Giant TCX 2 - New sponsor bike for the CX season

Here it is: my new team bike for CX racing! After a few modifications and changes I finally finished my bike for the upcoming CX season. Thankfully I managed to get everything done a week before the Fixx Supercross Cup starts so this way I can get to know the bike a little bit before the first race. 

It is the 2012 model of the well known and famous Giant TCX range. The TCX 2 was the entry level cyclocross bike from Giant in 2012 but it will change in the new 2013 range. It has aluminim frame and fork, Shimano Sora / Tiagra gear system, FSA crankset, Giant wheels, Tektro brakes and Giant finishing kit. I also got my faithful CrankBrothers EggBeater pedals fitted 'cause I know they will save me few times during the races.  

I have the bike in factory setup in about 95% but of course I had to swap few things around to shape things to my liking! :)

The first thing I've done was to convert the bike from the standard double ring setup to a single ring one. Now, it might be a kamikaze move but I'd like to try it and also I wanted to simplify things. So I got a 38T single ring fitted on the front and use the standard 11-28 casette (9 speed) on the back. Instead of using any sort of chain guide to keep the chain on the front I left the front mech on the bike to do the same job. I hope it'll work...

1 x 9 setup on the bike with the mud specialist EggBeaters

No front shifting means that there's no need for anything that is related. I removed all the inner & outer cables, so this way there's a bit less cable mess going on. Also got rid of the crosstop levers, I felt they don't need to be fitted.

The view from the saddle

So, now the CX bike is ready there's only one thing to be done: ride it a lot! I can't wait to give it a proper go and get a good feel of it. :)

Ready to roll!!!

And here is the current setup for the upcoming racing season

I would like to say a big thank you to John Clarke and ThinkBike for the bike and for the opportunity to represent my club on a bike like this. I'm sure it will serve me very well in the upcoming months.