 In this video, we're gonna go back in time. You're gonna see I was sporting a moustache. It was Friday, the 6th of December, 2019. Not that long ago now. And it's at this point where I'm gonna share with you where and why I purchased a new all-round road bike being the BMC Team Machine SLRO1. And this is only a few months after I purchased the giant advanced SL, TCR, sitting over there. Now, both of these bikes are rim brake. They come with Shimano Ultegra, and they're actually older models. So this is the 2018, and that is mid-release 2016. However, the frame geometries are exactly the same as the 2020 models. So I guess they're current, with the exception of some slight variations to accommodate disc brakes. Now, once we go back in time, we're gonna come back here and I'm gonna share with you what my content plans are in terms of reviewing both these bikes for you. But before we get into this video and go back in time, I just wanted to quickly share with you that I have recently, this was last week, I've reopened an online course that I've got for road cyclists looking to take their performance to the next level. I only invite 10 people in at a time, given the onboarding nature, which includes a one-on-one call with me. And I've only got three spots left available. So I'll put links below for anyone out there that might be interested. Let's get into this video. So I think I've got a problem. I'm out the front of a bike store again, three months after I purchased the Giant TCR, I'm gonna purchase another new road bike. And the reason being there's two reasons that I can justify my own head anyway. Number one is I've got a big event coming up and I think this road bike's gonna be really well-suited to it. And number two, I've recognized after purchasing the Giant TCR three months ago, I'm gonna review that road bike on the channel coming up shortly, is that I think it's a better way for me to be able to review road bikes on the channel. That is to look for bargains, create some content surrounding it, review the road bike, and then in a six to 12 month period, sell that road bike off to fund the purchase of a new one, rather than bang my head against a wall constantly reaching out to bike brands, seeing if they can lend me a demo bike for two to three weeks so I can review it. So time will tell whether that will be the way forward, but in the meantime, let's go in and sort this purchase out. There he is, you're waiting for me. Now you didn't sell it over the weekend, did ya? No, it's still there. Oh, you just paused for a second, you had me going there for a second. There it is. There's a tape. Magnificent. That's the Steer Demac, the BMC. SLR01. SLR01. Magnificent. Now, I'm getting this for a bit of a steal really, but it is an 18 model, isn't it? That's correct, you're getting this for a bargain. The geometry is still the same as the current. Correct, 2018, they changed the geometry on the T machines, still current. This is rim brake, we've got the disc brake variant, but still current geometry. Yeah, okay, rim brakes work fine though for me. Yeah, 100%. And can you tell me, so why, if it's brand new, but it's an 18 model, how come it's still brand new? Bit of a story behind this bike, it was at another store, there was probably more mountain bike focus, it didn't get the love attention that it needed. Okay. Not a road focus store. BMC took the bike back to the officers in Brisbane, they just sat in the office there. They brought it up to Noosa Tri to put on the Zwift stand. Yeah. Post Noosa Tri got dropped off here and said, see what I can do. Yeah, right. And we got a lot of love for BMC at the moment, so. Absolutely. Didn't last long. So what can I expect? What do your customers say about this bike? What do they like about it? Absolutely, loving the T machines, super comfortable, soft ride. Yeah. Silky, I hear. Silky. There's the word. Yeah, very smooth. Yeah, very smooth. All right, cool. We've only had positive feedback on the T machines. All right, mate. I'm gonna take it off your hands. So I've just rocked up home and I told my wife, Alice, that I was purchasing this bike probably about a week ago now, but I caught her at a time where I don't think she was listening. So it's gonna be interesting to see her reaction right now. What do you reckon? Well, it's really bullshit. Do you remember me talking about it? I was only talking to you about, I want a new bike. Yeah. And then you walk in, look it, I've got pancake on my boob. Pancake on your boob. I've got no bra on. Do you remember me? Well, I remember talking to you about this. I wasn't quite sure if you were listening to me. I remember you saying that the investment in this bike was less than what you were gonna make from selling your old bike. And so then that nothing mattered after that. Okay, cool. All right. Making sure. Yeah, so I want a TT bike and now you've walked in with a new bike. Do you like the look of this, the BMC? You know, I mean, the time machine's prettier. Yeah. But this is pretty cool. I like the color. I mean, I love the red. They, the BMC might be pipping specialized for me at the moment, I reckon. Yeah. So I've now been riding the BMCT machine in combination with the giant TCR advanced SL for the last five to six weeks. And over that time, I've taken both bikes into an expert bike fitter here on the Sunshine Coast to get his view on which bike might be best suited given my riding style and needs. And I've started to narrow in on some of the unique riding characteristics both bikes have. And to give one thing away at this point in time and I'm still narrowing in on a few but definitely the BMCT machine is a more comfortable road bike. And as a result of that, I will be using this road bike for an upcoming race that I've got called the Melbourne to Warnable, which is mid-February, which is a 265 kilometer bike race. But in terms of reviewing both these bikes, we're gonna do a head to head review. That's what I've decided to do here rather than review them independently. We're gonna do the BMCT machine versus the giant TCR advanced SL. And at the end of that review process, I'm gonna keep one bike and then I'm gonna sell the other one off because really it does not make sense to have two all-round race bikes sitting around here. Now during the video, you would have heard my wife Alice talk about me funding this road bike through the sale of another road bike, which I actually haven't sold yet. That's the chapter two rare a and I will be selling that off to fund the purchase of the BMCT machine. While we've had a great time together, the rare a and I, the new formula of what I'm trying to do to create fresh content on the channel is to buy road bikes and then sell them off within a certain period. And now having the rare a for over 12 months now, it's time to say farewell. Now, if anyone out there might be interested in my chapter two rare a, I'll pin a comment below on the details in terms of what I'm looking for and what's included. And if you're interested in seeing the head to head review on the giant TCR and the BMCT machine and you haven't already subscribed to the channel or hit the bell notification, which ensures you get notified of when I publish a video. Make sure you do it below and I'll catch you in the next video.