Liv/Giant Tempt 27.5 2 – in brief review

Mixed-bag women-specific hardtail

Our rating

3.0

1075.00
750.00
1149.00

Published: August 25, 2014 at 7:00 am

Our review
Light, responsive and reasonably smooth, but over-sprung fork doesn’t help the handling balance

With its steeply sloped and kinked top tube giving a standover of 645mm and a straight seat tube letting you slam the seatpost, the Tempt 2 is an impressively inclusive bike in terms of sizing. The angular looking saddle turned out to be a winner with our female test team too and the 640mm wide bars get narrow diameter grips.

  • Highs: Angular female specific saddle; no interruption to height adjustment; good value FSA/Shimano 30-speed gear range and Shimano brakes
  • Lows: Over stiff fork spring; long, stable back end with a twitchier front end means handling takes some time to master

The upright riding position is definitely more ‘look at the view’ rather than ‘ready to race’ but with a very low weight and shod with fast-rolling Schwalbes it picks up speed smartly. The impressive value mixed Shimano transmission with Giant branded triple ring chainset shifts smoothly and the Shimano brakes are consistent too.

650b wheels provide a useful balance between smoothness and sprightly acceleration and long chainstays contribute to a comfortable ride in the saddle. The long back end adds stability, but the front end feels twitchy in comparison. Unfortunately Giant has failed to compensate the coil sprung fork properly for lighter riders so you’ll be lucky to get more than half travel on an average ride.

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