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We've got our hands on the brand new Giant Propel! In this video, we take a close-up look at what's changed, from the new wheelset and handlebars to its impressive low weight. We put Giant's 6.5kg claim to the test with our own scales and discuss whether this new aero machine makes the legendary TCR redundant.
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This is the new Giant Propel
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And I know what you're thinking, it looks quite similar to the old one, but we're going to go
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through what has changed, what it means for Giant going forwards, we're going to give it away
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and we're also going to talk through some of the stats and the price. So this is Cycling Weekly
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let's get into it. So I've been looking at this bike for a good few hours now, and I have noticed
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a few differences. So the wheel set, that's new. The bar, that's new. The fork is a little bit more
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angular here and the tyre clearance looks like it's got a bit bigger. So the top spec bike
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like we've got here, has a claimed weight of 6.5 kilos, so well under the UCI minimum weight limit
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But were they telling the truth? Let's find out. I've got my trusty weighing scales
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let's put it on there you're gonna have to tell me what it says I can't see
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we're giant telling porkies okay so 6.6 kilos I'm reliably informed that's not too bad considering this is a white colorway and
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white paint is always heavier apparently it's harder to cover up carbon with white paint and
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and it's a size medium so it's not like they've just chosen the smallest one of the bunch
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and said look how light it is. The thing is for the last few years you've had the Jayco Alula team
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riding on giant bikes and they've in almost all cases gone for the Propel over the TCR and it does
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raise the question of why would you buy a TCR when if you're racing the Propel can weigh the same
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And this Propel is only going to raise further questions about that because, well, they are very, very similar in weight now
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But with a Propel, you get more aerodynamic tube profiles. So it's going to be faster in a wind tunnel, at least
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So will Giant actually keep the TCR in its lineup? Well, for now, apparently, yes
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The TCR actually still outsells the Propel in the Asian markets, whereas the Propel outsells the TCR here in Europe and the US. Personally I think that unless the UCI
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does lower their minimum weight limit then the TCR's days surely they're limited
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I think it is a cracking looking bike. I know not a lot has changed from the previous generation
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but you might remember the generation before that had quite a ugly stem integration affair
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going on. This one does look really clean and this new bar also looks really tidy. Along the front it
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says contact SLR aero and I'm quite a fan of this carbon top cap as well. That's a nice touch
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I think it's fair to say that it's definitely an evolution rather than a revolution. I'm not saying
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that's a bad thing and I think this is kind of the thing with giant launches in general. They are
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sometimes harder to get excited about than others even though they're absolutely phenomenal bikes
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imagine if specialized launched avenge there's entire forums dedicated to it i haven't seen many
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forums dedicated to oh i wonder what the new propeller is going to look like that doesn't mean
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that it's not going to be an absolutely great bike giant have got history of making some of the best
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riding bikes in the world. The old Propel, brilliant. The TCR, one of my favorites
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The geometry, the stiffness, the compliance, the performance are all top tier
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So hopefully this one can follow suit. The less safer option that Giant has gone for here
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is these Cadex wheels I not sure if you noticed they got these super bladed carbon spokes that are actually one piece with the new hubs And the hubs well they sort of have
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it almost looks like aero fairings rather than a hub. I think the most controversial point, though
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is that these are hookless wheels. And we've seen brands sort of moving away from that
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Now, personally, I think we're going to see some pretty big changes in what tyres and wheels
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the pro teams are using in the next few years, I do honestly think that we'll move away from hookless
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And I've asked Giant about this and they say it is no less safe than a standard tubeless setup, so a hooked rim
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And whilst I completely believe they're testing, I believe that they've done it with these KDEX tires
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and I believe, I think the issue here is the consumer. People are gonna be buying them
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that perhaps aren't as au fait with hookless technology. and I don't think the wheels come with enough big yellow stickers on because I automate it was a
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giant defy they took it into a bike shop they asked for a new set of tires and they got fitted
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to their hookless rims a set of tires that weren't hookless compatible and guess what it didn't work
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now I'm not saying issues like that are giant's fault but when a manufacturer such as giant one of
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the biggest bike manufacturers in the world is producing so many bikes with hookless wheels
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it is of course whether it likes it or not going to get associated with issues like that. The easier
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route for Giant surely would have been just to release this with hooked wheels. So I think that's
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most of the visible changes looked at but Giant have also provided us with lots of numbers of how
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this compares to the old model. Let's go and have a closer look at them. Okay so Giant have sent
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through a press release to tell us about all the bits of the bike that you can't necessarily see
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at a first glance. So they say the Propel is designed not just to deliver speed but every
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type of speed and they've broken this press release down into three sections, top end speed
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instant speed and sustained speed because who doesn't like speed? First of all they go through
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the evolution of speed or the Propel. The Propel first launched in 2013, one of my favourite ever
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riders Marcel Kittel won a Tour de France stage on it what a guy what a rider it was also John
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Dadenkobb's era they then updated the Propel in 2018 this was the second generation but the first
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one to have disc brakes I must admit I rode one and it was pretty harsh as was many aero bikes of
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the era what I particularly didn't like was the front end and its semi-integration that whole
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stem contraption was a little bit weird and quite hard to work on. And then we've got the third
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generation, the current generation or the outgoing one anyway, and that was released in 2022. And this
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sort of was quite a big change. They've got the rear end of what looks like the TCR, the front end
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of the Propel. And the idea was that you could have your cake and eat it. So the comfort and the
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handling and the low weight of the TCR, and then also the aerodynamics of an aero bike, because all
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those front surfaces hitting the wind are aerodynamic profiles. Next we've got how they
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how they've tested their bikes and with Grisha who was one of their test riders they made a 3D
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mannequin and now they test bikes in a wind tunnel with this mannequin and it's even got peddling legs
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which is all very good we like that. So part number one you might remember is top end speed and
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well they've given a really big number is what they've done. So according to Giant this latest
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generation of Propel is 18.4 watts faster than the previous generation. Now to put that into context
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that is a massive jump especially as let be honest it does look quite similar According to Giant 18 watts will save you around 72 seconds at 40 kilometers an hour over 40 kilometers Again absolutely massive I was sort of a little bit skeptical of this and I done some digging
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and they haven't released a full white paper but there is a breakdown of how they've arrived at
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that number and I think I found the thing that explains it. So they've got the total energy
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savings here 18.44 watts around half a watt is wheel rotating drag so the cadex max 50 wheel set
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is a little bit faster than the cadex ultra 50 wheel set that was on the old one tire rolling
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resistance is quite a big one more than five watts saved there that's thanks to testing with a cadex
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aero 28c tire whereas the previous version had a 25c tire i don't have a problem with that a wider
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tyre, realistically, tyres have got wider since they released the previous generation Propel
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and now we all are going to be riding around on 28mm tyres. I don't think many owners will be using
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a 25mm tyre. However, if you've done the maths, that leaves you with about 11 watts, which they're
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putting down to linear drag. Now, that is still an absolutely huge number, and I was wondering if
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they'd done something like Trek have done, where they just shoved some aero bottles on it, and then
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And it's obviously much faster than using conventional bottles. But no, no, they've still got conventional bottles on it there
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And then I found it. If you look at this bit, the cockpit, they've tested the old one with the Contact SLR Zero two-piece bar
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So not integrated. It's got a separate stem and a separate handlebar
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No problem with that. The new one, the new Contact SLR, is obviously integrated
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however the old bar that they tested with was the one that the medium and large bikes came with so
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42 centimeters at the hoods and you can see the model there sat quite upright with his 42 centimeter
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bar on the new one is the 400 slash 370 mil bar which is 370 mil so 37 centimeters at the tops
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40 centimeters at the bottom. Now if they've tested this at the tops where the where the like
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the mannequin shown here is then that's five centimeters narrower that they've now tested with
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and yeah I now absolutely believe that it could be 11 watts faster. I'm kind of surprised that it's
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not actually faster than that. Does this tell us that the frame is any faster? I'm not sure it does
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but it is a useful reminder that if you have a previous generation propel with 42 centimeter
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handlebars and you buy the new propel and it comes with 37 centimeter handlebars on it
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then you will likely be lots faster so that's part one part two is instant speed and to tell
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us about this they've given us lots of frame stiffness they've done lots of stiffness testing
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So the new one is apparently 2.4% faster when pedaling stiffness, 3.3% stiffer frame torsional stiffness, so that's like the twist, and then 3.4% stiffer at the fork
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Yeah, not sure what to do with those numbers, but we'll have to ride it to find out
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The result is a 5.7% improvement in its stiffness to weight ratio
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that's something that the TCR has always been famous for like having a really bloody brilliant
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stiffness to weight ratio and it's always been a great bike to ride so if this one is stiffer
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and not less comfortable then happy days and then the final part is sustained speed so this is
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basically saying how the new bike is more comfortable so the first bit is stay fresh
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stay fast absolutely agree with that if you are comfortable you can put out more sustained power
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and therefore go faster. Next they reckon they reduced some road buzz A lot of that is coming from the handlebar now one piece and yeah 12 greater front end compliance and reduction in vibrations one piece you can play
12:03
with the carbon layup a lot more yeah cool um wider tires less resistance yeah i'd say giant
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are sort of playing catch up here it can now take 32 mil tires that's a good move um probably
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the previous generation probably should have had that and finally quite an interesting one less
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fighting the winds. So they reckon it's designed to work as a system and therefore have less
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crosswind instability and if you spend less time fighting the wind then you can minimize fatigue
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in the core and arms. Nice, happy, like all of that. Next they detail some of the weights and
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you can see that there's a 40 gram weight saving in the frame set. Most of the weight in the complete
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bike then comes from other components so you've got an 80 gram saving from the cockpit, 100 gram
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saving from the wheels and 140 gram saving from those new tires and that's how they can hit that
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6.5 kilo claimed weight or 6.6 kilos on our scales anyway and there is one more thing in the press
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release that I think is pretty interesting and that is I know I was a little bit scathing of
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how Giant had tested their new Propel with those skinnier handlebars but I do think it's a really
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good move putting those onto the bikes they're trying to sell this is after all an aero bike
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It's designed to go fast and the biggest thing that you can do to go faster is get your position
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right and Giant appear to be doing quite a lot to help you do that. So the medium and medium large
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frames now come with that 40 centimeter handlebar or what they're calling a 40 centimeter handlebar
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that's actually drop to drop and then because it's flared at the top it's a 37 centimeter handlebar
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Those size bikes also ship with 170 mil cranks so a little bit shorter than previously. That's a good
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move because I know a lot of people were going to a bike fitter the bike fitter was recommending a
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shorter crank or they wanted to go to a shorter crank because of hip mobility and obviously that's
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quite an expense if you've just shelled out on a on a new bike. The extra small and small frames
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they come with 165 mil cranks so nice move there giant. Final bit pricing how much would all of this
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set you back? Well this bike that we've been looking at the Propel Advanced SL0 with Shimano
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dual race we've got a UK price £9,999 no it's not cheap but it is two and a half grand cheaper than
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the equivalent Trek or Specialized a lot cheaper than that new Cannondale Super 6 that's for sure
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with SRAM Red it is £500 more £10,499 and we do have US pricing for that one £13,500 US dollars
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The frameset, that's also cheaper than a lot of the other big brands. £3,799 for this Propel
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Advanced frameset with the highest level of layup. They do also make the Advanced Pro frameset
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which has a slightly lower grade of carbon, a little bit heavier. £2,199 for that one
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There is, of course, lots more in the range. There's ones with Ultegra, there's ones with
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SRAM Force, SRAM Rival AXS, Shimano 105 Di2 as well. As for color schemes, well, I think there's too many
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to go through, but I have selected some of my favorites. So Prism Pearl is this bike that we've been allowed to shoot
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Very nice, but how about this one? Super Speed Blue. Oh yeah, that is a loud bike
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I particularly like this sort of chrome seat post. I think it really brings out the integrated seat post
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What do you think of this new Propel? Have they done enough? Or were you hoping for a little bit more from Giant
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Let me know down in the comments. If you like this type of content, then please give it a like
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subscribe to the channel for lots more of the latest bikes, and we'll see you next time
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