Brooke’s preference for mountain bikes leans towards longer and slacker varieties. However, when the opportunity arose to test the all-new Liv Pique 29 Advanced, she couldn’t resist. There’s something to be said about a race-bred bike, no matter the terrain it’s intended for. The review of this cross-country race machine coincided with Brooke’s own training and participation in the Downieville Classic All-Mountain Championships, where light and lean Liv Pique proved to offer an edge.
And special thanks to Ryan Cleek for the stunning photoset!
I cut my teeth on endurance riding and cross-country racing, but that was years ago. Now, my weekends are spent primarily at enduro races or at the Northstar bike park, where gravity riding is my discipline of choice. Except for one July weekend each summer during the Downieville Classic. Choosing a bike for the All-Mountain World Championships is a risk-versus-reward assessment of weight, travel, angles, and rolling resistance. In comes the newly designed Liv Pique Advanced 29, an elite-level cross-country bike that’s designed specifically for women. I acquired the bike in early spring for a long-term review. As summer training escalated and I was offered the green light to race the test bike, it is fitting for me to culminate my review with this year’s Downieville Classic. But first, let’s dive into the bike’s details.
No Longer Off-The-Back
The 2024 Liv Pique Advanced 29 is the third generation of Liv’s cross-country Pique series. The updates are extensive–an overhaul of the outdated previous generation. The result is a lightweight, race-minded bike that meets the demands of cross-country racing and expands its versatility. The new Liv Pique features a revised geometry, a new suspension design with increased travel, and a modern design aesthetic. While Liv is a women’s specific brand of Giant Group, the Pique is not to be mistaken for a rebranded Giant Anthem. The new Pique offers similar spec options as the Anthem, but the travel and geometry differ slightly, where the Pique is arguably better on paper, regardless of rider gender.
Key updates of the Pique Advanced 29 series include reshaped tubes with a carbon front and rear triangle, composed of an upgraded proprietary composite. The tubes are straighter, more square, and formed with race car-like contours from the heat tube, lending the frame a modern appeal. Together, the new composite and frame design work to increase torsional and pedal stiffness, 6% and 10% respectively as claimed by Liv. The all new Pique ditches Giant’s Maestro suspension design and adopts a linkage-driven single pivot design coined FlexPoint Pro. The front travel is 120 millimeters and the rear travel is 115 millimeters, an increase of 10 and 5 millimeters, respectively, from the previous generation Pique.
With the new Pique series frame design comes fresh geometry. The headtube has been relaxed to 67º, squarely planting the Pique in the middle of the cross-country pack. The seat tube has been steepened to a climbing-friendly 76º, steeper than some competitors and as steep as many progressive trail bikes. The reach has been increased, and the chainstays shortened. Short of revolutionary, the geometry updates graduate the Pique to the modern cross-country category, improve the bike’s handling on aggressive XC tracks, and aid the bike in crossing over to downcountry terrain, sort of. More on that later.
Sum Of Its Parts
My spring and summer months were spent testing the Pique Advanced 0, a model not available in North America. The Advanced 29 1 and 3 are available in North America, with the Advanced 29 1 being the most similarly spec’d bike. It includes the same fork damper, remote lockout, carbon handlebar, T-Type AXS shifter, tires, and power meter.
My test bike features all the bells and whistles an elite XC racer could want. Highlights include Fox 34 Stepcast Factory 120-millimeter fork, Fox Float SC Factory inline 165×45 shock, Fox Transfer 125-millimeter dropper post, SRAM XX AXS Eagle Transmission groupset with Quarq power meter, single-piston XTR brakes, and Zipp 1ZERO HiTop SL 29 wheels with TyreWiz valves. Upon arrival, with a pair of Maxxis Aspen 29” 2.4 EXO tires plus sealant, the size small Pique Advanced 0 weighed 23.43 pounds without pedals.
This is a very dialed build spec with a parts list focused on weight reduction, speed, and racing. Already a fan of the SRAM AXS Transmission, I found the XX AXS Transmission to perform as expected – a little bit better than the XO version on my personal bike. The XX variety shifts even more smoothly under load, which is a great advantage in a race setting. The XX SL Eagle AXS Transmission Power Meter Crankset is a valuable training tool. Stopping power comes from single-piston XTR brakes paired with a 180-millimeter rotor up front and a 160-millimeter rotor in the rear. Despite my own reservations about single-piston brakes, this combination proves reliable and powerful, even on long descents. Speaking of long descents, the inline Fox Float SL handles them with tons of mid stroke and bottom out support despite hours of heat-generating repeated hits. While not a new design for Liv, the bottom mount of the trunnion shock is incorporated into the main pivot, where a bit more weight is saved by using less hardware. The three-position remote lockout, featured on most Pique models, rounds out the race-focused parts list.
Underbiking My Way to PR’s
I’m not getting any younger, and I’m certainly not getting any faster—until the Pique came around. Tame descents, pedally segments, and sustained climbs—the numbers don’t lie. The new Pique is an exceptionally fast bike that carried me to many PRs. The stiff frame results in sharp handling and quick acceleration, never twitchy thanks to a lengthened reach. The linkage-driven single pivot, paired with the Fox Float SL with a firm compression tune, provides a firm pedal platform. Seated or out of the saddle, punchy or techy, the FlexPoint Pro suspension and shock combination are supportive, enough so that the remote lockout isn’t necessary in most situations.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: the 2024 Liv Pique is a race-minded machine. The bike is light on its feet, with geometry and builds catered to XCO and XCC. These disciplines are fun, but my favorite riding style on the Pique is underbiking. With just 115 millimeters of travel, I spent much of my time pushing the Pique to its limits on Sierra mountain terrain. Heck, I even raced (and won!) a pedally and buff enduro on the bike. The Pique makes blue and black descents extra spicy, but it’s certainly capable enough with an active riding style and different tire choice. The Fox Stepcast 34 and aforementioned Float SL have very good mid-stroke and bottom-out support, so going deep into the limited travel is not a worry. You gotta go up to come down, and the Pique’s pedal efficiency and lean weight make climbs an energy-saving breeze. When the going gets rough, the custom chain guide, made in collaboration between Giant and MRP, meant I never experienced a dropped chain.
Personal Changes and Downieville Classic Race-Ready
Point-to-point races and all day epics challenge our definition of cross-country race bikes, so much so that a new category of down country bikes have emerged. In this case, and particularly in preparation for the Downieville Classic All-Mountain World Championships, the new Liv Pique has a few shortcomings that clearly define it more as a cross-country bike and less ideal for multi-hour epics. I addressed many of these in preparation for the Downieville Classic and would like to call them out:
Bottle cage mounts: Yes, there are two sets of bottle cage mounts on the Pique frame sizes small, medium, and large, however, the size small frame does not allow room for two bottles. The top tube mounts are useful for accessories, like stashing a tube for longer races and rides.
Dropper post: The Pique Advanced 29 0 is spec’d with a Fox Transfer 125-millimeter dropper post across all frame sizes. The other models spec a maximum 140-millimeter Giant dropper post on frame sizes small and medium. I firmly believe that every rider should ride the maximum travel dropper his or her bike will allow, no matter the discipline. I love that Liv makes the seat post insertion readily available for each frame size (shown here in row A1). Clicking to OneUp Components Dropper Post Length Calculator, I was easily able to see that a 150-millimeter V2 or V3 OneUp dropper post would fit the bike and my saddle height. Thanks to the team at OneUp, I was provided with the new V3 Dropper Post which allowed me tons of travel and weighs 80 grams lighter than the Fox Transfer. Now that’s a winning upgrade!
Tires: Cross-country bikes are notorious for being spec’d with ridiculously insufficient regular-use tires. The Pique is no exception. I fearfully rode the Maxxis Aspen pair for just one ride before I swapped them for the much more reliable yet still efficient Maxxis Forekasters. I even went so far as to run a Dissector 2.4 EXO as my front tire for the Downieville Classic. This gave me added confidence on the baby heads, waterfalls, and rock gardens. It was a small weight and rolling resistance sacrifice given the Pique’s efficiency and leanness.
Geometry: A 67º headtube angle may be fine and dandy for the short track, but when faced with hour-plus descents during my test period and ahead of the Classic, I dug deeper to find one more degree of headtube angle. The Pique’s S.H.I.S. designation wasn’t easy to uncover, but thanks to Gregg at Start Haus in Truckee, CA, it was discovered that the lower cup is 56 millimeters and the upper cup is 44 millimeters. I was able to fit a compatible 1º angle headset from Wolftooth. The new 66º headtube angle was just right for longer and steeper descents. Do note that with the OE Giant Contact SLR XC carbon bars, the added headtube angle did cause the brake levers to make contact with the top tube when overturning the bars. I solved this with a different handlebar, which doubled down to also help with hand fatigue.
Fatigue and resonance: With every advantage a bike can offer, there typically comes a disadvantage. The Pique is an incredibly light and stiff bike. It accelerates like a sports car but passes trail vibrations to the rider’s body, particularly to the hands. I addressed this by swapping to my favorite carbon bar by OneUp, with a layup and shape that provide some forgiveness. The subtle 20mm rise helps the brake levers clear the top tube with the angle headset. I would like to note that some of the fatigue I felt while testing and racing the Pique over long distances is attributable to the Fox 34 Stepcast fork. While I enjoy the FIT4 damper and found a settings sweet spot with the help of Fox’s tuning guide, I did find the limit of the lighter and narrower chassis. Again, there are often sacrifices made with every weight-saving component choice. It’s also worth noting that I experienced migration of the fork’s compression dial, where I found the Open Mode Adjust (HSC) inconveniently closed/firm at the end of my Downieville Classic Cross-Country race. Needless to say, the baby heads section was a doozy. I am working with Fox to diagnose the issue and will update this review accordingly.
Saddle: Saddle choice is purely preference and anatomy. My rear end enjoys sitting in the Specialized Mimic saddle. That’s not to say that the female-specific Fi’zi:k Vento Argo R5 that comes on all Pique models won’t suit you.
Once these changes were made, the Pique was race-ready for the Downieville Classic. It weighed in at 24.4 pounds, making it the lightest bike I have ever raced in my six starts at this event. I have the Pique and its Quarq power meter to thank for my race preparedness. Fitness data and an efficient bike do wonders for training. Despite the minor challenge I encountered with the fork as mentioned above, my race went very well. I PR’d both the cross-country and downhill races to win the All-Mountain Championship in my category. Was the Pique the perfect Downieville Classic bike? I’m not sure there is a perfect bike for this race, but it certainly carried me to one of my biggest bike goals of the past decade.
Who’s This Bike For
I’d hate to say that this bike is just for women because I honestly believe the geometry, suspension characteristics, and build are intended for any rider looking for a short-travel speed demon. But this is what Liv does: design bikes from the ground up specifically for women. That said, the all-new 2024 Liv Pique is for the female rider seeking a cross-country race machine, an efficient and lively companion for light-duty epics, or a daily driver to chase QOMs on green, blue, and tame black trails. If the terrain around your door is rolling, mostly smooth, and you like to go fast as hell, then this bike will make daily rides a blast. Much like a sports car, the Pique performs best with an aggressive ride. So get low, pedal hard, and enjoy the new Pique.