Giant Propel Advanced Pro 1 £5,499 8.46kg

Simon Smythe thrills to an aero classic’s new all-rounder incarnation

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The Giant Propel Advanced Pro 1 was the winner of the best value' category in our Race Bike of the Year group test this year. Although the top-spec Propel is by no means a bargain at £11,999 - especially compared to the top Canyon Aeroad, which impressively limbos in under five figures - it's at the entry level where the Propel really stands out, with the cheapest models costing less than £3,000. The low-to-mid-range Propel Advanced Pro 1 that we tested here, equipped with the SRAM Rival AXS groupset, breaks the £5K barrier, which not so long ago was superbike territory and at face value seems like a crazy price for a bike specced with only the third-tier groupset.

However, considering the amount of R&D that goes into the bikes of the 2020s, and if you compare the technologically advanced Rival AXS groupset that here includes a Giant Power Halo power meter against the decidedly primitive third-tier groupsets of 20 years ago, it starts to make a little more sense.

Construction

The Giant Propel has, in our opinion, long been one of the best aero bikes on the market and has always offered a competitive level of performance and spec for the price. This latest iteration of the platform is best regarded as a wholesale overhaul. The venerable Propel was previously a reference point for deep-tubed aero bikes, but the Taiwanese brand has pivoted to a much. slimmer design, one which ascribes a greater priority to both weight and comfort. But aerodynamics haven't been left by the wayside - Giant claims that even with its slimmer tube shapes, the new Propel is 6.2 watts faster at 40kph than the previous model.