Staff Bike Check: Benji’s Custom Giant TCX Advanced Pro 0 

I have been riding gravel bikes for a few years now, I’ve always had my eyes on a TCX as my first carbon gravel bike and one that could be a great all round build. Upon hearing that Giant may not be producing these bikes for the Australian market anymore, I grabbed one of the last TCXs available in an XL so I could start a custom build. This bike came as a very nicely spec’d complete build with 1x12 Sram Force AXS and some light CXR 1 carbon wheels, but I had other plans for the build. I had already acquired an older 1x11 partial GRX groupset with an XT derailleur to match, and wanted this to be the groupset used. A lot of people wouldn’t “downgrade” to a 1x11 setup, but I love the Shimano braking feel and was keen to try the often lauded ergonomics of the GRX shifters. 

I wanted this bike to be able to do it all, but the main function was to be a gravel race bike which could have the wheels swapped out to become an endurance road bike in a pinch. 

But why choose a TCX over a Revolt? The Revolt has been super popular in store lately, and many of the other staff have recently got themselves one. It is both comfortable and fast, comes in a range of configurations, and most importantly, it can fit massive tyres. That’s kind of why I chose the TCX, I do already own a steel Bombtrack gravel bike with large clearance for 650B tyres, and it is perfect for multi-day adventures, and, with the way I’ve built it, many MTB trails and routes. I’ve always loved under biking, whether that means riding a rigid drop bar gravel bike on MTB trails, or riding my track bike on a hilly route, there’s something fun about making a bike work even where it is not designed to. The TCX follows this mentality: How far can I push a CX bike while still keeping it true to its roots? 

Let’s have a more detailed look at the components and build: 

Base Bike 

Drivetrain

• Shimano GRX 11 speed shifters
• Shimano XT 11 speed derailleur with Garbaruk derailleur cage and pulley wheels connected with a Sigeyi direct mount hanger
• Rotor Aldhu 170mm crankset with a Sigeyi power meter and silver Garbaruk 44t chainring 

Finishing Kit

• Creative Carbon integrated handlebars (120/400) with my own custom designed and 3D printed steerer spacer
• Burgh Hex bar tape
• Ryet 3D printed Saddle (steel rails)
• Shimano PDM520 SPD pedals 

Wheels & Tyres

• Creative AR50 wheelset
• Schwalbe G-One R Pro Race Gravel (45mm front, 40mm rear) with Vittoria tyre inserts 

Accessories

• Ride Wrap Covered frame protection
• Garmin 840 Solar
• Knog Blinder 900 front light (EF special edition)
• Flock rear light
• Two Giant Airway Sport bottle cages
• A set of SkinGrowsBack Race series bags for bikepacking and long distance rides

The riding experience 

After riding this bike for a few months now in all kinds of conditions, I absolutely love it. To my suprise it rides very similarly to my TCR, even able to maintain road bike speeds with the extremely fast rolling Schwalbe G-One R tyres. However, when I hit a pothole or rough section of road, I’m not punished like I would be with the integrated seatpost of my road frame. Once I let some air out of the tyres it flies across Melbourne’s gravel routes without an issue! I think the only downside might be the climbing performance on rough off road trails. I took it out on some single track that I like to ride on my 650B Bombtrack, and with the narrower tyres, twitchier handling, and no bail out gear, I found myself at the mercy of the stones and rocks, often stalling and being forced to put a foot down. Now that I feel like I know the limits of the bike, I’ll leave that more demanding terrain to my other bikes, but for gravel, rough roads, long days, and even many commutes, the TCX will be my go-to. 

Potential upgrades 

I already have a nice set of Zipp alloy wheels which I will be able to switch out for road riding with slick tyres and possibly even fit the stock tyres back on to try my hand at CX racing! I’m also keeping my eye on some interesting hydraulic coupler tech coming out of Taiwan which may allow for a quick swap flat bar setup. That’s right, this could be a 4 in 1 build! But for now, the bike is perfect, and I’m sure this year will see many rides and adventures completed on my new Giant TCX.