Liv, Giant’s sister brand dedicated to women’s bikes, has launched its brand new MY22 Liv Langma Disc road bike range.
The original Langma appeared in 2017 as the company’s lightweight race bike, and the updated model for 2022 introduces a number of improvements to provide, in Liv’s words, ‘the choice for riders looking to lead the peloton or those who seek unrivalled performance’.
To prove the point, Lotte Kopecky of Women’s WorldTour team Liv Racing rode the new Langma Disc to victory at the Le Samyn des Dames in March.
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What’s new?
A glance at the new Langma shows it has taken many of its cues from Giant’s lightweight racer, the TCR, with a similar skinny fork, the same flowing curves around the seat tube/seatpost cluster, and the same cut-out in the seat tube around the rear wheel.
Compared to the old Langma, the silhouette of the new version is a touch more refined, with fewer dramatic angles and sharp edges.
Under the skin, the new Langma Advanced SL Disc boasts an improved carbon layup, which has allowed Liv to shave 60g off the frame weight of the top-end model. The frame is constructed using longer, more continuous pieces of carbon fibre across the tubes and junctions, which means it can use less carbon overall to save on weight while actually increasing stiffness by 21%.
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The technology extends to the new aero fork to create more lateral stiffness, and Liv claims these fork are the ‘lightest and stiffest Langma fork to date’.
Shop the Liv Langma Disc range now at Rutland Cycling
Liv also claims improved handling for the Langma Disc, and the new fork has increased clearance for tyres up to 32mm.
Aerodynamics have been updated as well, with a new truncated ellipse profile to the tubing that Liv says reduces wind drag at a greater range of yaw angles to save precious watts.
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Three models; 11 specs
The new Liv Langma Disc range comes in three tiers. At the top is the Langma Advanced SL Disc, as ridden by the pros in the Liv Racing Women’s WorldTour squad. This boasts the greatest advances in weight-saving and stiffness gains, and comes decked out with Sram Red eTap AXS groupset and new Cadex 36 Carbon Disc wheels.
The fully built model weighs in at around 6.65kg, according to Liv, and the frame is designed to be specific for electronic groupsets only, with no entry ports to accept mechanical gear cables.
Next level down is the Liv Langma Advanced Pro Disc series, which boasts almost-but-not-quite-as-much advancements as the SL frameset in terms of carbon layup, and so can’t boast quite the same weight savings (25g) and stiffness increases (6.6%) as the previous version of the Pro Disc.
It comes in three groupset specs: Sram Force eTap AXS, Sram Rival eTap AXS or Shimano Ultegra. Wheel options include Giant’s new SLR 1 or SLR 2 36 carbon disc wheels.
At present we have no details on weights for fully built models of the Advanced Pro Disc bikes.
At the lowest level is the Liv Langma Advanced Disc, which like the Advanced Pro Disc sees a reduction in frame weight by 25g compared to the old model. This level comes in seven different specs, with the top end Advanced Disc 1+ AR decked out in Sram Rival eTap AXS, and the lowest version Advanced Disc 3 QOM coming with Shimano Tiagra. The gaps in between are filled by Shimano Ultegra and 105.
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Women-specific sizing
Liv says its core values centre around providing bikes built ‘for women, by women, with women’. This means that the geometry of the Langma frames is not simply a smaller version Giant’s men’s bikes, but has been developed using women’s body dimensional data.
The result is that the Liv Langma frames tend to have a slightly taller stack and shorter reach than the nearest equivalent Giant TCR frames.
Shop the Liv Langma Disc range now at Rutland Cycling
The Langma range comes in five sizes, from XXS to Large, which Liv says will accommodate riders with heights ranging from 145cm to 183cm.
As well as frame dimensions, Liv has focussed on areas such as the handlebars, crank arm lengths and saddle types to provide not only comfort but maximise the power produced by women and allow this to be translated through the bike.
Frame colours
Liv has opted for two colour palettes across the Langma range, which it is calling ‘Back to Nature’ and ‘Self-Reflection’, and which are muted, natural shades – no garish pinks in sight.
‘Back to Nature’ consists of earth tones such as beige, pistachio, terracotta and purple ash. These can be found on models including the Langma Advanced SL Disc Red and Langma Advanced Disc 3 QOM.
The second palette, ‘Self-Reflection’, consists of eucalyptus, Nordic breeze, milky way, metal and fig, which can be seen on the Langma Advanced Pro Disc 1 and Langma Advanced Disc 2. If you’re uncertain what colour a Nordic breeze is, you’ll have to check out the options on the Liv website, liv-cycling.com.
Prices
At the time of going to press, we don’t have a price for the top-end Liv Langma Advanced SL. The next step down – the Advanced Pro Disc 0 AXS, specced with Sram Force eTap AXS and Giant SLR 36 wheels – comes in at £5,599.
Shop the Liv Langma Disc range now at Rutland Cycling
The Advanced Pro Disc 1, with Shimano Ultegra, costs £3,999. The Advanced Disc comes in at £3,149 with Ultegra and Giant SLR 36 wheels; £2,599 with lower-spec Giant PR-2 wheels; and £2,349 with Shimano 105.
Prices for other specs will be revealed on the Liv website after launch date.
