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All-new Giant Propel aero road bike takes wins with a lighter, faster system

2023 giant propel road bike being ridden fast
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After logging a stage win at the 2022 Tour de France under Dylan Groenewegen, the new Giant Propel aero road bike was designed to be faster and lighter, particularly when combined with the new SLR cockpit and the Cadex 50 Ultra Disc wheels on the top model.

To deliver the goods, they revised the tube profiles to cut drag, stiffened some parts, and leaned out others.

2023 giant propel aero road bike studio photo

The new Propel had to be comfortable for the rider, but still lay down the power. So, the head tube, down tube, and bottom bracket junction are stiffer to reduce torsional and lateral flex, allowing more of the rider’s power to make it to the rear wheel.

The chainstays, seatstays, and (for the top Propel Advanced SL model) seatmast were thinned out to improve compliance. The thinner tubes also saved weight, giving this new version a better power to weight ratio than before.

front cockpit view of giant propel aero road bike

To reduce drag, the main tubes were given a truncated airfoil shape. Then they went a step further and designed custom water bottle cages for it, with different shapes for the down tube bottle versus the seat tube bottle.

closeup of hidden brake hoses inside the stem on new Giant Propel

Lastly, they gave the bikes a new semi-intrated cockpit to hid all brake lines and (theoretically) wires. All three launch models will come with the latest electronic SRAM or Shimano drivetrains, so there are no wires coming off the shifters on any build.

The hoses run under the stem, shielded from the wind before passing through any spacers and the headset. The layout makes it easy to swap stems or adjust stack height.

2023 giant propel advanced sl

The Advanced SL model also gets the new Cadex 50 Ultra Disc wheels, which use bladed carbon spokes and their new Aero Tire to further optimize overall aerodynamics. Available with Dura-Ace Di2, the Advanced SL model comes in at $12,500.

2023 giant propel advanced pro

Below that, the Propel Advanced Pro 0 comes with either Ultegra Di2 or SRAM Force eTap AXS, the latter getting a Giant Halo power meter built into the cranks, for $8,000. Wheels are Giant SLR 1 50 on both.

2023 giant propel advanced

The most affordable model is the Propel Advanced for $6,000. It gets SRAM Rival eTap AXS with Giant SLR 2 50 wheels.

All three models start shipping in December 2022.

Giant-Bicycles.com

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Andrew
Andrew
2 years ago

I wonder how come Giant hasn’t come out with a proper Mahle or Fazua road bike yet, an E-TCR or something, the market is begging for it.

Dinger
Dinger
2 years ago
Reply to  Andrew

They do make a e-road bike but it’s built on thier own system (by Yamaha) which is a higher-power system w/80Nm of torque, more similar to the Bosch system.

TypeVertigo
TypeVertigo
2 years ago
Reply to  Dinger

Yep. Giant’s Road-E has been out for a few years already, and it predated many Fazua-based pedelec road bikes by at least half a year. Not sure if it saw distribution in Western markets though.

Ernest Fitzgerald
Ernest Fitzgerald
2 years ago

Aero, shmero. It’s just a really nice bike.

Corey
Corey
2 years ago

Will they be offering the 105 build in the United States?

Technician
Technician
2 years ago

$6000 is now “affordable”. My top-of-the-line 1981 Colnago Super would cost $5400 in today’s money and that was considered a ridiculous, exorbitant expense for a bike back in the day. How did we get there? SMH…

Bryin
Bryin
2 years ago
Reply to  Technician

We got here because the bicycle consumer is stupid. They are willing to pay $10k for a product that costs less than $1500 to produce.

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