Propel wheel/tyre change

[anonymous-user]

[redacted]

[ucb]

Standard Giant wheels and tyres are there to prop the bike up on the display stands. I noticed a massive improvement even with highly used Fulcrums and Hutchinson tyres.
Just change them.
The tyres in particular are utterly.woeful.

[AL5026]

I run a propel too and all I can say is get rid of the wheels! They are overly heavy and a set of carbons will make a huge difference. I bought a set of the latest SLR1’s for mine with tubeless Pro One tyres as opposed to the Giant branded tyres.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/slr-1-42-disc-ca...

Made a big difference and the bike is bang on 18 pounds now as I’ve upgraded other bits too. That’s not bad for an aero framed bike and I’m happy at that.

Pic for reference

[AL5026]

Forgot to add, I’ve found that the Shimano brake callipers can slip out of adjustment, mainly from knocks to the bike on rough road surfaces but on more than one occasion I’ve felt like it’s been a drag and I’ve got home and realised that the disc is binding, so much so that I’ve basically been riding with the brakes on. 30 pigging miles last time! I check them religiously and last week before Sundays ride the rear had moved out of adjustment, enough to be rubbing slightly, again. Might be worth a look?

[yellowjack]

Look at a wheelbuilder. Just as an example, DCR Wheels have a "signature dish" 'disc brake Standard Road Wheelset for around the £460 mark that weighs in at 1550g.

Apples and oranges, I know, but when I needed new wheels I bought their 'Vivaldi' four seasons rim brake wheelset, and at only £300 (now up to £330) it was excellent value at a relatively lightweight 1460g. The disc brake version is 1600g and would cost £360 for a fairly standard build with a Shimano 11 speed freehub... https://dcrwheels.co.uk/product/dcr-vivaldi-wheels...

I'd definitely look to buy from DCR again. They have plenty more to choose from if you can afford to spend more, with many options for rims, spokes, and hubs to suit your budget. No affiliation, neither, just a happy customer, and there are, of course, plenty of other wheelbuilders to choose from.

[MrBarry123]

yellowjack’s recommendation is a sensible one.

A decent set of alloy wheels will be as fast as many of the mid-depth carbon wheels for us ordinary riders, and cost significantly less.

My TCR has the SLR 1 wheels shown above and they’re no quicker than a set of alloy wheels I bought from RyanBuildsWheels. Similarly, I have a set of deeper carbon wheels to go on the TCR this year however only because they look cool and not because they’ll provide any tangible performance benefit.

[Camoradi]

I have a Giant Defy with their carbon wheels, which was originally shod with Giant Gavia Fondo tyres (28mm). I had the same experience of having to constantly put effort in to keep rolling

I swapped them for Conti GP500 STR (25mm) last summer and it made a 1 minute difference over ten miles.

[MrBarry123]

Giant’s Gavia tyres are renowned for being slow so I’d change just those for the time being and see how you get on.

[emicen]

PR2s with Pirelli Cinturato 28c tyres, set up tubeless, come in at 3.44kg all up.

I don’t recall the weight of the oem Gavia tyres but they would be doing well to save more than 50g a wheel over the Pirellis, given 25c GP5000s are only 90g lighter.

[yellowjack]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

'GP 5000 S TR' is tubeless ready https://www.continental-tires.com/bicycle/tires/ra...
'GP 5000' is (I presume) just a regular clincher/tubes tyre https://www.continental-tires.com/bicycle/tires/ra...

Premium on the heavier 5000 S TR will be "because tubeless". They're around 30 to 50 grams heavier too, dependent upon tyre width, so if you're not "going tubeless" with them probably better to save the weight/cost and go for the plain GP5000.

I used to swear by Conti's GP 4000 and GP 4Seasons tyres, but (partly down to cost) I bought Goodyear F1 tyres last time out. Sadly a dip in my riding frequency/mileage, especially road riding, means I have no meaningful input in terms of comparison/recommendation, but I keep second guessing myself and wondering if I should have stuck with Conti.

[emicen]

yellowjack said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

'GP 5000 S TR' is tubeless ready https://www.continental-tires.com/bicycle/tires/ra...
'GP 5000' is (I presume) just a regular clincher/tubes tyre https://www.continental-tires.com/bicycle/tires/ra...

Premium on the heavier 5000 S TR will be "because tubeless". They're around 30 to 50 grams heavier too, dependent upon tyre width, so if you're not "going tubeless" with them probably better to save the weight/cost and go for the plain GP5000.

I used to swear by Conti's GP 4000 and GP 4Seasons tyres, but (partly down to cost) I bought Goodyear F1 tyres last time out. Sadly a dip in my riding frequency/mileage, especially road riding, means I have no meaningful input in terms of comparison/recommendation, but I keep second guessing myself and wondering if I should have stuck with Conti.

Can’t comment from experience on the difference. Running GP5000S TR black/black to give them their full title. Having fked a sidewall on their first ride I would say I like the speed but dislike the fragility and if doing over would probably go with a tubeless variant Vittoria.

[JayRidesBikes]

AL5026 said:

I run a propel too and all I can say is get rid of the wheels! They are overly heavy and a set of carbons will make a huge difference. I bought a set of the latest SLR1’s for mine with tubeless Pro One tyres as opposed to the Giant branded tyres.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/slr-1-42-disc-ca...

Made a big difference and the bike is bang on 18 pounds now as I’ve upgraded other bits too. That’s not bad for an aero framed bike and I’m happy at that.

Pic for reference

I had this exact bike and also found the wheels and tyres to be pretty naff - they're extremely heavy and the tyres aren't great.

I swapped for a pair of Roval C38's I found on eBay for around £500 and put some GP5000's on it - completely transformed the bike for not an unreasonable amount of money.

Edit: I've just read you've ordered Goodyears - I ran a set of those for a year, nice tyres that are easy to set up tubeless and are fast rolling but take care in the wet with them.

Edited by JayRidesBikes on Thursday 6th April 16:13

[MrBarry123]

I don’t mean to burst your bubble OP but the Goodyear Eagle F1 tests approximately 50% slower than the GP5000 S TR according to Bicycle Rolling Resistance - 9.1W for the GP5K S TR, 13.9W for the Eagle F1. So I wouldn’t be convinced they’ll feel massively different to the Gavias.

The Contis are expensive for a reason and that’s because they’re a league above the majority of tyres out there and are only really bettered by the TT specific options.

[emicen]

MrBarry123 said:

I don’t mean to burst your bubble OP but the Goodyear Eagle F1 tests approximately 50% slower than the GP5000 S TR according to Bicycle Rolling Resistance - 9.1W for the GP5K S TR, 13.9W for the Eagle F1. So I wouldn’t be convinced they’ll feel massively different to the Gavias.

The Contis are expensive for a reason and that’s because they’re a league above the majority of tyres out there and are only really bettered by the TT specific options.

I think that’s being unfair on the Goodyears tbh.

Yes, the rolling resistance numbers for the GP5000s was why I went with them, but prior to that I swapped out the Gavias for Pirelli Cinturatos which are 16W+ rolling resistance and they felt great in comparison.

Faster? I couldn’t say, but they rode so much better. Regardless of speed, the Gavias are just not pleasant tyres.

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It’s a much about the wheels as the tyres in a lot of cases. GP5000s on my VEL50 rims went on ridiculously easily with just a normal track pump. Were it not for the bead popping you would have thought there was an inner tube installed.

[Le Chauffeur]

To answer an earlier question, I’ve had a ride out on a propel and wasn’t very impressed with it.

A friend of mine who is an excellent rider had one as his main bike and loved it, but wanted to have a ride out on mine - so we swapped for half hour into a ride.

He disappeared off down the road leaving me riding what felt like a wooden floor joist. It just felt very flat and numb with no feel or feedback. The bike felt heavy to get going and took real effort to keep going on false flat roads. Bike was totally standard with factory wheels and tyres.

When I finally caught up, he didn’t want his bike back. So much so, he exchanged it the next week for the TCR.

I feel the wheels and tyres will make a huge difference if you can change them over.

Where in the UK are you? I have a spare set of wheels you are welcome to try/use. ( DT Swiss / GP5000s tyres )

Chris