Liv Langma Review
Liv bikes are built for women, by women. Their bikes are designed specifically with the women's geometry in mind, and the Langma feels like it's been designed just for me.
The Langma Advanced 1 was my choice of bike this year, described by Liv as a racing and climbing bike, I knew this was going to serve me well. My aim for the year was to go on lots of mountainous climbing adventures. Call me crazy but I love riding in the mountains and up hills. I'm a Kent girl, growing up on top of the North Downs surrounded by hills like Star Hill, Toys Hill, Sundridge Hill, the infamous Yorks Hill.
So the Langma is described as the following, just reading this made me super excited about their Langma range:
"In Tibet, the locals refer to Mount Everest as Langma. Its summit is elusive and represents the pinnacle achievement in mountaineering, a conquest that only the bravest and strongest explorers have achieved.
When Liv set out to offer a complete women’s-specific on-road collection, the goal was clear: design a bike for aggressive riders that shines in mountain stages and dominates as an all-around performance race bike. The bike would be designed without any sacrifices in aerodynamics, stiffness, and certainly no sacrifices in weight. Her name is Langma and she is ready to help you take flight."
Overview of the bike
With a carbon frame, the Langma is a very lightweight, with a slightly more aggressive position than the Envie. However comfort is not compromised. The Shimano Ultegra Di2 shifters make a changing gear on hills seamless, the sound of the electronic shifters is somewhat satisfying. The saddle is the Liv Contact SL, super comfy for hours out on the bike.
So what's it like to ride?
The Langma is so light that it feels like an extension of my body, like it's been designed specifically for me. Chosing a bike is a completely personal choice, and everybody's physiology is completely different with longer/shorter arms, torso and legs. So maybe the Langma is just the bike for me.
As soon as I rode it home I was in awe of the lightness and responsiveness, I wanted to do bunny hops and tricks on it (although I'm totally not at that level of riding to do so!)
Up the hills it's super light and nimble. Earlier this year we rode part of Tour De France in the Pyrenees mountains. It felt fantastic and light to push out of the saddle. This is my go to bike on long rides out the country that includes all of the hills!
Incredibly easy to handle, it's super responsive when cornering, descending, super light weight. For me this bike ticks every box for my endurance riding and hill climbing.
The 2019 colour designs make me so excited, check them out!
Best way to describe the langma
- Lightweight
- Responsive & nimble
- Women specific geomtry
- Speedy
- Playful
- Adventure
the Techy bits
Includes OverDrive 2 which provides steering stiffness
Di1 Shifters
Always wanting to bring out my playful side on the Langma
summary
The Langma is my favourite bike to ride long distance, up mountains and go on adventures with. It's versatile, lightweight, responsive and just really fun and comfortable to ride. Keep an eye out for a new blog post coming on different types of bikes and why they are important for different cycle purposes.
