Liv has completely overhauled their women’s Intrigue all-mountain platform with a new carbon Intrigue Advanced that build on the trail experience of its more aggressive predecessor. Besides getting a new carbon frame, the 140/150mm bike gets geometry, layup & shock tuning updates – created for women by women…
2019 Liv Intrigue Advanced women’s all-mountain bike
Few companies match the women-specific design & engineering that Liv puts into their mountain bikes. And the revamped 140/150mm travel Intrigue Advanced builds on that, with even better Maestro pedaling efficiency and a more aggressive position for technical trail riding. Liv says it slots in nicely between the short travel XC Pique and the longer travel enduro Hail, making the Intrigue Advanced probably the most versatile of their premium mountain bikes.
Intrigue Advanced Updates
The new Intrigue Advanced sticks with140mm of rear wheel travel in a new Advanced carbon frame that sheds weight over the previous generation. The bike’s floating pivot Giant’s Maestro suspension also gets a new Advanced Forged Composite carbon rocker arm that claims to boost strength & lateral stiffness. The rear end is still aluminum though with Aluxx SL seat & chainstays across all price points.
Liv developed the new Intrigue around their 3F Design Philosophy (fit, form & function), which they say gives a more comprehensive women-specific bike that anything else on the market. They stress that with thousands of data points about women’s anatomy, sizing variations, muscle energy, and muscle outputs, they tailor their bikes much more to women, rather than just the old pink & shrink.
Intrigue Advanced Geometry & Suspension Tuning Updates
More aggressive trail geometry was one of the big reasons to give the Intrigue an overhaul, and the new bike does get more trail capable with a longer & slacker setup. Developed to deliver both climbing prowess & downhill control, the new Intrigue Advanced pairs a longer toptube & short stem to a slack 66.5° headtube for improved handling. Add in a steep 74.5° seattube and the bike still climbs well too.
To really dial in the women-specific ride, Liv worked closely with their suspension providers, pro athletes, and rider ambassadors to fine tune fork & shock setups. Instead of just picking middle of the road spring rate, damping & rebound settings, Liv used their riders to test out a wide range of setups before finalizing shock & fork tunes to benefit a wider range of female trail riders, and get everyone on their targeted ride feel & suspension performance.
Intrigue Advanced Tech Details
The Advanced carbon front triangle is hand-laid, balancing light weight, stiffness, and compliance tuned for women riders. The bike features modular internal routing (with the rear brake run externally along the chainstay), and can fit a single bottle cage inside the front triangle, as well as a piggyback rear shock.
The new frame gets a 1.5″ tapered headtube, Boost hub spacing, and sports 27.5″ wheels with up to 2.6″ tire clearance. Liv sets the bikes up tubeless out of the box with Maxxis High Roller II tires (2.4″ front, 2.5″ rear) on Giant TRX wheels.
The bikes all come spec’ed with 35mm bars on super short stems, dropper posts & chainguides on top level bikes. The Intrigue Advanced is still compatible with direct high mount, SideSwing front derailleurs, although all of the complete bikes are delivered as 1x setups.
Pricing, Spec & Availability
The top-level $8000 Intrigue Advanced 0 features the same premium suspension & drivetrain raced by the Liv Global Off-Road team, including a custom-tuned DVO Topaz 2 T3 shock & custom-tuned DVO Diamond fork, plus a SRAM X01 Eagle group. It also gets Guide RSC brakes, a Truvativ carbon bar, plus Giant’s own Contact Switch S dropper, Contact SL saddle & TRX 0 30mm internal hookless carbon wheels.
At $5300, the Intrigue Advanced 1 dials back to a Fox 36 Float Performance Elite fork, Float DPX2 Performance shock and a GX Eagle drivetrain. It still gets Guide RS brakes, the same Switch S dropper, and hookless carbon TRX 1 wheels.
The $3700 Intrigue Advanced 2 features the same frame with a Fox 34 Rhythm fork, Float DPS Performance shock and NX Eagle drivetrain. It dials the brakes back to Guide T, gets the base Switch dropper post, and a set of alloy rim Giant AM tubeless tubeless wheels.
All of the new Intrigue Advanced bikes are making their way out to Giant/Liv bike shops now, with availability slated for later this summer worldwide.
