I recently bought a Giant Lust Advanced 2 – my first women’s specific bike and my first dually. I previously rode a 26inch small men’s hardtail. I am returning to mountain biking after a knee injury from riding too fast (for me) up hills. I was looking for a fun and forgiving bike I could take out a few times a week. I think I made a good choice.
I am 170cm tall and weigh 55kg. I live in Darwin – the trails here tend to be either really rocky and technical or more flowing hardpack with loose gravel over the top. I’m not a mountain biking expert and I certainly don’t know all the lingo but when I was looking I didn’t find a lot of info/reviews/reviews by women out there so I thought I’d have a go at writing my own.
Good things:
- It has a comfy women’s seat
-The geometry is comfy - the reach is shorter and the cockpit feels spacious. I’d say it’s a little heavier than my previous bike, but it doesn’t feel cumbersome when riding.
-It has three levels of suspension - locked (climb) for riding on road, mid (trail) which I actually don’t use, and full (descend) for mountain biking. I guess if you were riding longer distances the mid setting would be good for easy trails/ going up-hill
-It seems to skid/drift around corners in a way that my previous twitchy 26” bike didn’t. When you think you’re going to fall off, it corrects and you ride off happily. This is a super fun feature!
-It is generally more fun going over (small) jumps, around berms etc. and feels more stable at speed.
-Has trusty tubeless tyres and I have no complaints about the 27.5 wheel size. I run around 21psi which gives me loads of grip.
-The rear suspension works well at keeping the rear tyre on the ground when climbing.
-Whilst the components are middle range (SLX etc.), they generally work really well and the carbon frame is a good platform for upgrading if I feel like it.
Not so good things:
-The bars are pretty wide. Apparently that is all the rage at the moment but I've put slightly narrower ones on (I think the stock bars are the same width as the anthem). The 685mm ones I put on are still (significantly – maybe 100mm) wider than my previous handlebars. My most common reason for falling off is catching them.
-Can’t ride to the supermarket and leave it unlocked.
-The 2014 SLX shifters don’t have the option of swapping the indicator window for a blank. What this means practically is that I can’t quite move the brake levers out as far as I’d like.
Overall, I would recommend it as a fun and friendly yet still fast bike. Hope this helps if you’re in the market
Alice
I am 170cm tall and weigh 55kg. I live in Darwin – the trails here tend to be either really rocky and technical or more flowing hardpack with loose gravel over the top. I’m not a mountain biking expert and I certainly don’t know all the lingo but when I was looking I didn’t find a lot of info/reviews/reviews by women out there so I thought I’d have a go at writing my own.
Good things:
- It has a comfy women’s seat
-The geometry is comfy - the reach is shorter and the cockpit feels spacious. I’d say it’s a little heavier than my previous bike, but it doesn’t feel cumbersome when riding.
-It has three levels of suspension - locked (climb) for riding on road, mid (trail) which I actually don’t use, and full (descend) for mountain biking. I guess if you were riding longer distances the mid setting would be good for easy trails/ going up-hill
-It seems to skid/drift around corners in a way that my previous twitchy 26” bike didn’t. When you think you’re going to fall off, it corrects and you ride off happily. This is a super fun feature!
-It is generally more fun going over (small) jumps, around berms etc. and feels more stable at speed.
-Has trusty tubeless tyres and I have no complaints about the 27.5 wheel size. I run around 21psi which gives me loads of grip.
-The rear suspension works well at keeping the rear tyre on the ground when climbing.
-Whilst the components are middle range (SLX etc.), they generally work really well and the carbon frame is a good platform for upgrading if I feel like it.
Not so good things:
-The bars are pretty wide. Apparently that is all the rage at the moment but I've put slightly narrower ones on (I think the stock bars are the same width as the anthem). The 685mm ones I put on are still (significantly – maybe 100mm) wider than my previous handlebars. My most common reason for falling off is catching them.
-Can’t ride to the supermarket and leave it unlocked.
-The 2014 SLX shifters don’t have the option of swapping the indicator window for a blank. What this means practically is that I can’t quite move the brake levers out as far as I’d like.
Overall, I would recommend it as a fun and friendly yet still fast bike. Hope this helps if you’re in the market
Alice
