Giant’s new Propel raises an awkward question: What is the TCR for now?

As I sat down for the presentation on the new Propel at the global press launch event last week, I wrote a note early on - “Is this a new aero bike or a new all-rounder?”

Since its inception in 2013, the Propel – and its women's specific Liv-brand sibling the EnviLiv – has been Giant’s dedicated aero platform. The TCR by contrast (called Langma on the Liv side) has always been the brand’s lightweight race all-rounder, offering a lighter package, high stiffness, a hint of aero, and, crucially, superb ride quality. But those lines of distinction were about to get very blurry.

As other bike brands either further differentiate their lightweight and dedicated aero rigs, or, in some cases, kill off their aero platform entirely in favour of a do-it-all offering, Giant is doing neither. The TCR is here to stay … and the Propel, effectively, stays the same but also narrows the gap between the two and raises several questions.

The new frame is practically indistinguishable from the previous, third-generation Propel and EnviLiv. Sure, there are new wheels (same depth), a new integrated handlebar, a new construction method carried over from the latest TCR and Anthem platforms, and a slight bump in tyre clearance, but bar a slight change to the seat stay-to-seat tube interface, visually it is effectively the same frame. So much so, you could be forgiven for walking into a shop and accidentally buying a Gen 3 Propel, thinking it was a Gen 4.

Giant may well argue the Gen 3 Propel had already realised much of the platform’s aerodynamic potential, leaving this generation to focus on refinements around rider position, wheels, and tyres rather than reinventing the frame itself.

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Nevertheless, Giant claims a total system saving of 18.4 watts at 40 km/h compared to the previous generation. Fast forward to the end of the presentation, and the Giant representative concluded by answering the question I’d jotted on my notepad, telling the assembled media that the fourth-generation Propel now “transcends aero,” reaching a "next level" where it functions as a “total all-around race bike.”

Consider me confused. If the Propel is now a “true all-rounder,” what then is the TCR? And how on earth have they found 18.4 watts from such a remarkably similar-looking system?

What’s new

As much as it looks the same, Giant has made several significant, albeit subtle, updates to the new Propel and EnviLiv. These fall into four buckets: frame construction, handlebar, wheels, and tyres.

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