2024 Giant Defy | Cycling Weekly
Giant released the 2024 Defy, the brands endurance model. The new bike is said to be the lightest and most compliant road bike Giant has ever made. Sam Gupta has dived into the details of the new road bike and also taken it out on his local roads to give it a first ride review. What do you think of the new bike and which specification would you pick?
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00:00 Giants has just released the latest version of its incredibly popular endurance model,
00:05 the Defy. The now fifth generation of the bike ushers in three new frame sets,
00:10 with some pretty bold claims with supposed improvements in both weight and comfort.
00:15 Giants are even claiming that the most affordable version of the new Defy
00:20 outperforms the previous generation's top of the range model. Clearly, there is a lot to unpack
00:26 here, and at the end of the video I'll be sharing my first ride impressions. So, let's dive in.
00:32 In stark contrast to Specialized that has continued its Future Shock front end suspension
00:44 system, Giant relies on "functional simplicity" to provide compliance and comfort. It says that
00:50 after working with teams and professional riders and more normal people, like the Starford Giant,
00:56 it decided that it wanted to continue its focus on developing its past innovations.
01:01 This is why the new Defy now has a new D-Fuse seat post and a new D-Fuse handlebar and stem,
01:08 which are both designed to smooth off the ride without adding any extra weight.
01:13 It's not just the bits Giant has bolted to the frame itself that it says will help with comfort,
01:19 but Giant says that the dropped seat stays and the brand new fork also go a long way to help
01:24 cushion the ride. After reading that this bike was developed alongside professionals,
01:29 I did get a little bit worried because this is one of the rare scenarios where it does make
01:33 more sense to actually be developing alongside real people. From a professional rider's point
01:39 of view, anything that isn't an out-and-out race bike will feel comfortable by virtue of the fact
01:44 that it has some basic compliance properties, like wider tyres and a slightly more relaxed geometry.
01:50 Even thoroughbred race bikes are now being used on the harshest of Belgian classics,
01:55 thanks to their newfound versatility. So, to my mind, having a pro's input isn't actually the
02:01 most valuable thing. Which is why I was pretty relieved to hear that after speaking to Giant,
02:06 they did also include a lot of normal people within their development process.
02:10 That being said, the new D-Fuse seat post is claimed to provide 7mm of deflection,
02:16 while the frame sets, when paired with the new seat posts, are said to offer 42% more compliance
02:22 compared to the previous generation. If true, that is a fairly impressive increase, and whether
02:28 you're a pro or not, that should result in a fairly plush ride. There have also been some
02:35 updates to the geometry, and they're changes that you may not associate with an endurance bike,
02:40 because the new Defy features a lower headtube by 9mm, and now has a slightly longer reach by 5mm.
02:48 So, in theory, this new bike is actually slightly more performance focused. From stock,
02:54 the bikes will still have a very long steerer tube, so if you want to maintain a high stack,
02:59 then you can. It's because of these changes in geometry that this bike has actually become a
03:04 whole lot more interesting to me, because, quite frankly, I love a racy road bike. So,
03:10 I'm very excited to experience these changes and see if they really have made the bike
03:14 a little bit more dynamic. There is, of course, one other metric which looks to be
03:25 fairly impressive, that being the amount of weight that Giant claims to have slashed out of the
03:32 frame sets. It says that the new top of the range Defy Advanced SL tips the scales at 785g,
03:39 a full 293g lighter than the previous range topping model. That's nearly 20% lighter.
03:48 That's a really good amount of weight to save from a frame, and it brings the Defy right alongside
03:54 some of the best road bikes on the market. In fact, when I put the bike behind me on our scales,
04:00 it came in a smidge over 7kg. What makes the weight even more impressive is that this is an
04:07 endurance bike, and it's because of this that you actually have to excuse a little bit of my
04:13 scepticism. Until I get a chance to ride this bike a little bit later on in this video, I'll be keen
04:20 to see if the Defy can deliver on its compliance claims, and if it really is as comfortable as
04:27 Giant says it is. Bikes this light aren't always that comfortable in my experience. I'd love to be
04:32 wrong, because if Giant have cracked it, then this could be a real winner. But what's even more
04:38 impressive is that the base level Defy Advanced is also lighter than the previous top of the range
04:43 bike by a claimed 117g. It however does show how heavy the previous version of the Defy was,
04:52 if it came in at around a kilo. Now, I'm not suggesting that Giant will have made it purposefully
04:57 heavy so that they can remove weight for the new generation, but that is certainly a great
05:04 headline that they've achieved. The new Defy isn't just about compliance and weight though.
05:15 Those new bars do more than just smooth off the tarmac. They're now bang up to date with full
05:20 cable integration, and the drops of the bars themselves feature a flare of 8 degrees,
05:25 which is great for descending and just generally having more control.
05:29 Of course, this wouldn't be a brand new 2024 Endurance bike without more tyre clearance,
05:35 and don't worry, Giant has delivered. It has now been up to 38mm from the previous generation's
05:42 35. You do get Giant's own 32mm tyres fitted from stock. However, these are something that
05:48 personally I would switch out pretty quick if I were a customer of this bike.
05:52 The frames also include integrated fender mounts. All of the bikes come with two composite bottle
05:58 cages that have been designed specifically for the Defy, and you can see how the cage here on
06:04 the seat tube wraps around the front mech. And on the Advanced SL and Advanced Pro builds,
06:10 you will get carbon hookless wheels. On a more subjective level, I think the new Defy does look
06:16 a whole lot better than its predecessor. I always struggled with the look of the old one. It looked
06:21 clumsy and unbalanced, to my eye at least. But this new bike certainly does have a good go at
06:27 rectifying the sins of its past. I still believe that there are better looking Endurance bikes on
06:33 the market, and that this new Defy is slightly cookie cutter with its drop seat stays and chunky
06:39 head tube and down tube. But I really cannot complain when it's those very features that are
06:45 responsible for some of my favourite performance characteristics of most modern bikes.
06:49 There's one other thing that I find really interesting, and that's just quite how slim
06:54 the top tube is. It's something we're seeing more and more on new bikes. The new Factor Ostrovan
07:00 and the Orbea Orca both have similar looking top tubes, and both also have light weight at the
07:06 heart of what they do. So perhaps this is something that we're going to start seeing more manufacturers
07:10 do as a way to drop weight. On to cost, and here are the worldwide prices. Bikes start at a Tiagra
07:17 level build and then finish with SRAM Red. Surprisingly though, there is no Dura-Ace
07:23 offering. Giant has said that it was only ever going to offer one of the two, and it decided
07:27 to go with Red thanks to the gearing options that it opens up. This is also one of the first bikes
07:34 on the market to be offered with the brand new Mechanical 105 12-speed groupset, and that bike
07:39 lands at either $3,000 or just shy of £2,700. I think there's certain models in the range that
07:47 make more sense than others. Personally, I wouldn't opt for either of the two top-end bikes
07:52 when you can find the brand new Canyon Enduro Race with Dura-Ace for £9,000, or the top spec
07:59 Cannondale Synapse for the same price. Some may say that the Kadex wheels found on the top-end
08:04 Defy are better than those found on either the Enduro Race or the Synapse, and I would be inclined
08:11 to agree. The frame technology of the Defy is also a contributing factor, but for the majority of
08:17 riders, I think the Synapse and the Enduro Race offer the bulk of what people are looking for
08:22 from a range-topping bike, and shelling the extra £2,500 might be hard to do for what may feel like
08:30 an incremental improvement. There's two models that really stand out to me, that being either
08:36 the Advanced Pro 2 or the Advanced Pro Zero. The former has carbon wheels, the mid-tier frame,
08:43 and the new 105 12-speed mechanical groupset, but sadly only appears to be available in the UK
08:49 and France, at least for the time being. And the latter has a full Ultegra 12-speed Di2 groupset,
08:56 a Giant power metre, and a mid-tier frame, and some better carbon wheels than that of the former.
09:02 Overall, I think Giant has done a pretty decent job. They have made the bike lighter,
09:08 it claims to have made it more comfortable, and given its lineage as a very popular endurance
09:14 platform, I'm inclined to have a small amount of trust in their claims at this early stage.
09:19 And to my eye, at least, the bike looks a whole lot better too. Some good features have been
09:25 included, like the fender mounts, the bottle cage inclusion, and more space for wider tyres.
09:31 When you pair all of that with the new bar and stem, it's a bike which has been brought up to
09:35 modern standards, or should I say, expectations, and it looks like a pretty worthwhile successor
09:43 to the much-loved Afai platform. Now though, it's time for my first ride impressions.
09:47 So, first ride impressions. I've just come into a little lay-by where it's a bit shadier because
09:53 it's quite hot out today. But I've had the bike, as you can see behind me, out in the lanes today.
09:58 I've been taking up some longer drags, up some climbs, just to get a good feel of what it's
10:04 actually like to ride. I think let's start off first with geometry, because like I said earlier,
10:10 the stack has been reduced by 9mm and the reach has actually gone out by, I think,
10:15 about 5mm or so. I think that's definitely the right call. While I wouldn't say that it feels
10:21 aggressive, it definitely does feel more performance-orientated. Now actually, I do
10:26 think this bike for me, currently, I would need to play around a little bit with the fit. Personally,
10:32 I think actually the reach is a bit too long for me. Either I need a shorter stem by about 10mm
10:36 or I just need to play around with the angle of the bars and the positioning of the hoods.
10:42 But at the moment, it's just not quite right. However, that being said, the stack of the head
10:48 tube, it doesn't feel low. If anything, it probably just goes to show that the previous
10:52 version of the Defy was actually quite high. I think comparing this bike to say the Pinarello
10:58 X3, which I've also been riding recently, and the Trek Dumane, I'd say they all feel much of a
11:04 muchness. I think they're all designed to do a similar thing, which is very much be in that
11:10 performance endurance end of the market, as opposed to say the Nuru Bay or the New Canyon Endurance,
11:16 which sit more within the all-road category. Next though, I think let's chat about the
11:20 compliance itself. Obviously, geometry and compliance, they hold hands, as it were.
11:26 But I think with the compliance, those 32CY tires definitely do the bulk of the heavy lifting,
11:32 as you'd expect. But one thing that I have noticed is you really can feel that seat post flex.
11:39 You really can feel it provide you with some comfort because you can feel road chatter through
11:46 the pedals, but you don't get that same feeling and feedback through the saddle, which is really
11:52 nice. It's really refreshing. It's really enjoyable to actually feel that in motion,
11:56 but at the same time, not feel the drop in stiffness when you're putting down power.
12:02 That's been really enjoyable to experience. I think next up though, handling, because obviously,
12:09 there is a new handlebar and a new stem. The shape of the handlebars is really nice,
12:15 even though it's designed to provide compliance. I actually find that it just feels really nice in
12:19 the hands as well. That's really cool. I think the handling itself, obviously,
12:24 it's an endurance bike still, so it's not going to feel as direct as or as pointy as a racy road
12:28 bike. I'd say that it's that happy blend between something that has purpose, but still has
12:38 [inhale]
12:39 it's still a relaxed ride at the end of the day. While I won't say that it feels super dynamic,
12:46 I think it's pulling upon two strings, one being trying to be as performance-orientated as it
12:53 possibly can be, while still being an endurance bike. As you can see, the bike behind me,
12:58 the one that I have been riding, is the top of the range version of the bike with the Kadex wheels
13:02 and the SRAM Red groupset. I think, to be brutally honest, it does just remind me of why I'm not the
13:08 biggest SRAM Red fan. I would have loved to have had this bike in the Dura-Ace spec,
13:12 but that's personal preference. You may disagree. Those wheels, I've been absolutely loving. I think
13:18 they're a perfect match for wider tires because they help just make them sit nice and plump,
13:22 which is great. They are super light as well, so it is making the bike feel quite reactive when
13:27 going uphill. However, it has also confirmed to me that I probably wouldn't go for this top-end
13:34 spec bike. I really, genuinely would go for one of the Advanced Pros and probably the Ultegra Di2
13:41 version. I just think this is too much. I think the spec outdoes the bike. I think finding one
13:50 of those mid-range bikes is actually the perfect specification for this frame. While the wheels
13:57 are really nice, I just don't think they're worth the money. I don't think they're worth the extra
14:03 money as opposed to one of the better value spec options. It's tough because they are beautiful
14:11 wheels, but maybe for this bike, they don't make the most amount of sense to me. Anyway,
14:18 other people may disagree. So, there we have it. That is the brand new 2024 Giant Defy.
14:25 Let me know down in the comments what you make of this new bike and which spec level would you go
14:31 for. If you enjoyed the video, then please do drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for
14:35 more content and I will see you again very soon.