THE NEXT GENERATION ENDURANCE ROAD BIKE
Defy is for going longer. It’s for climbing higher, riding faster, and doing it all with confidence and smooth control. It’s for reaching your limit and blowing past it.
This fifth generation Defy range takes everything riders love about it—namely its unbeatable blend of lightweight efficiency and smooth compliance—and levels up. It’s now lighter, smoother and more efficient. It’s the perfect companion for an all-day sportive, an ambitious gran fondo, or an epic solo day on challenging roads.
KEY PERFORMANCE FACTORS
FUNCTIONAL SIMPLICITY
Free of cumbersome gimmickry, the frameset is one of the lightest in its category. With a perfect balance of high-performance reactivity and all-day comfort, it offers a “less is more” experience for modern endurance road riding.
ENGINEERED COMPLIANCE
Advanced-grade composite frame and fork are specifically engineered for endurance road riding, delivering a smooth and efficient ride quality that minimizes fatigue on long rides. The new D-Fuse components work together to further absorb road shocks and vibrations.
TOTAL CONTROL
New D-Fuse handlebar features ergonomic shaping and an 8-degree flare for comfort and control on all-day rides. Wider rims across all series are optimized for high-volume tubeless tires (up to 38mm), providing predictable handling and stability from asphalt to cobbles.
CONTROLLED COMPLIANCE
Each new Defy features integrated components with a focus on compliance. The first is the D-Fuse composite seatpost, created by Giant a decade ago and now commonly used by other brands. Originally used for Giant’s pro cyclocross racers, D-Fuse seatpost technology made its way to Defy bikes in 2018.
The heart of the design is a D-shaped composite shaft that absorbs shocks and adds a small amount of flexing action (up to 7mm). This significantly reduces the energy of bumps and vibrations that travel up through one of the bike’s key contact points, the saddle. Testing shows that the new Defy Advanced SL frameset and seatpost produce 42 percent greater compliance (combined) than the previous generation Defy Advanced Pro series.
This technology is also applied to the front of the bike with new D-Fuse handlebars. The bars use similar D-shaped composite tubing on the tops, which creates greater downward compliance while at the same time increasing upward stiffness. This means you get shock-absorbing qualities and also better efficiency for hard, out-of-the-saddle efforts like sprinting or climbing. The new D-Fuse SLR handlebar, which comes on Defy Advanced SL and select Defy Advanced Pro models, delivers 40 percent more compliance compared to the previous generation.
ADVANCED SL & ADVANCED COMPOSITE
TWO LEVELS OF CARBON LAYUP TO CHOOSE FROM
Advanced SL Composite
Professional Grade raw carbon fiber is woven in our composite factory to produce our lightest, stiffest and highest quality frames. This is the technology used by Giant’s pro racers in almost every cycling discipline. These frames feature the most advanced engineering and construction methods.
Advanced Composite
High-performance grade raw carbon material is used to produce this custom frame material in our own composite factory with a high stiffness-to-weight ratio. The front triangle is assembled and molded as one continuous piece in a proprietary manufacturing process called Modified Monocoque Construction.