Weird Carbon Monster
Giant TCX Advanced Pro 2 (2015)
Another day, another gravel grinder, but hopefully more interesting than the last few. Maybe only interesting to me, since I like to build up bikes my way.
This TCX was acquired from a Rapha employee in Chicago as a frameset. First mistake was not asking him about all the small parts that should have come with it. It took me about 3 months to find a D-Fuse seatpost, a 1 1/4" Overdrive headset (weirdly, I had a Giant stem for it), and a 3D printed headset cover off eBay, which wasn’t actually round inside (again, weird).
Wheels came from my friend Augi (who traded me the Salsa for a Karmic), Gravel King SK tires from friends at Panaracer. I already had the SRAM Force CX1 kit in the parts bin, but I paired it up with a Shimano 11–40t cassette and a Cannondale Si crankset from the Evo. The Wolf Tooth direct mount ring was also a #bikeindustryfriends purchase, but the 125mm spindle was the eBay find that allowed it all to come together. A Fizik Arione test saddle and purple anodized Salsa handlebars were the perfect finishing kit for a future date with Grinduro. Whenever I’m actually in shape to do that event. Maybe in 2020?
I jokingly call this my Garbage Grinder because of the mish-mash of parts. The reality is that it couldn’t have been built without the generosity of the bike industry folks I’ve meet over the last four years. We’re a weird and wacky little community of bike nerds and bike lovers. Our job is to sell more bikes to more people. But at the end of the day, we just love this stuff, and we help each other out. That’s the secret. The passion isn’t just for bikes. It’s for people too.
