Giant has unveiled a new range of youth road bikes under both the Giant and Liv banners, underlining its commitment to youth cycling.
The Giant/Liv Seek is a new platform built around its AluXX alloy frame and 650b wheels, designed from the ground up for youth riding and racing.
Giant’s Marcel Yang told us about the new range on Wednesday at the show. “It’s not as simple as just taking our TCR geometry and scaling it down,” he said. The new geometry for the single-size frame has been derived from a huge number of bike fit sessions, measuring young riders and how they develop over time. The seatpost has a standard scale but also markers for height, and the spacing isn’t equal: “When young riders have growth spurts, it’s their legs that grow first,” said Yang.
The bikes come standard with a 60mm stem, which can be swapped out over time as the rider grows. The Seek is available in two builds, both with electronic groupsets, from TRP and Microshift. Giant has paid special attention to the shift levers. “Everything—the diameter, the shaping, the reach, even the button placement—has been designed to suit smaller riders,” Yang told us. Both builds of the bike have hydraulic brakes, with the Microshift-geared bike using a Giant-patented cable-to-hydraulic converter mounted in the stem. The bikes are in stock and available now.