# Liv Bikes - opinions wanted please



## A/C in Az (Jan 14, 2019)

My GF is mid fifties and 4'10"

She has about 8 hours of mountain biking experience (she is trying )

I have a Marin Pine Mountain 2 in S and it is just right in all dimensions for her but the top tube is 3" too high for her reach the ground. She has ridden it for a couple hours straight with no discomfort or fatigue from bad bike fit, so I have a good idea of what reach/stack and other dimensions that will fit her. The problem is the top tube is too high.

Since she has not enough experience to give me any feedback on the bike other than she can or can not reach the ground, I need to hear from more experienced riders regarding the suspension, ride, etc of woman specific frames in XS or XXS.
Liv Pique2 seems to be a viable option, but I need some feedback on the pedaling and suspension before I spent $2k.

Help me out please. Thanks


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## gryeti (Jan 11, 2012)

My wife is 5' even. She has raced the Pique in 50 mile races and also ridden it in some very technical terrain. (Lunch Loops, Gooseberry etc.). It is a very capable bike. Standover is very low so it works well for her. Good luck! Cheers!


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## Leafkiller (Sep 2, 2018)

Both my wife and I ride Liv bikes. She is 4'11" and rides a Bliss, can't remember the number. She got a small and rides it fine after the LBS cut a few inches off the saddle tube. She doesn't do any technical trails yet but she will this year. 

I ride a Tempt 3 in medium size and haven't had any issues. I ride green and blue trails here in Texas and haven't had any problems with it. 

Is there a bike shop you could take her to and let her demo a few bikes?


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## A/C in Az (Jan 14, 2019)

There is only one XS bike in stock in the entire state. Liv's website says the next nearest one is in Colorado, 572 miles away. The LBS owners think that anyone who wants anything smaller than S will just prepay and order it before trying it. I've told a few of them that is poor business sense. They are missing sales opportunities by not stocking what customers want/need. I've mentioned a gal on here that has a bike shop in CA who says (in another thread) she sells everyone she gets since no one else stocks any.

I've noticed a tendency for the bike shops to try to push people into frames that are too large. Guys that should be on a M are pushed into a L. I think part of it is poor training and lack of any understanding of proper fit, the other part is ego, most guys want to be a L and not a M or S (who wouldn't want to be 6' tall instead of 5'2"?). Makes finding and buying a properly fitting bike extremely frustrating when most of their inventory are L and XL.


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## Leafkiller (Sep 2, 2018)

Well that sucks. The next option is see if she could try other bikes that are owned already. I guess look into local bike clubs and see if anyone there is close in stature. 

Honestly I like our Liv bikes and the price isn't all that bad but I don't want to say yes this bike is the perfect fit for your wife without seeing her in person.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


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## tkblazer (Sep 18, 2005)

My girlfriend is 4'10" and has ridden a few different liv bikes all size xs. The hardtails all fot great, but the problem with the full suspensions is the dropper post on the xs frames. The sest tube is short and the rocker bolt is mounted fairly high on the seat tube limiting seat post insertion. She had to ride around with the dropper all the way down.


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## A/C in Az (Jan 14, 2019)

TKblazer, 
We checked out the Pique 2 in XS and it is full suspension. We were able to slide the dropper all the way down and up without any problems. I was able to set it for her at about 90% all the way up. It is nice having markings on the seat, made adjusting the seat height quick and easy. The seat was rock hard and "Why do they put 10" long seats on an XS bike?" The nose of the seat was 2" longer than needed and it pushes the rider further up the top tube when straddling the bike which increases the minimum standover height. We swapped it for a softer women's seat with a shorter nose on it. It was a double win, made dismounts easier with more space in front of the seat and the gel padding was perfect for her. Another gripe "Why put 750mm bars on an XS?" We experimented and found 620mm is just right for her. I like that it is 2x11. It has a very large range, 24x42 on the low end and 36x11 on the top end. She should be able to find the perfect ratio wherever she rides.
She was smart enough to pick the aluminum version, carbon doesn't hold up against rocks as well as aluminum. She's happy with the fit and she feels much more confident on it since she is about 3 inches lower to the ground than the S Marin she had been using. The suspension seems to be tailored right for her weight, they didn't just throw on a heavy duty shock and fork and call it good. My only concern is the narrow 2.3 tires in the sand out here. Hopefully she will be able to keep up enough momentum to float across it we were cross the washes.


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## stiksandstones (Oct 7, 2004)

Check the womens Canyon models, my wife prefers the geo of the canyon and the rigidity over the LIV https://www.canyon.com/en/specials/wmn/


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## Leafkiller (Sep 2, 2018)

Sounds like you find a match for her. Yeah the saddle is usually the first thing I replace. That can make a world of difference.


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## stripes (Sep 6, 2016)

Leafkiller said:


> Sounds like you find a match for her. Yeah the saddle is usually the first thing I replace. That can make a world of difference.


And saddles are so personal. It might take a few before she finds the right one.

I really hate that bike shops don't like to stock small or XS sizes. Depending on the bike I fit anything from a medium to a XS, and it's really frustrating to try to buy without a proper demo.

Good luck in your search.


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## A/C in Az (Jan 14, 2019)

stripes said:


> I really hate that bike shops don't like to stock small or XS sizes..


I've already told a few that if they aren't going to stock it, why do I need to buy it from them at all? I can order it online for less based upon the geo charts. If more customers put it to them that way, they would start stocking the XS models. Every time you let them order you a bike that you didn't get to demo at their store, you are adding to the problem.

We did buy it from the guy that did stock one. He earned the right to my business by stocking it and working with us as we tried adjusting and tweaking the bike to suit her; including trying different bars and saddles. BTW, we did find a used/demo XS 2018 Niner Jet at another dealer, but she didn't like it much better than the Marin, so we went to the Giant/Liv dealer. She really liked the Liv a lot and it was a noticeable improvement in fit.

We rode some rocky single track today and she really likes the bike. She cleared some sections that previously she literally could only go half way or less.

She is very happy and she can see her own confidence increasing after only one 6 mile ride.


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## Curveball (Aug 10, 2015)

We just bought my wife a Pique 2 in size small. It was about the only FS bike around with low enough standover for her short legs. 

I was at the LBS buying some brake bolts for my bike and happened to look over and see this really tiny FS Liv on sale. So, I brought her there to try it and she found that it fit her very well. It's also much lighter than the Norco Fluid FS that she had. I'm pretty impressed with the light weight and component spec on it. I did replace the stock RS Recon fork with a Suntour Auron that I had.

The inaugural ride will be on Sunday. I think she'll really like it.


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