Giant & Liv launch their most powerful e-MTBs to date!

Just when you thought the e-MTB power wars might be starting to settle down, Giant and Liv have turned up with a whopping 120Nm of torque and 850W of peak power. Giant Bicycles and Liv Cycling have just unveiled the latest-generation Trance Advanced E+ and Intrigue Advanced E+, and both are built around the new SyncDrive Pro 4 motor. With 120Nm of torque and 850W of peak power on tap, it makes these the most powerful e-MTBs either brand has produced.

To put those numbers into perspective, that’s an extra 35Nm of torque and 200W of power compared with the previous motor. Better still, Giant has managed to make the new unit around 200 grams lighter at the same time.

But simply bolting a monster motor into a carbon frame isn’t the whole story here. Both bikes receive updated suspension, mixed wheel sizes and some seriously clever electronics, including a new traction control system designed to stop all that torque from simply turning your rear tyre into a dirt excavator. So, let’s take a closer look.

The latest ‘gen Trance Advanced E+

Big motor, meet big battery. The new Trance Advanced E+ runs an enormous 840Wh EnergyPak Smart battery integrated into the downtube. And if 840Wh somehow isn’t enough to satisfy your appetite for monster rides, Giant’s optional 280Wh EnergyPak Plus range extender takes total capacity all the way to 1,120Wh. That’s a serious amount of juice!

Despite the huge battery and powerful motor, Giant claims the new Trance Advanced E+ can weigh as little as 21.9kg, although naturally that figure will vary depending on model and frame size.

At the rear you’ll find Giant’s familiar Maestro suspension platform, which has been specifically tuned to cope with the additional loads generated by that 120Nm motor. There’s 150mm of rear-wheel travel, paired with a 160mm fork up front. Giant has also gone down the mullet route, with a 29-inch front wheel paired with a smaller and more playful 27.5-inch rear.

Geometry isn’t completely set in stone either. Flip chips allow riders to alter the head and seat tube angles as well as bottom bracket height, giving you some scope to tailor the bike’s handling to your trails and riding style.

Liv Intrigue Advanced E+: Same muscle, different approach

Liv’s new Intrigue Advanced E+ shares the same 120Nm SyncDrive Pro 4 motor, but takes a slightly different approach when it comes to battery capacity.

Rather than squeezing the largest battery possible into the frame, Liv has opted for a removable 560Wh EnergyPak, which weighs 2.6kg. The idea is to prioritise handling, fit and battery flexibility, while riders wanting more range can still bolt on the same 280Wh EnergyPak Plus range extender. The result, according to Liv, is a complete bike weighing around 20kg. Compared with the outgoing Intrigue Advanced E+ Elite, Liv says the new bike offers 41 per cent more torque, 40 per cent more battery capacity and an additional 10mm of suspension travel at both ends, while complete bike weight has increased by just one per cent. That’s a pretty impressive trade-off!

Travel now sits at 150mm out back and 160mm up front, while the Intrigue also gets the same mixed-wheel arrangement as the Trance, with a 29-inch front and 27.5-inch rear wheel.

Traction control – you better believe it!

Here’s where things get particularly interesting; much like some of the latest e-MTBs we’ve seen appearing over recent months, the new Trance and Intrigue Advanced E+ feature their own Traction Control System – or TCS. And yes, we’re now talking about traction control on mountain bikes!

The system monitors cadence and torque while you’re pedalling and uses multiple parameters to determine when the rear wheel has broken traction. When wheelspin is detected, assistance is temporarily reduced before automatically returning to your chosen support level once traction is restored. With 120Nm being fed through the rear tyre, you can probably understand why that might come in handy.

Loose, steep and technical climbs are where TCS should really earn its keep, particularly when you’re in a low gear and asking the motor to dump a huge amount of torque through a relatively small contact patch. It’ll be fascinating to see just how natural the system feels on the trail.

Smart Gateway 2.0 – the brains behind the brawn

There’s also plenty happening electronically behind the scenes. Giant calls Smart Gateway 2.0 the digital brain of the bike, connecting the SyncDrive motor, EnergyPak battery, RideControl system, Go Lux display and Aegis safety features. It controls everything from the electronic dropper and integrated e-shifting through to the E-Lock, Aegis Radar and Aegis Tyre Checker.

That last feature is particularly interesting. The Aegis Tyre Checker monitors front and rear tyre pressures in real time and can alert you when pressure reaches your chosen limits or suddenly begins dropping. Giant claims up to 600 hours of battery life from the system, and it’ll work with both tubed and tubeless setups.

Six sensors feed information into the system, while riders can choose between Eco, Tour, Active, Sport, Power and Boost assistance modes. Each mode can also be customised to suit your preferences.

RideControl Ergo 5

Controlling all that technology is Giant’s wireless RideControl Ergo 5 interface. On the new Trance and Intrigue models, the controller lets you flick between assistance modes, activate Boost and Walk Assist, operate the electronic dropper post and even control certain electronic derailleurs. It’s a neat way of keeping all the bike’s electronic functions close at hand without turning the handlebar into something resembling the cockpit of a 747.

Need even more range?

For those riders whose idea of a “quick Sunday ride” somehow turns into an all-day epic, Giant will once again offer its EnergyPak Plus 280 range extender. The 280Wh unit mounts to the bottle cage bosses and has a claimed weight of 1.5kg. Add it to the Trance Advanced E+’s standard 840Wh battery and you’re looking at a colossal 1,120Wh of total capacity. Giant also says the EnergyPak Plus 280 will retain 80 per cent of its peak performance for more than 800 charge cycles, with a claimed total battery life of 2,300 cycles. That’s a lot of trail laps per charge!

Aussie models and pricing

All photos shot by the legendary Sterling Lorence.