 So I'm out the front of Giant Nusa again. In this video, I'm gonna share with you a big mistake that I recently made with the Giant TCR, including what upgrades that I've made to this road bike post purchase. I purchased this bike about four or five months ago now and also post crash. See, unfortunately, I recently got in an incident with a motor vehicle, but before we get into the details of this video, I just wanna provide a big shout out to my channel patrons. I'll put your names up on the screen here and to be honest, I don't give you guys enough love on this channel, but I do really appreciate your support over there. While I provide additional content on my Patreon, including first access to certain videos, exclusive interview content and channel updates, you see, I recently asked my channel patrons, what value or additional value would you like to see from your $7 USD monthly subscription? And I wanted to share a couple of comments with you here which represents the overall feedback I got that suggests that people are ultimately supporting the channel over there because they get value out of the content I put up on YouTube. Nothing more, nothing less. So what I've done given this feedback is I've actually created another tier. Currently, there's only one tier. I've created a lower level tier. So if you're interested in exploring that, I'll provide a link below. So let's get into this video and I wanted to break it into two major parts. Number one, let's talk about the safety upgrades. After getting hit by a car roughly two months ago, how have I made myself safer on the road? And number two, the bike upgrades. What upgrades have I made to the Giant TCR to make me feel like I'm more at home with it, which will include the big cock up that I made? So a couple of months ago, I got hit by a car while riding. Now that is the first time in my 10 year road cycling history that I've been hit by a car. And I was lucky that I wasn't seriously injured. I walked away from that incident. There was a few scratches on the bike, a few scratches on my leg. But what really happened there, it was a big wake up call for me. It made me realize there is a lot of opportunity for me to be more exposed, ultimately safer on the road. So there are three big things that I have done that I wanted to share with you here. Number one, I have replaced my helmet. Now I hit my head very slightly. There was no crack inside my helmet. You might have seen a previous video I did on this topic, which I'll link to below. But it didn't matter. I replaced the helmet straight away because any helmet that's had impact has been compromised. In this instance, I've gone with a helmet. I have found myself wearing for the past six years because I believe it looks good and it fits my head well that being the Specialized S-Works Prevail. This Specialized helmet now also comes with some very cool technology called ANGIE, which is essentially a built in live GPS tracker. So close friends and or family can follow the ride. But more importantly and uniquely, it has inbuilt crash technology. So if a certain frequency of crash vibration is reached, the ANGIE helmet technology sends a signal to your iPhone where you have it paired with the ANGIE technology via a Specialized app. And your GPS signals will be sent where relevant, including your loved ones, in case of an emergency. That is bloody good technology if you ask me. Number two, I've made myself more visible on the road. Just give me a sec. So I'm wearing this orange kit from Wynn Republic. Not only is the Wynn gear very stylish and comfortable, I am really impressed and I'm not just saying that. This orange color, to me, is definitely the most eye-catching for motorists. I think of all the road workers wearing orange gear and they wear orange gear for a reason. It really exposes you and creates a greater presence around you on the road. And I've certainly noticed that. I always looking at motorists when they're coming out onto tea intersections or pulling out of driveways just to assess if they've seen me. And I feel like there is greater awareness surrounding me from those motorists and also motorists that are passing me. I feel like I'm getting, I don't know whether this is just in my head, but I feel like motorists are passing me with greater care because I'm better exposed on the road just by wearing, essentially, as you can see, the bibs are black, the jersey is orange. So what I've done is I've actually contacted the owners of Win Again and they've provided a 10% discount code again on their gear. You can buy any gear, but it'd be great to see some more people wearing some orange kit on our roads. Just know that that 10% discount code, not only do you get a discount, but a little bit of that is an affiliate code which comes back to supporting the channel. So the third thing that I wanted to mention here, and this was a big oversight. There was an overwhelming amount of feedback after that crash video about the fact that I wasn't running lights during the day. Which is completely bizarre when I think about it, because I actually created some content specifically on this topic two years ago now regarding the exposure lights pulse pattern technology which is designed to not only run during the daylight, but it's irregular flashing pattern is specifically designed to catch the attention of motorists. So I'm now using this at the front. Sorry, that might be blinding you and blind myself now. See how the pulse is irregular? So it's designed specifically to catch, as I said, the attention of motorists. I've got this at the front. I've also got one at the back. My kids were playing with it the other day and before this video, I spent about an hour looking for it. Couldn't find it, I don't know where they put it. So I've got this average cat eye one at the moment, but this same pattern is replicated at the back and I'll have some stern words to one of my kids when they get home. And if you want more details actually on the exposure lights, this isn't sponsored, I just really like their technology. I did create a full review back in the old school bike chaser days which I'll put a link to below. So they are the three major safety upgrades that I've made to the Giant TCR. If you've got any additional ones you think I might have missed out on, I'd be keen to get your thoughts below. I don't think you get much brighter though with this orange kit and a yellow bike. So let's now talk specifically about the Giant TCR itself. And there are four things, not three. There are four things that I wanna talk you through here. Number one is the big mistake that I made. And I made a big mistake actually. This is where it all went wrong with the handlebar system. So this is the first time I've actually ever purchased a road bike where I've wanted to immediately replace the handlebar system. The reason being this Giant Contact SL, these are alloy handlebars. It's got a very, very thin part of the handlebars system here. And that is where I rest my hands. Now you shouldn't have much weight at the front of your handlebar anyway but you are resting your hands there. There is gonna be a little bit of weight. And for whatever reason, I just wasn't comfortable with these handlebars. So I decided to replace them and this is where it all went wrong. So at the start of this video, we're in Giant Noosa. Let's go back to those scenes now. So I can share with you the big mistake that I made. CSC, how are you mate? Good mate. Now do you reckon we've finally fixed the issue on this thing? I can wait pretty close to getting it resolved. How many times have you seen me in here over the last two or three months? I know I have to be quite close friends I think by now. So it's been good times. But I think we've finally got it resolved for you. Nice. This is what we've got on there now but where is the big mistake that I made? The big piece of equipment. Yeah. This guy. Yeah. So I bought this online. I did try and buy through you guys, didn't I? But the handlebar you got in got sold at the other store. We did, we moved it on. And I got impatient and I bought online which I've made a big mistake. So the big mistake that I didn't pick up on is this bend here. Can you, like what the hell is going on there? Interesting handlebar design. Pretty sort of going for that aero sprint handlebar effect. Yeah. So, but biggest thing when you've got your hoods mounted there, when you're actually holding the bar it's actually pretty interesting sort of feel. It's uncomfortable. And also it just felt like it changed the whole dynamic of the bike particularly when you had the drops. Like it dampened the stiffness and it was bizarre. Firstly, not for me. Worst handlebar I've ever bought. Nothing against 3T. They make good stuff. But I didn't like this. No, this is a bit of an interesting shame. So the big mistake here is purchasing something that I've never purchased before that's critical to my enjoyment in road cycling. A critical touch point being comfort. Online for the first time. I'm not telling people not to buy things online. That would be silly talk. But I am a big believer in finding a good quality local bike shop that you can build a relationship with. And then when mistakes happen like this you can easily swap. Now it doesn't have to be the handlebars. It could be the seat. Could be a set of wheels. Or it could be the bike itself. And what actually happened with this online retailer is this handlebar actually came as highly recommended. So that's why I probably could have engaged in the design and read the description in a little bit more detail. But I was like, yeah, they look good. That'll do. And I've made a mistake. But the beauty of having a relationship with Giant in this instance, and I should have started with this because they had issues getting in on the handlebars that weren't Giant, I actually said, okay, what handlebar would you recommend? And they recommended these Richie handlebars. They're actually carbon, these ones. And I really, really enjoy them. So the second major upgrade on the Giant TCR was the crank because I wanted to have power on the Giant TCR. So we've got my quark power meter now on the Giant TCR and I just love training with power and actually feel naked without it on my bike. Heart rate works okay, but it really limits your ability to test your base fitness and also work effectively at high intensity. Now, if you want to go deeper on that type of training talk, I've actually got a free online video training which I'll link to below. The third major upgrade was the wheels. Now the Giant SLR1 wheels were okay and I couldn't give you a comprehensive opinion because I only rode them a couple of times, but it turned out when I purchased this bike, the wind picked up in our area and my wife for her triathlon racing preferred those over the MVs and while I can't give you a comprehensive opinion on the Giant SLR1 wheels, I can tell you the MVs are a hell of a lot better. So I use these for racing and also a set of Fulcrum 5s with some Schwalb marathon tires for training. And the fourth upgrade, and this was a cheeky fifth actually. This is the handlebar tape here. I'm not too sure if I like it. Let me know what you think below, but the fourth major one that I wanted to talk to you about was the seat. I used the Specialized Toupe, I think it's called Toupe. And I found this seat probably four or five years ago and I was comfortable on it and I didn't get any pins and needles in my hand or in my feet like I have had with other seats in previous years gone by. So when you find a seat that works, you stick with it so we removed the Giant contact seat and I replaced it with that. So I definitely still have or I'm still tied to Specialized despite the fact that I'm riding a Giant TCR now. I've got the helmet and I've also got the saddle. And look, I've just reinforced myself that purchasing important items is best done, in my opinion, through a good quality local bike shop. So now the Giant is set and I can get more comfortable with it. I can feel at home a full review will finally be coming on this bike early 2020. I'll catch you all in the next video.