Giant has quietly unveiled the new TCR SLR, and it could become one of the most desirable alloy road bikes of the year.
The TCR SLR takes the brand’s long-running TCR platform and gives it a premium aluminium makeover. Aimed squarely at performance-focused riders, it's bang up to date with internal cable routing, decent 33mm tyre clearance and clean lines.
The frame uses Giant’s ALUXX SLR alloy construction and shares a silhouette similar to the brand's TCR carbon road bike.
There’s just one major problem: you probably can’t buy it.
At least for now, the bike appears to be exclusive to the Japanese market, with no announcement regarding availability in either the UK, US or Europe.
And that’s a shame, because on first impressions, Giant may have produced one of the most compelling aluminium road bikes in years.
The bike follows the similarly limited Giant PCR, which we spotted last year and only available in select markets.
From the information we've seen so far, there are two builds of the TCR SLR available, with the range priced much lower than the recently-released and broadly similar CAAD 14:
- TCR SLR 1 - ¥253,000 (around £1,183)
- TCR SLR 0 – ¥330,000 (around £1,543)
The SLR 0 build includes a Shimano 105 groupset, mid-depth alloy wheels, and a Contact SLR Road Integrated handlebar. The cheaper model downgrades to Tiagra and an aftermarket crank.
Visually, the bike looks far more refined than many aluminium frames on the market today, with smoothed welds, sculpted tubes and fully internal cable routing.
We've asked representatives of Giant UK if the bike will be made available outside of Japan, but we expect, like the PCR, this one will remain a forbidden fruit for customers worldwide.
