TCR Advanced SL Disc wins cycling plus “superbike of the year"

Cycling Plus magazine and its affiliate website BikeRadar.com revealed the winners of its 2021 Bike of the Year awards, and top honors went to the TCR Advanced SL Disc 0. This reengineered, pro-level road racing bike was named "Superbike of the Year," with editors calling it a “dream machine with exquisite handling and brutally fast acceleration.”

Cycling Plus and BikeRadar editors combed through the top 2021 road bikes to select 32 finalists representing the year’s best offerings. Of those, the TCR Advanced SL Disc stood above all others, impressing testers as “the most complete race bike on sale today and our 2021 Superbike of the Year.”
 
“The TCR has everything,” wrote BikeRadar Senior Road Technical Editor Warren Rossiter. “A weight under the UCI’s 6.8kg minimum; a robot-assisted method of in-house carbon manufacture; a stiffer, more aerodynamic frame with aerofoil tubes; integrated aero carbon seatpost; SRAM’s newest 12-speed eTap AXS wireless gears and hydraulic brakes; an integrated Quarq power meter; Giant’s own CADEX wheels that are among the best we’ve ridden; and… lighter paint!”
 
Rossiter reported on all the technical details of the TCR Advanced SL Disc, including its intricate composite assembly process. “The result is very light by and standards,” he wrote. “I’ve spent a lot of the last year riding an S-Works Tarmac that weighs 1,371g—the Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 Disc weighs just 1,266g. Quite a difference.”
 
Editors were also impressed with the high-performance components on their test model. “I had previously tested CADEX 42 wheels—as fitted to the TCR Advanced SL Disc 0—and found them to be among the best wheels around for their balance of rigidity, speed and comfort,” Rossiter wrote.
 
Summing up their ride impressions, editors wrote that the TCR Advanced SL Disc earned the Superbike of the Year title for being “a bike that’s fast, climbs beautifully, and handles like a dream.”
 
For more, pick up the July issue of Cycling Plus, or check out the review on BikeRadar.com.
 
And for all the details on the entire new TCR range, click here.