solid. If you’re a powerful rider who finds some bikes just a bit flexy when you get serious, give the TCR Advanced SL a go.

Read our First Ride report on the Giant TCR Advanced SL here.

TCR-Advanced-SL-1-Color-A-Carbon.jpg

It’s available as a frameset (£2,099), or in four complete bike builds. The Giant TCR Advanced SL 2 (£3,499) is built up with a Shimano Ultegra mechanical groupset and Giant’s own SLR 1 wheels, while the Advanced SL1 (£4,599, above) has the Di2 (electronic) version of Ultegra and SLR 1 wheels. The TCR Advanced SL 0 is available with a SRAM Red E-Tap wireless groupset (£7,699) or with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 (£7,899) and the Giant's superlight SLR 0 wheels.

TCR-Advanced-SL-1-Disc-Color-A-Blue (1).jpg

Giant has added a disc brake model to the range this year, with 12mm thru-axles front and rear. The TCR Advanced SL 1 Disc (£5,299, above) is built up with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset.  

Buy if: You’re after a lightweight and stiff race bike and you’re willing to pay big money.

TCR Advanced Pro

Although it’s made from a different grade of composite, many of the TCR Advanced SL’s features are carried over to the TCR Advanced Pro, which Giant said they trimmed weight from without sacrificing stiffness when it was revamped for 2016.

A wholesale slimming down took place. Giant reduced the profile size of the top tube, seatstays, chainstays, seatpost and fork legs, and made the walls a more consistent thickness than before to minimise excess weight. The lower headset bearing was shifted up slightly so that it’s more in line with the down tube.

Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0 - riding 1.jpg

The TCR Advanced Pro is available as a frameset and in three different builds. The most accessible of these is the TCR Advanced Pro 2 (£2,399) that’s built up with a mid-level Shimano 105 groupset and Giant’s SLR 1 wheels.

TCR-Advanced-Pro-1-Color-A-Carbon (1).jpg

The TCR Advanced Pro 1 (£2,799, above) is next up with a Shimano Ultegra group and SLR 1 wheels, while at the top of the range you'll find the TCR Advanced Pro 0 (£3,999) with the new Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 components and SLR1 wheels.

TCR Advanced Pro 0 Disc_Color A_Carbon (1).jpg

There are two disc-braked models in the range. The TCR Advanced Pro 1 Disc (£2,999) has a Shimano Ultegra groupset, including hydraulic disc brakes, while the TCR Advanced Pro 0 Disc (£3,999, above) is similar but with Shimano's Di2 electronic shifting. The SLR Disc wheels have 12mm thru-axles front and rear and the frame uses the same grade of composite as the rim brake Advanced Pro 0.

Read more: Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0 review

Buy if: You’re performance minded and prioritise frame stiffness.

TCR Advanced

The TCR Advanced (without an SL or Pro suffix) also got a lightened frameset for 2016 and a new Variant seatpost that’s designed to improve the ride quality and keep you feeling comfortable.

Like the other TCRs, the Advanced is built to Giant’s Compact Road Design. Essentially, this means that the top tube slopes downwards along its length and the frame triangles are smaller than usual. Giant says that this makes for a lighter, stiffer and smoother ride.

TCR-Advanced-2_Color-B_Neon-Red 2018 (1).jpg

We wouldn’t say that the Compact Road Design is inherently better than a traditional configuration, but some people do prefer it, especially because it gives you a lower standover height and a lot of exposed seatpost to soak up vibrations from the road.

The TCR Advanced comes in four different builds. The cheapest of these is the Shimano Tiagra-equipped TCR Advanced 3 (£1,299) while the most expensive is the TCR Advanced Disc 0 (£2,699). This one comes with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset and, on paper, looks like very good value for money. In between there's the TCR Advanced 2 (£1,499, above) with Shimano 105 components and the TCR Advanced 1 (£1,799) with Shimano Ultegra.

TCR-Advanced-2-Disc_Color-A_Black (1).jpg

There are two TCR Advanced Disc models, the cheaper of them being the £1,749 TCR Advanced 2 Disc (above) with a Shimano 105 groupset and Giant's Conduct hydraulic disc brakes. They're actually cable operated with a mechanical-to-hydraulic converter integrated with the stem.

Find out more about the entire TCR Advanced range here.

Buy if: You’re looking for a high performance bike with real world pricing.

Propel range

Whereas the TCR bikes are designed for stiffness-to-weight, the Propels are all about aerodynamics. In that sense, they’re competitors to the Trek Madone, for instance, the Merida Reacto, and the Canyon Aeroad.

Giant has added disc brake Propels to the lineup in 2018 for the first time.

Propel Advanced SL

Giant calls the Propel Advanced SL the ‘world’s fastest aero road bike’. The frame tubes have been designed with aerodynamics in mind, so you get a very deep down tube and a seat tube that’s cut away around the leading edge of the rear wheel – both features common to many other aero road bikes.

That seat tube incorporates an integrated seatpost that’s designed to be more aerodynamically efficient than a standard round post. Giant says that the integrated post saves weight too – about 45g compared to a standard composite seatpost – and adds comfort.

Giant Propel-Advanced-SL-2018 (1).jpg

The rim brake version of the Propel Advanced SL is available only as a frameset (£2,599) in 2018. 

Check out John Degenkolb’s Giant Propel Advanced SL from the 2015 Tour de France.

Buy if: You’re after a pro-level aero road bike.

Propel Advanced Pro

The Propel Advanced Pro is built to the same race geometry as the Propel Advanced SL, it’s just that it uses a different grade of carbon fibre, and whereas the SL comes with the seatpost integrated into the frame, the Pro takes a separate seatpost.

Giant Propel-Advanced-Pro-1-2018 (1).jpg

You can get the Propel Advanced as a frameset (£1,549), or you can opt for one of three complete bikes. The Shimano Ultegra Di2-equipped Propel Advanced Pro 0 (£3,999) is the top of the line, but the Propel Advanced Pro 1 (£2,999, above) looks the pick of the bunch in terms of value. It comes with a Shimano Ultegra groupset and Giant’s own 55mm deep SLR 1 Aero wheels. The range is completed by the Propel Advanced Pro 2 (£2,699) with Shimano 105 components.

Buy if: You're looking for an aero road bike at a slightly more affordable price.

Propel Advanced

The Propel Advanced is made from same grade of carbon-fibre as the Propel Advanced Pro but the fork comes with an alloy steerer rather than being a full-carbon design.

Giant Propel-Advanced-2 2018 (1).jpg

The Propel Advanced 2 (£1,599, above) looks good value. This bike comes with Shimano’s mid-level 105 groupset.

If you want deep section wheels, though, you need to go up to the Propel Advanced 0. This comes with Giant’s SL 1 Aero wheels and a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset.

Buy if: You want aerodynamic efficiency and are prepared to take a slight hit on weight.

Giant Propel Advanced Disc bikes

Giant has added disc brakes to the Propel Advanced lineup for 2018, claiming that the flagship model, the Propel Advanced SL Disc, has the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio of any bike in its class and a lower drag coefficient at a wider range of yaw angles than the rim brake version.

“One of the key breakthroughs is a new truncated ellipse airfoil shape – a design that lowers drag at a wider range of wind angles than traditional teardrop frame tubing,” says Giant. “Engineers also found that, with proper integration, a disc-brake design can actually improve aero performance compared to rim-brake configurations.”

Giant Propel-Advanced-SL-1-Disc 2018 (1).jpg

There’s also a new combined aero handlebar and stem with internal cable routing, and aero wheelsets with different rim depths front and rear, the idea being to reduce drag without compromising control or power transmission.

Two models are built around the top level Propel Advanced SL Disc frame, the more affordable of them (above), at £5,499, being equipped with Shimano Ultegra Di2 components.

The Propel Advanced Pro Disc frame is made with a slightly lower grade of carbon. It has the same Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset and is £1,000 cheaper at £4,499.

Giant Propel Advanced Disc 2018.jpg

The least expensive model is the Propel Advanced Disc (above) which uses the same grade of carbon as the Pro Disc but with an alloy steerer rather than a full carbon fork. Built up with a Shimano Ultegra mechanical groupset, it’s priced £2,999.

Buy if: You want an aero road bike with even lower drag than its rim brake equivalent.   

Defy range

The Defy is Giant’s carbon fibre endurance/sportive road bike lineup, designed to be comfortable over long distances while still providing plenty of speed. The Defy bikes are shorter in the top tube than equivalent TCRs, for example, and have taller head tubes to put you into a ride position that’s a bit more relaxed and back-friendly. Specialized takes a similar approach with its Roubaix bikes, Cannondale offers its Synapse range, and many other brands have their equivalents.

All the Defy bikes have disc brakes.

Defy Advanced SL

Giant revamped the Defy range in 2015, trimming the weight down to under 900g for the Advanced SL in a medium size. Along with the reduced weight and focus on disc brakes, the other big area that Giant worked on was the comfort. When we tested the Defy Advanced SL here on road.cc we concluded that it had taken a big step forward: this really is an extremely smooth bike.

Giant achieved this improvement by working on the carbon-fibre layup and developing tube profiles and shapes.

Giant Defy-Advanced-SL-1 2018 (1).jpg

The Defy Advanced SL strikes a good balance between the outright stiffness of a race bike and the wallowy softness of some endurance bikes. There's noticeably more frame stiffness when you're putting a load of watts through the cranks compared to many other endurance bikes.

There are two Defy Advanced SLs for 2018. The more accessible of the two is the SL 1 (£5,249, above) with Shimano Ultegra Di2 components and hydraulic disc brakes and the luxury option is the Defy Advanced SL 0 (£7,499) with Shimano Dura-Ace.

Read our review of the 2015 Giant Defy Advanced SL.

Buy if: You want an endurance/sportive bike with disc brakes and a very light weight.

Defy Advanced Pro

The Defy Advanced Pro is made of a different grade of carbon-fibre from the SL and it has a standard rather than an integrated seatpost. That D-Fuse SL Composite post is designed to provide plenty of comfort.

Giant Defy_ADV_Pro_2_M_Carbon-4616-COMPRESSED (1).jpg

The most affordable of the Defy Advanced Pro models is the Defy Advanced Pro 2 (£2,699, above). This one has Shimano’s highly rated 105 groupset and RS785 hydraulic disc brakes.

Buy if: You prioritise comfort and want the assurance of hydraulic disc brakes.

Defy Advanced

This is an incredibly popular lineup with three models, all of them equipped with Giant's Conduct hydraulic disc brakes, cable operated with a converter attached to the stem. 

Giant Defy-Advanced-3_Color-A_Carbon (1).jpg

The Defy Advanced 3 (£1,499, above) has Shimano’s fourth tier Tiagra components – great stuff that benefits from technology that has trickled down from higher level groupsets.

Check out our review of the 2017 Giant Defy Advanced 3.

We’d still be tempted to pay the extra and get the Defy Advanced 2 (£1,699) with Shimano 105, though.

Read our Shimano Tiagra 4700 First Ride review here.

Buy if: You want a bike for comfortably racking up the miles.

Contend range

The aluminium-framed Contend models are built to almost exactly the same geometries as those of the carbon fibre Defy bikes (above), although they have shorter chainstays. They also come with tapered head tubes and steerers for accurate steering, and a D-Fuse seatpost that’s designed to damp vibration.

Contend-SL-2-Disc-Color-B-Neon-Red (1).jpg

There are three flavours of Contend: Contend, Contend SL and Contend SL Disc. 

If you're in the market for a bike at the typical Cycle To Work Scheme threshold of £1,000, the Contend SL 2 Disc (£999, above) looks  good value with Shimano Tiagra components and Giant's own hydraulic disc brakes.

If you're a fan of lightweight aluminium-framed bikes, then the Contend SL models are well worth a look. Back in 2013, Giant proved it still had serious expertise in aluminium with the brilliant but sadly short-lived TCR SL. We're hoping the Contend SL shares some of that bike's technology and characteristics, though we don't expect it to have a 1,050g frame, and the fork has an aluminium steerer rather than a carbon fibre one.

Contend-2_Color-A_Blue (1).jpg

The entry-level model in the range is the Contend 2 (£575, above) with components from Shimano’s 8-speed Claris groupset.

Check out our guide to Shimano’s road bike groupsets here.

Buy if: You want the comfort of an endurance road bike and you don’t necessarily feel the need for discs.

Liv Envie range

The designed-for-women Envie bikes are branded Liv rather than Giant, and they’re essentially women’s versions of rim brake Propels. Like the Propels, they’re divided up into different categories. There’s no SL version but there are Envie Advanced and Advanced Pro models along with an Envie Advanced Tri.

Liv Envie-Advanced 2018 (1).jpg

The Envie Advanced Pro (£4,299, above) is equipped with Shimano Ultegra Di2 components while, at the other end of the spectrum, there's the Envie Advanced 2 (£1,599, below) with a Shimano 105 groupset.

Envie-Advanced-2_Color-A_White (1).jpg

Buy if: You want an aero road bike in a women’s-specific geometry.

Liv Langma 

Langma is a new range of women’s-specific carbon-framed road race bikes, designed to be lightweight and efficient. 

Langma-Advanced-3_Color-A_Grayish-Blue (1).jpg

There are four Langma Advanced bikes ranging in price from £1,299 for the Shimano Tiagra-equipped 3 (above) right up to £2,699 for the 0 with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset.

Langma-Advanced-Pro-1_Color-A_Dark-Red (1).jpg

The Langma Advanced Pro bikes use the same Advanced Grade composite but get a slightly different headset system and a full-carbon fork rather than a fork with a carbon steerer. The more affordable of the rim brake models is Langma Advanced Pro 1 (£2,399, above) with a Shimano 105 groupset.

Langma-Advanced-Pro-1-Disc_Color-A_Red (1).jpg

The Langma Advanced Pro Disc (£2,999, above), with thru axles, has a Shimano Ultegra groupset, including the hydraulic disc brakes.

Langma-Advanced-SL-1_Color-A_Dark-Purple (1).jpg

The top level Langma platform is the Advanced SL, made from a higher grade of carbon and available in only rim brake models. The Langma Advanced SL 1 (£4,649, above) has a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset while the £7,749 Langma Advanced SL 0 is equipped with SRAM Red eTap.

Buy if: You want a women’s-specific carbon-framed road race bike that's designed to be lightweight and efficient.

Liv Avail range

The Liv Avail bikes are pretty much women’s versions of the Giant Defys and Contends. It’s a large range containing 10 different models, covering both carbon fibre Advanced models and aluminium-framed bikes. 

Avail-SL-2-Disc-Color-A-Dark-Purple (1).jpg

There are six aluminium Avails, four of them with rim brakes and the other two with discs. The Avail SL 2 Disc (£999, above) has TRP Spyre C mechanical disc brakes while the Avail SL 1 Disc (£1,199) has Giant's own Conduct hydraulic discs.

Avail-2_Color-A_Dark-Blue (1).jpg

The rim-braked Avails start with the Avail 2 (£575, above)— the women's equivalent of the Contend 2 — and go up to the Avail SL 1 (£999) with Shimano's 105 components.

Avail-Advanced-Pro-Color-A-Black (1).jpg

Top of the carbon fibre Avails is the Avail Advanced Pro (£3,999, above) with Shimano Ultegra Di2 and hydraulic disc brakes. All the Avail Advanced bikes have hydraulic discs.

Buy if: You’re after an endurance road bike that’s made especially for women.

AnyRoad

​The AnyRoads are really interesting bikes that are designed for riding both on asphalt and on rougher roads – gravel, towpaths, forest tracks, that kind of thing. Many other manufacturers are producing bikes that are similarly versatile: GT makes the Grade, for example, and Jamis has the Renegade.

AnyRoad-2_Color-A_Charcoal (1).jpg

The AnyRoad is built with a tall head tube for a fairly upright riding position, and comes with 32mm tyres for grip and comfort on less than perfect road surfaces.

There are two aluminium-framed AnyRoads, the cheapest of which is the AnyRoad 2 (£899, above) with a Shimano Sora groupset and TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes.

AnyRoad-Advanced-GE-Color-A-Dark-Blue (1).jpg

The AnyRoad Advanced (£1,799, above) has a full carbon frame. This one has a Shimano Tiagra groupset and Giant's Conduct cable operated hydraulic disc brakes (using a mechanical-to-hydraulic converter). 

Buy if: You want a relaxed geometry bike that’s capable of riding on smooth and not-so-smooth roads.

Giant road bikes — the full range

For more info go to www.giant-bicycles.com

• With elongated tube shapes and other wind-cheating features, aero road bikes provide a small but handy speed boost.

• Sleek shapes make for a distinctive look.

• Recent aero road bikes have alleviated the harsh ride that plagued some early models, thanks to improved use of materials.

• Frame aerodynamics is still a marginal gain; if you're wearing flappy clothes an aero bike is a waste of money.

In just a few years aero road bikes have gone from The Next Big Thing to a mainstream bike option. The latest models have been tweaked to be faster than ever, according to the manufacturers, and to alleviate the harsh ride that characterised some early aero bikes.

Aero road bikes essentially draw the aerodynamic features from time trial bikes into a road frame, and balance the demands of weight and stiffness into a package that, on paper, looks to be the ideal all-round choice.

At any decent speed, most of your effort goes into overcoming air resistance, so reducing a bike's drag means you'll go faster, or ride at any given speed with a lower power output. Who doesn't like the sound of that?

Most of your air resistance comes from your body. Wearing non-flappy clothing will help, as will losing weight. But the 20% or so of air resistance from your bike is enough for engineers and designers to focus on making road frames and products more slippery in the air. In the pro peloton aero road bikes have been quickly adopted, where the margins of victory are very slim and there has been a focus on gaining ever smaller performance gains over the years.

Jos Van Emden Giant Propel - front brake

Weight, and the lack thereof, used to be the main driving force of frame development. Along with stiffness, these were the two cornerstones of bike design. These days most bikes are light, many well below the UCI’s 6.8kg weight limit (which doesn’t affect non-racers anyway), and come with more stiffness than is sometimes comfortable.

All that has made aerodynamics more important for manufacturers. Specialized has built its own wind tunnel, for example, and most manufacturers are testing in wind tunnels. Nevertheless, aero road bikes haven't converged on a perfect, slippery common shape. Different engineers prioritise different ways of improving aerodynamics but there are shared design trends: skinny, aerofoil-shaped tubes, integrated brakes, and internal cable routing.

Let's take a look at the latest aero offerings.​

Colnago Concept — £3,150 (frameset)

Colnago Concept.jpg

Colnago has joined the aerodynamic arms race with the brand new Concept, a full blooded aero race bike that is a serious step forward from the Italian company's first aero road bike, the V1-r, from a couple of years ago.

The Concept has all the capability to dice with the fastest in a race situation. The Concept's stiff frame, Vision deep-section wheels and 7.2kg weight give it an insatiable appetite for speed. It's quick in all circumstances: climbs, descents, flat and undulating roads – everywhere, the bike really shines. It's an exciting bike to ride fast, and like all good aero road bikes encourages you to ride flat-out.

That firm ride, and frame and fork stiffness ensure the Concept accurately follows your inputs, whether through the handlebar or pedals. It reacts very positively to your body language, whether you're blasting up an uphill sprint finish or bombing through a curving descent.

But all-out speed isn't all the Concept is about, and it's not just a bike for racing. The Concept provides adequate composure and comfort, allowing you to tackle long distance rides at a few notches below race pace and not be dealt a hammer-blow to the lower back the moment the tyres encounter anything but a billiard-smooth surface. The front end of aero race bikes can often be overwhelmingly harsh, but the special headset and fork steerer tube that Colnago has developed mean it's smoother up front than would normally be expected on an aero road bike.

Read our review of the Colnago Concept
Find a Colnago dealer

Rose X-Lite CWX Disc — from £3,770

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The Rose X-Lite CWX-4100 is a quick, fast-handling aero road bike with disc brakes, and although £4,700 is clearly a lot to spend, it represents good value. You really are getting a lot for your money here.

The CWX-4100 – the name sounds to us like it should belong to some sort of droid – is at its best when you're hammering. The aggressive riding position and the frame's aero features announce loud and clear that this bike is intended to be ridden fast.

Weighing in at just 7.46kg (16.4lb) – light for something with deep, aero-optimised tubes and disc brakes – and with loads of stiffness through the central section of the T40/T60 carbon-fibre frame, it feels every inch a race bike whether you're tearing along flat roads or scampering up the climbs.

Read our review of the Rose X-Lite CWX-4100 Di2 Disc

Merida Scultura 6000 2018 — £2,400

2018 Merida Scultura 6000

The Merida Scultura 6000 just feels right when you get on it. The position, the ride, the comfort… it's one of those bikes that gives you the confidence to push it as hard as you want, knowing that it isn't going to bite back. It's a bit of a bargain too when you consider the frame is being ridden in the pro peloton and weighs a claimed 750g. It's a hell of a lot of bike for the money.

For this revised version of the Scultura frameset Merida has concentrated on increasing comfort, and it's obviously paid off. The frame is handmade in Taiwan, and by tweaking the carbon layup in certain areas it has been able to bring in quite a bit of extra damping without sacrificing stiffness.

Aerodynamics was another target for Merida, using computational fluid dynamics in the design process and wind tunnel testing of various incarnations. It even used a dummy with moving legs to replicate the effect the rider's pedalling has on wind resistance.

Read our review of the Merida Scultura 6000
Find a Merida dealer

Boardman Elite Air — from £1,899.99

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Boardman's Elite Air 9.2 is just the ticket if you're looking for a fast bike with a good spec but you haven't got very silly money. It's a good package and the performance is impressive straight out of the box.

If you're buying an aero bike, chances are you're doing so because you want to go faster; that, or you just like the look of deep-section tubes.

Do you go faster? The anecdotal evidence suggests a yes: you go faster on this than on standard road bike. Our tester grabbed a downhill KOM on Strava, hung on longer before getting blown out the back of a crit with riders a grade above him and added 10km/h to his top speed on a favourite descent.crit with riders a grade above him and added 10km/h to his top speed on a favourite descent.

Read our review of the Boardman Elite Air 9.2
Find a Boardman dealer

Storck Aerfast Platinum — £10,949

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At £10,949, the Storck Aerfast Platinum is a massive outlay, but boy, oh boy do you get one hell of a return on your investment. It's a sub-6.5kg race weapon, with aerodynamics that work in the real world, and it offers comfort levels to challenge most endurance bikes.

Taking plenty of things it's learnt from its astonishingly good Aernario, Storck has pushed the design even further down the aerodynamics route, and what it has created in the Aerfast is a bike that's not only unbelievably fast, but light and stiff too.

If you're in the market for an aero bike, speed is going to be topping your list of priorities, and it's where the Aerfast truly excels. Below about 23mph the Storck feels like any other bike to ride, any other superlight bike that is, but all the same it feels like it requires some effort; you've got to work at it.

Get above that speed, though, and the aerodynamics really come into play. It feels like a permanent tailwind is nudging you along, a friendly hand on your back as you watch the numbers climb on the Garmin – with no more effort required than there was 5mph ago. It's a wonderful feeling, and one you never tire of.

Read our review of the Storck Aerfast Platinum

Find a Storck dealer

Cervelo S5 — £6,499

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Long hailed as the fastest aero road bike by people who know a lot about aerodynamics, the Cervelo S5 received quite a makeover for the 2017 model year. It still looks like an S5 but Cervelo claims to have finessed every tube profile and found significant drag reductions. It’s also increased frame stiffness in the head tube and bottom bracket to improve handling. Another change is the shorter head tube to put the rider in a lower, and more aerodynamic, position. Cervelo has also developed its own aero handlebar which is compatible with a regular stem.

Read our coverage of the Cervelo S5 launch
Find a Cervelo dealer

Ridley Noah SL — €7,249.95

2018 Ridley Noah SL Ultegra Di2.jpg

Aero and discs? It's getting more and more common as bike makers figure out how to mount disc calipers without affecting aerodynamics too much. 

Ridley calls its collection of speed-enhancing aerodynamic features FAST. It includes the slotted F-Split fork and F-Surface Plus, a tube shape that combines an aerofoil with a groove that helps keep the air flowing smoothly over the fork, reducing drag.

As for the discs, Ridley believes they're simply a better way of stopping.

Read about Greg Henderson's Ridley Noah SL
Find a Ridley dealer

Pinarello Dogma F10 — £4,499 (frame, fork)

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Developed in collaboration with Team Sky, the Dogma F10 follows on from the highly-acclaimed F8, on which Chris Froome won the Tour de france. The F10uses FlatBack tube profiles, a Kamm Tail sort of shape, with a rounded leading edge and chopped tail. Pinarello has also lowered the seat tube water bottle cage and it’s further shielded by the down tube. Meanwhile, up front the fork has been derived from the company’s Bollide time trial bike with an aerodynamic shape, and the crown closely nestles into a recess in the down tube.

Find a Pinarello dealer

Canyon Aeroad CF SLX — from £3,199

2018 Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 9.0 LTD

The second-generation Aeroad CF SLX has been inspired by the work on its futuristic Speedmax time trial bike, with razor sharp aero tube profiles and an optional one-piece handlebar and stem assembly. Much of the company’s focus with the new bike has been in reducing the frontal surface area, so along with the new handlebar there’s a narrower and hour-glass shaped head tube to help reduce drag. Other changes include the new tube profile, a variant of the Trident shape used on the Speedmax, and a seat tube that hugs the curvature of the rear wheel. Unlike some aero road bikes that integrate the brake callipers, Canyon has opted for direct-mount Shimano brakes in the regular positions.

Read our review of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 7.0 Di2
Read our review of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc 8.0 Di2

Specialized S-Works Venge Disc Vias eTap — £8,500

2018 Specialized S-Works Venge Vias Disc eTap

If you're going to fly, you need to be able to rein in that speed. Disc brakes give finer modulation of speed with less effort at the lever so as you're whooping into Alpine hairpins you can brake later and waste less valuable speed.

The Venge had a radical makeover last year, with an all-new aero frame, and an aero handlebar and stem with full internal cable routing. The almost complete lack of  cables flapping in the wind, further reduces drag.

Read our review of the Specialized Venge Vias Expert Disc​
Read about Mark Cavendish's Venge at the Tour de France
Find a Specialized dealer 

Scott Foil — from £2,499

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The Foil arguably kicked off the whole aero road bike trend, bringing aerodynamic design that was once the preserve of time trial bikes to regular road bikes. For 2018, Scott has added disc brakes, arguing along with other manufacturers that you can go faster if you can slow down better.

That's on top of the last series of updates to the Foil that saw the down tube lowered and wrapped around the fork crown, and a smaller rear triangle and internal seat clamp in the top tube. 

And don't think this is just a uncomfortable aero bike, Mathew Hayman rode over a few little bumps on his way to winning Paris-Roubaix.

Read our coverage of the 2016 Scott Foil launch
Find a Scott dealer

Trek Madone — from £3,500

2018 Trek Madone 9.0.jpg

Once an all-round lightweight race bike, the Madone has had a complete aerodynamic makeover. It features a version of the Isospeed decoupler borrowed from the Domane to provide some comfort (aero road bikes have traditionally compromised comfort in the quest for speed) and it’s wrapped up in a frame with Kamm Tail shaped tubes. Like Specialized, Trek has also developed its own brake callipers, and they’re concealed within the fork and seat stays. To keep the cable routing of the centre pull front brake nice and clean, the head tube features flaps that open and close when the fork is turned.

For 2018, prices are down out of the upper stratosphere with a new model, the Madone 9.0, above, that's a bargain at a mere £3,500.

Read our coverage of the 2016 Trek Madone launch
Find a Trek dealer

Merida Reacto — from £1,000

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Merida’s Reacto features tube profiles shape in accordance with NACA airfoil principles, and using the popular Kamm tail approach of chopping off the trailing edge, tricking the air into acting as if the trailing edge were there. More than any other bike here, the Reacto looks like a time trail bike in drag. There’s an aero seat post, internal cable routing and the rear brake is positioned underneath the chain stays. The front brake, meanwhile, is found on the front of the fork.

Read our review of the Merida Reacto 300
Find a Merida dealer

Canyon Ultimate CF SLX — from £2,649

Canyon Ultimate CF SLX

Canyon has given its latest Ultimate CF SLX a light touch of aerodynamic influence. It has developed a new D-shaped down tube, seat tube and seatpost, which along with a new internal seat clamp, adds up to a claimed 10% reduction in drag compared to the previous non-aero Ultimate. It doesn’t challenge Canyon’s Aeroad CF SLX for outright slipperiness in the wind tunnel, but does point to a future where all road bikes might one day be shaped in the wind tunnel.

Giant Propel Advanced SL 0 Disc 2018 — £8,998.99

2018 Giant Propel Advanced SL 0 Disc.jpg

Giant has added disc brakes to the Propel Advanced lineup for 2018, claiming that the flagship model, the Propel Advanced SL Disc, has the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio of any bike in its class and a lower drag coefficient at a wider range of yaw angles than the rim brake version.

“One of the key breakthroughs is a new truncated ellipse airfoil shape – a design that lowers drag at a wider range of wind angles than traditional teardrop frame tubing,” says Giant. “Engineers also found that, with proper integration, a disc-brake design can actually improve aero performance compared to rim-brake configurations.”

As well as a stunning paint job, the top of the range Propel Advanced SL 0 Disc has a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and Giant's own SLR 0 Aero Disc wheels with a 42mm deep front rim and 65mm rear.

If you're not loaded, the Propel disc range starts at £2,999 with the Propel Advanced Disc.

Read our review of the Giant Propel Advanced 1  
Read our coverage of the original Giant Propel launch
Find a Giant dealer​