Confused of Wendover

[morrisman]

So I'm having a new bike.
I have convinced myself that a road bike would be better than a hybrid, my current ride.
I like the look of the Giant Defy range and they seem to get good press/reviews plus my LBS stocks them.

So it's a choice between the Defy 2 or the Defy 3. According to the Giant website all I can see that differs between them is the gearing both in quality (Sora/Tiagra) and range. But here comes the confusion the 2 is 20 speed but the highest gear is 50/12 and the lowest 34/30, whereas the 3 has only 18 gears but a higher high gear 50/11 and lower low gear 34/32. So do I want a bigger range, coming from a hybrid with a triple that seems a good thing, or a smaller range with smaller increments when changing? Plas does Tiagra give real world benefits over Sora?
Oh1 and I hate the chainwheel on the Defy 2

 

[cyberknight]

Your not going to need 50x11 unless you regularly ride above 30 mph on the flat , tiagra is supposed to be a bit better quality components and the extra gear gives you smaller jumps.
If you need a higher gear you can always put a wider range cassette on but you will have bigger jumps between gears, a triple might have smaller increments but you will have gears that replicate the same ratio`s as others based on how many inches of travel per revolution they will provide.
If you really want a higher top end then an 11-28 cassette is a good compromise for 10 speed , why do you hate the defy 2 chain ring? you can get it in black .
for commuting i use 8 speed 12-25 with a compact and thats fine too

 

[morrisman]

why do you hate the defy 2 chain ring?

Looks as if they forgot to drill it out on the outside.