4 Shockingly Lightweight Upgrades That Made My Giant TCR Better than a New Bike

I put some lightweight wheels, saddle and bottle cages on my Giant TCR Advanced Pro to see how much improvement upgrades make. Warning, these upgrades are expensive! But is the weight saving worth the price?

Content
00:00 Intro
00:40 1x weight saving
1:06 Cadex Max 40 wheels
5:07 Downsides/issues
8:03 Berk lightweight saddle
11:35 Topeak lightweight cages
13:52 How light is my TCR now?

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[austinurias]

$4000 is more than the entire value of my bike setup. My car is barely worth that much.

[spinnetti]

I'd like to see the performance difference between those $4k wheels and the $400 Amazon/Aliexpress wheels. I bet its not $3600 worth. Big up for 1x; I like it.

[srdr]

Hi David, i think it's time to go crazy & put on the new SRAM Red. Put it on 1x & ditch the handlebar & stem for a CADEX integrated race handlebar.... oh maybe some crankbrothers eggbeater 11 to weanie all the way.

[nicolico]

How do the $4K wheels compare to the Winspace Hypers you've been testing that also have carbon spokes?

[HeadPack]

Appreciate the many experiments and reviews you perform, from affordable options to things like these wheels. It would seem that you could do a few comparisons across the price spectrum now.

[WayneCouyon]

Mmm, I bought a second hand Roval Alpinist CLX II for 900 euros last year. 1260 grams with tape, DT 180 hubs. Been struggling to convince myself to try anything else since then :).

[ianrobertson]

Having done 25K km on the stock SLR1 42s that came with my 2021 TCR Advanced Pro 0 I considered these Cadex wheels as a replacement but just found them too stiff after a 2 day test. I opted instead for the shallower SLR1 36s which gets close to the Cadex wheel's weight at a fraction of the just don't look quite as cool, however. I look forward to seeing how durable they prove to be.

[theovannieuwenhuizen]

Thanks for the review David.
I know now these upgrades are not for me. 4k for just wheels? I can go many bikes and maintenance for that money.

[DnBSkunk]

My carbon Ali express bottle cages were maybe £16 for two delivered and aren’t much more than 15g each iirc

[stevocanuck]

I had the opportunity to get cadex 35 for 50% off but thought the change wasn't worth it from giant slr 1s. However i've alway wanted the cadex 50s as i tink cadex makes the best wheels

[saxon]

If you’re the jealous miserable type who’s not a pro, so you don’t need these . Just don’t watch the video 🤷

[imark]

Hi David I'm thinking of upgrading my 2022 TCR hopefully bringing the weight down, a better option than spending between £6 &10k on a new bike, will be good to see the 1x in detail, particularly the size of front chainring, assume you could also swap chainring sizes easily for different terrain

[REMODA]

Buy a pair of the excellent Giant SLR1 42mm rims instead which are only 150g heavier but considerably cheaper (especially used). They have very good Giant inhouse hubs (36t)and ride beautifully.

[gregkane]

Wonder how the cadex wheels would compare with the cadex ultra 50s

[KingRichardSchool]

Where’s the elite wheels gone from Aliexpress?

[richiejames]

The placebo effect that comes from spending £4000 on wheels is probably more potent than crack cocaine.

[garyputtock]

Good luck getting spares on that Wheelset when that warranty expires. Break a spoke you’ve got to wait for a replacement to ship. Fantastic. Not sure how you can recommend such a bespoke wheelset that’s just pure exotica.

[stephencurry]

Some percentage of cyclists are into the snobbish "Oh I spent more money than you on my bike" thing. Which is specious. I have ridden past people on far lighter bikes. Now my bike is custom, not carbon save for the fork. $4K for wheels is ridiculous unless you are a paid professional.

[gemakar]

Hi David.I am waiting for the new TCR SL0 review.With max40 wheels or without.

[sethchapman]

That freewheel sound is awful 😅. Definitely would prefer near silent. These wheels seem like they are just creating landfill. The spoke design seems horrible to me, having to replace the entire hub is just dumb. They might ride wonderful and be fast, but for a non-pro it just doesn't make sense to me. To anyone that loves them, that's awesome, these are opinions for me, I hope you enjoy them!