AERO BIKES SURE AREN’T WHAT they used to be. In a category historically consumed by the brutal delivery of power and drag reduction, pretty much at any cost, an exciting new wave of aero frames are beginning to filter through.
Slimmer and more nuanced to look at, and increasingly more comfortable to ride, the focus is becoming less a myopic pursuit of speed and more about maximising all-round efficiency through enhanced stiffness-to-weight ratios.
Leading the charge is the superbly spec’d – and just as keenly priced – 2023 Giant Propel Advanced SL 0, scheduled to start hitting Australian shores around the end of this year.
As tends to be de rigueur these days, the 2023 Propel made its unofficial debut at this year’s Tour de France. Success came quickly and spectacularly for Team BikeExchange-Jayco with a pair of very different victories by Dylan Groenewegen (Stage 3, Sønderborg) and Michael Matthews (Stage 14, Mende).
They’re results that speak volumes to the ever-evolving nature of the aero platform that Giant first launched to the world back in 2012. For while its more conventionally-styled stablemate, the TCR, still remains a more obvious all-round option for the majority of us mere mortals, the gap is closing and
