First Look: 2015 Liv Avail Endurance Road Bikes

Giant’s women’s bikes get their own brand—and an all-new line of women’s endurance road models

The big story out of the Liv launch was that it was a Liv launch—not Liv/Giant. The women’s branch of the company has splintered off and grown into its own entity, which is entirely piloted by women from design to production and features women’s apparel, Liv retail stores, and, of course, bikes.

With the brand evolution, Liv unveiled its Avail series, an all-new range of women’s endurance road bikes. The Avail name carries over from Giant’s old women’s line, but the bikes have been completely redesigned. The company aimed to offer the best balance of light weight, control, efficiency, and compliance of any existing women’s road bike. To accomplish that, they started from scratch and designed a women’s bike that was based not on a Giant’s men’s version, but on data about female riders.

“We are not taking an inline model and changing the length of the top tube and head tube and calling it women’s specific. We start with a blank piece of paper and go from there,” explained Abby Santurbane, Liv’s global category manager when asked how the Avail compares to the unisex Giant Defy. “The geometry is developed through our global dimension database, intended usage and rider goals (which equate to rider body angle), and feedback from athletes, brand ambassadors, and typical consumers. The primary goals when designing the bike were control, low weight, efficiency, and compliance.”

The most important step toward accomplishing all those goals is centering the rider’s weight over the bottom bracket, explains Santurbane. “We understand that a woman can ride her bike differently from a man, which affects geometry and frame layup.” Women in general tend to carry their weight lower and tend to power the bike with the strength of their lower bodies, relying less on their upper bodies.

Liv tuned the Avail geometry, which is slightly different from past models, to create a bike that is quick and light yet still comfortable on long rides. The seat angle was raised 0.5 degrees to a relatively steep 74 to 75 degrees, depending on the size, which increases responsiveness and power transfer when you put the pedal down and helps avoid toe overlap on smaller frames. The head angle, however, remains a considerably slacker 70 to 72 degrees, which adds an element of stability.

Liv’s new Integrated D-Fuse Seatpost saves weight over a traditional seatpost/seat tube junction. (Joe Lindsey)

New to the Avail bikes are disc brakes, which the company believes are the future of road bike braking systems, as they offer superior control over rim brakes. Notably, the company was able to add discs while still shaving weight compared to the previous version of the Avail. The flagship Avail Advanced SL frame tips the scales at less than 900 grams (claimed, size small), making it the lightest bike in the lineup.

Liv kept the weight low through a series of design elements, including a hollow carbon dropout with an integrated disc-brake mount. There’s also the proprietary Integrated D-Fuse Seatpost, which is considerably lighter than a standard round seat tube/seatpost connection and allows up to 12 mm of flex to dampen road vibration.

The new Avail is available in four models with multiple component options: the carbon-fiber Avail Advanced SL ($5,150 to $8,750), Avail Advanced Pro ($3,500), and Avail Advanced ($1,750 to $2,600), as well as the aluminum Avail ($620 to $1,375) with rim brakes. All bikes in the line have compact (50/34) chainrings and a women’s saddle; stem length, handlebar width, and crankarm length, vary with frame size. “We choose which component size is best based on our target body angle for the bike,” Santurbane says. The Advanced SL and Advanced Pro models come with Giant’s new SLR 0 tubeless-compatible disc wheels.

First Ride Impressions
At the Liv launch, I spent two days riding the top-of-line Avail Advanced SL 0. On the road, the bike was extremely efficient. The Avail responded instantly to a push of the pedals, getting up to and holding speed quickly. It was a seemingly effortless climbing machine. I never looked for an extra gear to get up a steep grade and could climb comfortably in the saddle and out. The bike did an admirable job of absorbing vibration on some seriously rough and choppy country lanes. It’s quick, yet stable through corners and is responsive without being twitchy.

We’ll be putting in more miles on the Avail Advanced SL 0 on our home roads for a full review later this year.