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The Intrigue SX is a well put together package that's easy to jump aboard and get ripping on quickly. It has all the right elements for the rider who has her climbing game tidied up, and who is now looking to smash the descents and really feel confident about it. - Rachelle Frazer |
It's a really exciting time to be involved in the Australian bike industry. We have an amazing group of Ambassadors located all around the country that are hosting social rides, workshop nights and training camps to make cycling more accessible and a mainstream activity for women. - Caitlynn Hargreaves - Liv Brand Specialist, Australia. |
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anyway... I agree with the womens paint jobs, especially the Yeti Beti SB5-c and many of the Liv bikes
It doesn't help that main Giant's colorways of the last few years have been the MTB equivalent of "bourge-mobile brown."
to cap off that reference, I'll add that "their colorways are so unhip it's a wonder their bums don't fall off."
And think about it from a manufacturing and logistical perspective, custom painting each and every frame differently according to customers personal requests, and then delivering those specific frames from your plant in taiwan america or wherever to their LBS is a mammoth task compared to just sending a couple hundred frames in that each size to that country.
Yeah, the project one treks are expensive, but I'm sure that you can still spend just as much on another bike and not get to be as specific with your colour choice, in fact im surprised that its offered at all!
then once youve gotten your project 1 trek, had it for a few months/years (you just spent 10k on a bike, you get upgrades pretty often) on it, and now its time too sell, but suddenly you have to chop a good amount of value off your bike because you are literally the only person in your area who actually likes the paintjob on your bike. This is going to get downvoted out of existence, but whatever, yolo.
Suffice it to say, people who devote their lives to studying human behavior see problems with it, & if you take the time to actually understand their arguments, they make a lot sense.
Oh and I'm far from and entry level rider (and yes I have changed some components on my bike) but I think bang for your buck it's a pretty well spec'd bike.
if you look at the Giant Propel in medium (52cm) and Liv Envie (women's Propel) in medium (52cm) the seat tube angle is identical. This is a good thing.
Putting a steeper seat angle on a women's bike is a quick "cheat" to reduce effective reach, but can often cause an issue for women because the longer femur dictates that the saddle is pushed further back to get the knee positioned correctly over the pedal axle.
The femur tends to move in a more horizontal plane during pedaling, with the tib/fib moving more vertical. The longer the femur, the more pronounced this horizontal plane.
I see this issue a lot when I do bike fits for women, with the front of the patella too far forward, relative to the pedal axle. Saddle position is absolutely critical for a good bike fit, after foot correction.
I've had female customers we have moved onto a men's bike with a more relaxed saddle angle (normal) to accomodate long femurs and short tib/fib
cheers!
It's an interesting and perhaps troubling development in the bike industry that women's specific models tend to have steeper seat angles, whereas from a biomechanical POV the reverse is what you want, within reason of course. The longer femur and shorter tib/fib is very prevalent among women according to all the available data.
From a recent article where Cervelo where asked why Cervelo don't offer "women's specific models":-
"If I were going to sell someone a bike I wouldn’t ask if they were a man or a woman, I’d ask what they want to do with it. I do think there are times when you could actually physically make different products that could be more suited to different people, but it might be less related to gender and more related to use patterns.”
From a bike fitting perspective, a good fit is a good fit. When a client comes in and says "Do you have a 52cm bike in stock?" my question would be "What is your bike fit?".
A recent example was a lady at 6'2" who according to manufacturers data should have been a large in a men's bike.
She ended up on a men's small endurance bike which could accomodate her long leg extension and short torso / short reach. The women's models I tried her on could not deal with her long femurs. Looking at the body data will allow the fitter to find something suitable with adjustment
In other words: You're the first person I've talked to online who has cited data to back up the theory of physiological bike building; not to say it's not out there, but even some bike fitters are massively confused with my crazy proportions and the needs of other similarly-built women. I'm not an anomaly, though. It seems that taller women (tall = anyone over 5'6") often seek out non-women's specific bikes. Is this a coincidence? Likely. But I wonder if there's a standard of fit in the future where people are fitted for body size/proportion and riding style/skill rather than gender... But then again, shimano might come out with a women's-specific derailleur and change everything.
Thanks for the very informed conversation. Lots to think about (and Google)!
That sucks..
I would try and get a refund.
Look at LBS models this thing is at least $500-$700 over what I think it's worth. Glance at the Trek Remedy 8 and 9. The 9 is the same price and is spec'd a bit better (wheels and dropper). The 8 is a $1000 less and is very comparable. The Yeti SB5 is a full carbon bike and it sells for $4500. Granted the shocks are a smidgen back but if that was my budget I'd go with either of the above bikes. Then look at Commencal and YT's line-ups and this thing becomes even less competitive. Cool, but not worth $4400.
look at the most recent PB dropper article, the comments section is full of people talking about how the giant dropper is their favorite. it's definitely my favorite, and it's been problem-free since day 1, going on 18 months or so
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