Roz reviews the 2023 Liv Embolden E+ 2
With the fast-paced development of electric mountain bikes, there’s been a strong focus on the premium end of the market over the last couple of years. Progress is no doubt a good thing, but with an alarming number of e-MTBs approaching, and indeed even exceeding the $20K barrier, the prospect of getting a new bike can feel like a dauntingly expensive prospect for beginner riders.
Thankfully we’re seeing new technology trickling down to lower price points, with brands like Giant and Liv Cycling having placed a renewed focus on the entry-level end of the market. We recently reviewed the Giant Stance E+, and here we’ll be checking out its female-specific offshoot; the Liv Embolden E+.
An overview of the Liv Embolden E+ 2
The Liv Embolden E+ is the cheapest full suspension e-MTB from Liv Cycling. Even still it’s designed to be capable of proper off-road riding, while being comfortable and practical enough for daily commuting and rail trail cruising.
Based on the more expensive Intrigue E+, the Embolden E+ features a simpler suspension design and more budget-friendly components that help to bring the price down by $2,500 AUD. That makes it well suited to those who are looking to get into mountain biking, but don’t necessarily want to shell out five figures for a new bike.
What’s new?
For 2023 the Liv Embolden E+ has received an all-new alloy frame that is considerably sleeker than the old bike. To provide more grip and comfort, suspension travel has increased to 140mm up front and 125mm out back.
Most sizes are built around 29in wheels, though the Extra Small is equipped with 27.5in wheels to better suit shorter riders.
Powering the Embolden E+ is the latest SyncDrive Sport 2 motor. Manufactured by Yamaha, this drive unit is quieter, smoother and more powerful than the previous version. It’s fuelled by a 625Wh battery, which offers a 25% increase in capacity. The battery can be easily removed from the frame if you need to charge it separately, or it can be charged in situ via a neat port just below the shock.
If you’re keen to ride all-day long and off into the sunset, the Embolden E+ is compatible with a range extender battery. These can be purchased separately and will take the position of the water bottle to increase total capacity up to a whopping 865Wh. Wowsers!
There’s also a new RideControl Dash display up at the cockpit that allows you to cycle through the motor’s different assist settings. You can also view your riding speed, trip distance and battery status via a crisp colour screen.
Geometry & sizing
Compared to the old bike, there have been some big improvements to the geometry on the Liv Embolden E+.
The head angle is slacker, the reach is longer and the bottom bracket sits lower to the ground, all of which should help to improve overall stability. The seat angle has steepened by quite a bit, and that places you in a more central riding position. This means you won’t need to lean over as much when pedalling up a steep hill.
As you’ll see in the geometry chart below, there are four sizes available to suit riders from 150cm to 181cm tall. However, ladies who have a longer torso and arms may want to consider the unisex Giant Stance E+, which has different geometry with a slightly longer reach compared to the female-specific Embolden E+ frame.
Liv Embolden E+ 2 price & specs
There is just the single Liv Embolden E+ available in Australia, and that model is the ‘2’ that we have here. It features air-adjustable suspension that allows you to adjust the pressures to suit your weight, and it gets the latest Shimano LinkGlide drivetrain. Other highlights include Tektro 4-piston brakes and an excellent Maxxis Minion/Dissector tyre combo.
2023 Liv Embolden E+ 2
- Frame | ALLUX SL Alloy, FlexPoint Suspension Design, 125mm Travel
- Fork | SR Suntour XCR 34 LO-R, 140mm Travel
- Shock | SR Suntour Raidon R, 190x45mm
- Motor | SyncDrive Sport 2, 75Nm
- Battery | EnergyPak Smart 625Wh
- Wheels | Giant eTracker Hubs & AM Alloy Rims, 30mm Inner Rim Width
- Tyres | Maxxis Minion DHF EXO 2.5in Front & Dissector EXO 2.4in Rear
- Drivetrain | Shimano LinkGlide 1×10 w/FSA Comet 36T Crankset & 11-43T Cassette
- Brakes | Tektro HD-M745 4-Piston w/203mm Rotors
- Handlebar | Giant Connect TR Riser
- Stem | Giant Contact, Length: 40mm (S-M), 50mm (L-XL)
- Seatpost | Giant Alloy, 30.9mm Diameter
- Saddle | Liv Sylvia E
- Weight | 25.78kg
- RRP | $6,299 AUD
Testing the Liv Embolden E+ 2
Over the past few weeks, Roz has been putting the Liv Embolden E+ 2 through its paces on her home trails to see exactly what it’s capable of.
Not only has Roz spent a load of time on the more expensive Liv Intrigue X E+ Elite and the unisex version, the Giant Trance X E+ Elite, she’s also reviewed the non-motorised Embolden too. With those experiences in tow, she was curious to see how the Embolden E+ would stack up.
How have you found the fit of the bike?
I’m 165cm tall and according to Liv’s size guide, someone my height could ride either the Small or Medium. Given my long limbs and decent flexibility, I went for the Medium size and have found the fit to be very comfortable. The reach feels good and it’s quite an upright position straight out of the box. For someone who wants this bike more for commuting and rail trail riding, or someone who has back problems, this setup is ideal.
A few rides in and I removed the spacers from under the stem and slammed it to give me more of a lower, racier feel. I preferred this set up.
Talk us through the performance of the SyncDrive Sport 2 motor relative to other e-MTB motors you’ve tested.
It has taken me a little bit to adjust to the SyncDrive Sport 2 motor. For the first few rides I found when I came into a tight corner or a pinchy climb, I’d go to put the power down to use the motor to get through these technical features but there’d be no oomph to power me through. I’d be left feeling like I was riding a heavy analogue bike.
After doing this a few times and thinking unpleasant thoughts about the motor, I realised I needed to do two things; speed up my cadence and use an easier gear. At that point the motor would ‘sync’ together with my pedalling and then it was a pleasure to use. OMG lightbulb moment!
I would say in this respect it’s quite different to a Bosch motor, which offers more power across a wider cadence range. But learn to use the gears and there’s excellent pep from the SyncDrive Sport 2 motor. It’s responsive, fairly quiet, and it has loads of grunt to help pull you up some pretty damn steep gradients.
Overall I found it to be closer in performance to the Shimano EP8 motor. The sound is similar between the two, with a bit of a clacking noise on rough descents, and they definitely prefer you to be spinning in a slightly lower gear to get the best response and power out of them.
Which assist modes did you use?
There are five assist settings on the Embolden E+, with each offering an increase in support and peak power as you click up the range. I mostly used the middle Active mode, as I found this gave me enough power for the majority of my rides. Harking back to the weight of the bike – I felt the lower modes just didn’t give me enough power to be effective, and I do like the feeling of going fast! On the odd occasion, especially when climbing steep, technical single track, I would use the Sport mode just for that extra boost to get up and over rocky ledges.
Any downsides you’ve noticed?
As Mick and Wil have discovered with other Giant e-MTBs, the motor can be a little hypersensitive. When standing at the traffic lights with your foot on the pedal ready to take off, the motor has these little surging sensations that almost feel like the bike will take off without you. This can feel a bit disconcerting, though you do eventually get used to it.
How much range have you been able to get?
I haven’t run the battery out as yet! Most of my rides have been around 2-3 hours long and I’ve never used more than 50% of the battery.
As a lighter rider, based on the rides I’ve done I’d estimate I could get up to 90km of riding in with over 1,000m of climbing. Of course the heavier you are and the more climbing you do, the less range you’ll be able to get, especially if you’re using the higher assist modes more of the time.
What do you think of the new RideControl Dash display?
The buttons on the unit are certainly easy to toggle through whilst riding. This is good especially as the screen only shows one function at a time. I’d prefer to have more information on each screen, like I have with my Wahoo GPS. And as a Mum, I would really love to see the time displayed at all times – rides are always time-restricted when you have kids!
The unit itself sits up and over the brake mount, and the power cable is neatly bundled up along with the brake cable. My worry, however, would be the potential for the unit to snap off if I were to crash due to it sitting quite proud and close to the outer edge of the bars. You also wouldn’t want to flip the bike upside down to repair a puncture on the side of the trail, as you’ll likely damage the screen while doing so.
We’ve not had the greatest experience with cheaper SR Suntour forks and shocks in the past. What’s the suspension performance been like?
Surprisingly, the SR Suntour suspension has been quite good! It’s nice and smooth, which I think is helped by the weight of the bike. The air sprung fork and shock means it’s easy to make small adjustments in pressure that can have a big effect on the overall ride quality.
I initially set up the fork with 65psi as per the recommendations in the online manual, but it was feeling a bit too firm. I ended up dropping the air pressure to 55psi, which was a lot better. That made it feel plush and allowed me to get maximum use of the 140mm of travel.
The shock took a bit longer to sort out. First up I put 112psi with 15mm of sag. But what I didn’t notice was the rebound dial, which was set to the slowest mode. That left me feeling like the bike was riding through heavy, soggy mud all the time! What a revelation once I sussed this out (face in palm haha!). I’ve now found my sweet spot, with 98psi in the shock and three clicks in from the fastest rebound setting, and I now have some pop and bounce in my rides!
The overall set up would be made easier if the fork and shock had rubber o-rings to measure sag, like you have with RockShox or Fox. I tied a fine rubberband to the stanchion to do this but really, that’s a bit agricultural for a bike that sells for over $6K.
The Embolden E+ uses dual 29in wheels with some rather long chainstays. How does that play out on the trail?
Being a full 29er the stability factor is definitely noticeable. ‘Stable’, ‘grounded’, ‘confidence-building’ – these are all good descriptors for this bike. My analogy would be that riding this bike is far more like driving a truck than driving a race car!
On tighter corners, the long chainstays can make the bike feel a bit ungainly. The tradeoff is that the Embolden E+ is very calm at speed, and it’s also incredibly planted up steep climbs thanks to the long rear end, grippy tyres and powerful motor.
How does the handling compare between the Embolden E+ and the Intrigue X E+ Elite you’ve ridden previously?
The Embolden E+ geometry is suited to its name definition, that being ‘to give someone the courage or confidence to do something’. The dual 29in wheels and long wheelbase give you a real sense of stability.
In comparison, the Intrigue X E+ Elite uses a mullet wheel setup with a 29in front wheel and 27.5in rear wheel. The smaller rear wheel allows the chainstays to be a lot shorter (21mm shorter!), and that helps to speed up the handling on twistier trails. The Intrigue X E+ Elite feels sportier and racier, and along with the dropper post and 27.5in rear wheel, you get much more bum clearance on the descents.
How did you go riding an e-MTB without a dropper post?!
I was sad most of the time, and my left thumb was very twitchy where my dropper lever normally is!
In my opinion, the lack of a dropper post is a real let down (pun intended haha!) to the overall bike.
That being said, if someone who is moving from a hardtail and has never had a dropper, they will not be upset due to how well the bike rides. It’s just that the experience will be so much better with a dropper post, to the point where I’d recommend any prospective Embolden E+ rider get one fitted before leaving the shop.
A dropper post seems like an obvious upgrade for this bike. Is there anything else you would change or upgrade if it were yours?
I would definitely upgrade to tubeless. Both the tyres and rims are tubeless compatible, so I would get my bike shop to fit the necessary tubeless valves and liquid sealant before I took it for its first ride. The bike is so heavy that reducing the likelihood of having to do any on-trail mechanics (like fixing a flat tyre) can only be a good thing. This is especially the case since the SR Suntour’s thru-axle is a bit fiddly to work out.
Much as I liked the ergonomic grips for cruisey riding around town, I think I would change them to a more standard grip to give me more confidence on technical singletrack.
Who do you think this bike would suit?
I reckon the Embolden E+ is a great do-it-all bike that will suit the beginner rider who’s looking to try out mountain biking. It is super solid and comfortable for casual riding, but it has the suspension and capacity to be ridden as a serious mountain bike on proper singletrack.
Who it’s NOT for may be easier to answer. I think if you’re a smaller or less-strong rider that wants a lighter and more fun bike to throw around, you’ll likely find it too heavy and cumbersome. And if you feel like mountain biking is likely to become ‘a thing’ for you, and you’re keen to grow your skills and explore more technical trails, you may need to reevaluate the budget and look up the range.
At what point do you think it would be worth spending the extra $2.5K to get the Intrigue X E+ Elite 3?
I think the next level up will be for someone who’s ready to commit to the world of mountain biking and wants to extend their riding capabilities.
As mentioned earlier, the Intrigue X E+ Elite gets a mullet setup with shorter chainstays, and that makes it a more nimble and sporty bike to ride. It also comes with a bit more suspension travel, 150mm front and 140mm rear, which means it’s smoother and more controlled on rougher terrain. It gives you a bit more margin for error when riding enduro-style trails.
One thing to note however, is that the Intrigue X E+ Elite does come with a smaller 400Wh battery. That means you won’t get as much range compared to the Embolden E+ with its 625Wh battery. That is unless you buy a separate range extender. If you’re curious about what that means for the riding experience, see our review of the unisex version; the Giant Trance X E+ Elite.
What do you think of the overall component package for the money?
The Liv Embolden E+ 2 is a well-spec’ed bike that I believe is very good value for money, providing a great entry point into the world of e-Biking.
The Shimano LinkGlide drivetrain is excellent. I never had to think about any of the drivetrain, there was no clunking or any fear that the chain would slip. In the long run, the thicker sprockets and teeth on the cassette will be cheaper on the pocket in terms of not needing as much in the way of servicing or replacing. Having a 1×10 drivetrain instead of 1×12 was never a concern either. The gear range is totally sufficient and you don’t need as big of a cassette given you have a motor helping you up the climbs.
Like the suspension, the brakes were surprisingly good. I’ve never been a fan of Tektro but I was really happy with the bite point and I didn’t notice the need to bed them in. They just felt great straight away and I didn’t have any moments where I was lacking control or power. The big 203mm rotors certainly help here.
It also has to be said that the Maxxis tyres are a quality addition to this bike. Traction is excellent both up and downhill, and I found them to be tough and reliable on my rocky home trails. Liv could have saved weight here, but I’m glad it didn’t. This is quite a capable bike that really benefits from decent rubber.
Any other general comments about the frame and finishing details?
The touch points have been noteworthy. The Liv grips have an ergonomic shape and are a really comfortable element for commuting and rail trail riding. However, I did find on longer singletrack rides I didn’t enjoy the ergo feel as much. I didn’t feel as in control, so I’d be swapping these out for some more conventional grips.
The saddle has been a non-issue, which in this use of words, is perfect! By not noticing it, it has served its purpose perfectly. Comfortable, and no sore bum!
Overall it is a lovely looking bike. The glitter in the paintwork is so shimmery when the sun glints on it. For a lot of people the subtle colourway will delight their senses. Sadly, if you like brighter colours, this will be a bummer as this is the only option that’s available in Australia.
Flow’s Verdict
Thanks to its ground-up redesign, the new Liv Embolden E+ 2 is a fantastically capable e-MTB that is well suited to newer riders. It delivers great comfort and stability, and the powerful motor and big battery offers loads of support for tackling properly long adventures.
That being said, there is room for improvement. We’d love to see it come with a dropper post, and owners will benefit from upgrading the tyres to tubeless. And while it is very stable, the long chainstays and dual 29in setup can make it feel a bit sluggish on tighter singletrack. As such, more experienced riders and those who are aiming to progress their skills while tackling more technical terrain may want to consider the more expensive Intrigue X E+ Elite range.
But for beginner riders and those who are looking for a capable all-rounder that can dabble in a bit of everything, the Liv Embolden E+ 2 is an excellent option.
