# New TCR, What to Upgrade



## icamp (Feb 4, 2007)

I just upgraded from an OCR to a composite TCR 2. I was wondering what peoples opinions were on what should be upgraded on the bike. I would be doing all the work on the bike myself. I built up a Santa Craz Chameleon, so working on bikes is nothing new to me.

I ride mainly by myself about 150ish miles a week, sometimes more. I just got into time trials also. 

Thanks for any help in advance.


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## jupiterrn (Sep 22, 2006)

Kind of an open ended question.....What you plan on doing with the bike? Price range? Personal preferance on brands? I have an 05 TCR T-Mobile painted frame that I built up with all Shimano Dura Ace/Ultegra brifters, brakeset, hubs with mavic open pro rims, Winwood handles bars, Crank Bros Quattro pedals and I love my bike. It is a lot more bike than I could ever really use but I like to only buy things once and use it to the best of my abilities. I also ride a Ventana El Salty MTB with all Shimano XT/XTR set up, once again more of a bike than I really need but it was recommended to me secondary to my 6'6" 260 build and I have really tolerant wife who got a sweet Specialized FSR out of the deal. You have great bike to start with for sure . It boils down to your wants and needs and of course wallet size and remember you don't need to do it all at once. That's my opinion for what its worth......which isn't much from what I have been told.


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## Clevor (Sep 8, 2005)

icamp said:


> I just upgraded from an OCR to a composite TCR 2. I was wondering what peoples opinions were on what should be upgraded on the bike. I would be doing all the work on the bike myself. I built up a Santa Craz Chameleon, so working on bikes is nothing new to me.
> 
> I ride mainly by myself about 150ish miles a week, sometimes more. I just got into time trials also.
> 
> Thanks for any help in advance.


I'm not sure what components are on a 2007 TCR 2, but definitely check the brake pads and tubes. My 2005 TCR C1 came with Sampson carbon fiber brakes and while the dual pivot calipers work fine, those OEM pads had to go. Replaced them with DA.

Check the tubes in the tires too, cheapy stuff. The valve stem of mine broke off while filling with air. Change them out for better quality tubes.

I don't know what cranks and wheelset are on that bike, but if you are a weightweenie, you can lose a lot of weight there.


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## icamp (Feb 4, 2007)

It's actually an 06 model. I'm just looking for the weakest link of the bike pretty much. I'm not a weight weenie since Ive lost the weight of an entire bike on me in the past 2-3 weeks. I gain weight in the winter, lose it in spring/summer.

The bike will be my road bike for everything. I was thinking of a second set of wheels for it because it will be used for everything. 

Thanks for the ideas on what to upgrades.


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## Clevor (Sep 8, 2005)

Giant bikes have always been great bang for the buck; for the price, the components they come with need little upgrading. I still have the Ultegra shifters, MegaEXO FSA carbon crank, and Sampson brakes on my TCR C1. I've had no complaints about the shifting and been too lazy to swap out the crank for a DA7800 I picked up. Since the Sampson/Tektro carbon fiber brakes are dual pivot (and I ride on full carbon tubulars), I have no plans to upgrade them. With DA pads braking is excellent and the dual pivots improve braking on carbon fiber rims.

I swapped out the wheels, skewers, tires, tubes, stem, post, bar, and saddle mainly to lose weight. So far it's down to 15.2 lbs and it should be around 14.8 lbs when I'm through.

One waste of time on the upgrade was the Syntace F119 stem. It used to be highly regarded on WeightWeenies, but its Alu and still weighs 126 gms in 108.5 mm. The stock Giant stem was carbon fiber and weighed 136 gms in 110, with all bolts. So I traded out a carbon fiber stem for an Alu just to lose 10 gms.

The stock Giant stem is a really nice piece! If Giant feels confident in offering a carbon fiber stem on a consumer bike it has to be a durable product. Hell, most pros won't use carbon fiber stem or bars. Plus it's actually a light but beefy stem and has nice carbon fiber weave. Unfortunately it's hard to find if you just want to buy the stem.


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