Good afternoon James
I noticed you put you were in the market for a new bike at around £1000 value and were looking closely at the Giant Defy 0 2016 model?
I have just had a look at this spec and its not too bad to be fair - it certainly ranks as up there with the best of a bad bunch.
The frame is bog std alloy which is fairly common from the mass market producers at this point and it even has Ultegra levers and rear mech but it seems these upgrades have been done at the expense of cheap 451 deep drop 57mm brakes (usually only found on touring or winter bikes - is that what you want?), a cheap Shimano 500 compact chainset (oem version around Sora level) and cheap Giant own brand alloy bars, stem, seatpost, saddle.
The finishing kit combo of an own brand is fairly common at this price to keep costs down but I was rather surprised that they have specced cheap own brand hubs, rims and tyres for the wheelset on offer.
Not a week goes by where we don't have some unfortunate customer who has Bontrager (Trek) or Specialised or other "own brand" wheels in with some form of problem. The issue is they are usually heavy and give a dead riding feel when compared to proper Shimano or Campag wheels and when it comes to servicing they are fitted with non standard parts which means they are usually dead stock once anything goes wrong.
About a dozen of the WV have had our new Carbone SR full carbon bikes at a similar price point with a much higher overall spec with ALL parts from proper recognised branded established component manufacturers within the cycle industry.
What's more we offer a free custom fit service and actually build the bike for you, all included in the prices we quote.
I don't think it would hurt to pop in and see us for a chat or speak to some of the club who have all bought them and been delighted with them over the last 6 months.
Maybe see or speak to you soon James
Jim