How Well Made are Giant TCR's? (we found out)

In this video we will be scrutinising a mainstream carbon bike frame, the Giant TCR. Gary from Carbon Steed will be cutting this brand new carbon frame into two, before it is interrogated by multiple parties, including Hambini. What is the motivation behind this and what is found inside the Giant TCR? You'll have to watch the video.

#Giant #TCR #carbon

[CamNicholls]

A BIG Thank You to Gary, Hambini, Jay and Aaron for their involvement in this piece. It was great to have so many perspectives, enabling a well rounded evaluation. Cheers, Cam

[vincent_vega]

The guy at the Giant store was super nice; he even offered a warranty frame for the experiment.

[christianemeiners]

When the GIANT salesman realised he was dealing with a mad man... priceless moment in film history. Cheers, Chrissi

[nickybe]

Credit to the Giant guy, who offered a warranty frame, instead of getting a sale for a new frame,

[rcldumn]

Like every other Giant TCR owner, my heart was in my throat from start to im delighted to see that my 'boring Toyota' frame is by the way, i love it!! thanks for the vid 😄

[s_cycle]

Carbon manufacturer here. I like the video but take issue with the first conclusion which is incorrect. 10.37 says the wrinkle made of glue is a "weak point". its not a weak point. if the wrinkle is made of glue (as the bike shop chaps reported) and the fibres below are straight then there is no reduction in strength. It has the same carbon, in the same orientation, and some additional glue that filled up a wrinkle in the bag. Sure its nicer to have an EPS or wax mandrel that give smooth surfaces. It makes zero measurable impact on performance or safety. What would be good is to flatten out that area of glue down to the carbon suface and identify if the fibre orientation is straight or wiggly - that would indeed make a performance difference. No I'm not from Giant, but I can see some people in the comments responding to the incorrect diagnosis in the video.

[RyonBeachner]

The other reason Giant is an excellent choice is because Giant makes *many* other mainstream brands, and could be seen as what would be reasonably expected of others as well.

[Mapdec]

Great video Cam. Well done. Giant TCR is usually considered a benchmark choice. Solid but boring option. It’s their BB that bring us the most work. Things tend to go wrong when someone has installed something other than the plastic BB from Shimano and the hole in the frame is not good enough for a more precisely made BB. The extra paint can cause issues with brake alignment sometimes. Thanks for making this vid.

[amanahmed]

sold Giant in Saudi Arabia for 10 years. in the 10 years i did with them, not one recall. i today own 5 Advanced SL ISP bikes built fromn the frame up including a 2024 TCR Adanced SL frameset. i did crack my 2012 frame when i hit a roadworks ditch pre-sunrise. wrote Giant. got a brand new 2018 TCR Advanced SL replacement. no questions

[lucasm]

Now for full transparency and fairness, cut open a BMC frame. With it being seen as a less desirable frame by the pros, it would be interesting to see how it stacks up.

[Hambini]

Hello Hambini fans! The uncut version of the chop shop is available on my channel! I made it whilst drinking. Thanks to cam for having me on the channel!

[hoser]

3 mins in and I love the bike shop guys reaction and offer of a warranty frame instead. Then I think I yelled at the TV when dude was cutting the headtube with a recipricating saw and had his hand UNDERNEATH!! Exciting vid so far.

[reginaldscot]

When did Hambini become an expert in carbon composites?

I don’t remember seeing him or his company repairing frames? I don’t recall ever seeing him being consulted on that subject before? Seems an odd choice? Is it the case now that anything bike related we just ask Hambini because he say’s everything is “shite” and the vast majority of people think that’s smart?

Luescher Teknik is the man you ask for this as he is legit an engineer in aerospace and an expert in carbon fiber.

[FancyAnimal]

Thermo or X-ray tomography NDT will tell you way more than visual inspection. No DSA or calorimetry? This is so Disney. BTW those are bladder imprints, not laminate wrinkles… and holidays, not voids.

[__marshie]

A warranty frame maybe with a paint defect would have been adequate. Hard watching destruction of new frame.
Unfortunately you could go and buy another and it may be totally different, but please don’t!!! 😬
Comparing warranties and customer service of brands would be more useful.

[TheAfinda]

As a consumer i'm swaying on the side of Hambini's opinion here. Not premium but 'good quality' for a $4000+ frame is absolutely insane in my very personal opinion. That kind of money is nothing to sneeze at and for most people very hard earned crash. Let's also not forget we're talking about a naked frameset here. Including Groupset and wheels we're probably looking at something around 6k+. The trend of normalizing these crazy prices for "yeah, it's good i guess" needs to stop.

[Fawaz]

Giant guy was contemplating his whole life

[tommaguzzi]

I've had my Giant carbon tcr2 since 2003 there have been no problems with it at all.

[davemellor]

A great review...Hambini who is very critical but the benchmark when reviewing a product, Gary who is just a proper guy who knows his job, and of course you for blowing the money on the frame in the name of making a honest review!

[TheMrbrookster]

All my recent bikes have been giant, so I'm glad it just managed to squeak through the Hambini shite test, I don't know what I would do if it didn't, I guess I have so little faith in the industry that I wouldn't switch as I expect all manufacturers are similar.