New bike for mum £2k - Giant Liv Obsess Advanced 2016 - good value for money?

[Lycosa]

I'm trying to find a new bike for my mother who has become a very keen cyclist. After a bit of research, the bike we're most interested in is the Liv Obsess Advanced http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/obsess.advanced/25022/90618/.
She does mostly cross country and needs a bike that's as light as possible so she can keep up with her group when climbing steep hills off road. There also tends to be the odd bit of technical single track on her rides.

The Obsess Advanced seems to fit the bill at the £2k price point, but before we pull the trigger on this, my only question is this: Do you think this bike is good value for money or can one that is as light/high spec be easily acquired for significantly less?

It's worth mentioning that there is a Giant store in town which may be convenient if anything goes wrong with the bike.
ps She's a little worried she will knock her knees on the wide top tube that many carbon frames seem to have, I wonder if that has ever been a problem for anyone?

Thanks

 

[OskarTennisChampion]

Honestly ?
No.
It seems you are paying for the carbon frame only,as they seem to have scrimped on the components.
I personally would not expect to find SLX on a £2K HT,carbon or no carbon.Nothing wrong with SLX btw,just not on an expensive HT.
You also have a hodge podge of Giant branded stuff on it as well.
This is only my opinion of course,and I think I am comparing it to my own which I built from scratch with better components for a lot lot
less

 

[Pale Rider]

I doubt there are many women specific geometry carbon MTBs, so it may be you haven't much choice.

The only one I can immediately think of is this Canyon, which is more money and the company has had serious supply problems of late.

I agree with what @OskarTennisChampion has just posted.

At this level, a lot of (mostly male) mountain bikers would be going for a frame and self-build.

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mtb/exceed/exceed-cf-slx-9-9-wmn.html

 

[OskarTennisChampion]

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mtb/exceed/exceed-cf-slx-9-9-wmn.html

Yip,That Canyon is a thing of beauty,and XT is what I would expect to see on the Obsess.
Add to that Raceface cranks,Rockshox SID and DT Swiss wheelset,and you have a race ready machine.
Your mum would have no worries on the hills with that
But true enough,Canyon do have shipping problems(I imagine it's down to the sheer volume).
But IMO,worth the wait.
If she can

 

[HarryTheDog]

@Lycosa If your mum is very small then the xs size Liv is one of the only 10kg ish MTB bikes around for a small woman. However they seem to be like hens teeth. when I was looking for a MTB for my wife ( 5ft 0 in) I loooked at this, went to order one and was told a 6 month wait. Ended up with a Felt weighing at 13Kg as it was the only one with a 55cm effective top tube available. If your mum is around 5ft 6 or above there is lots of choice in lightwieght bikes.
NB my missus whinges like a drain about the wieght of it when having to lift it into the back of her car, riding it she barely notices it. Also the other very small bike I found ( 55.7cm eff TT) was a KTM Myroon 27.5 , again went to order a xs , none available .

 

[Lycosa]

Thank you all for your advice.

So for £2k I could build her a bike myself (if I learn how) that is as light as the Obsess Advanced but with better components? I've built a few high-end desktop PCs so I understand how things can be much better value for money if you put it together yourself. Unfortunately I don't know anything about the individual brands of bikes/components so it would take a while to learn what I need to know to build a good bike.
I should stress that she is primarily after a light bike, even if that means having less than brilliant components on a light frame, especially since components seem to be cheaper to replace than frames (I think :/ )

She desperately needs to replace her old bike that is falling apart, so she's in real danger of an impulse buy. She could go for a lower budget bike until she has the experience to properly choose a high spec bike. What's the best bike she could get for £800ish? We were considering the Tempt 1 in this case.

That Canyon looks fantastic but I don't think my mum is ready to stretch the budget that far.

Also she's 5'3"

 

[alicat]

Don't go down the self-build route this time. It's rarely cheaper even if you already have all the semi-specialist tools you need. Also the time you will take sourcing the parts, learning how to fit them, returning the parts that weren't quite right, sourcing the ancillary parts you didn't realise you needed the first time, cursing over the tools you will need to buy for a one-off job will be time your mum could be out cycling instead. Oh and did I mention the cost of the postage of all those internet orders?

 

[HarryTheDog]

I would be tempted to go for the Obsess, Its hard to find accurate weights for Giants but the Tempt 2 weighs in at just over 28lbs ie 13kg so the tempt 1 may be 12kg. I found a article on a pro's Obsess with better wheels and xtr kit was 8.82 Kg. I reckon the bog standard is likely to be 10kg but you could slowly upgrade it if you want. Shame its 2x10 gearing instead of 2 x 11 but that costs. The fox float forks are ok though. I think for small women weight is far more important than for a man. Marriane Vos has one so cant be bad( ok she's paid to ride it and its got xtr on it)
Depends how much use it will get and how keen you mother is as to whether people want to fork out 2,000 quid.( isn't clear who is paying for it, if its her than its her decision) My missus now complains that we did not wait for the Obsess as she has tried my Scott Scale which is a 10.2Kg bike, but she hardly rides her bike, so until she makes MTB riding her prime hobby she can put up with what she's got.

 

[Lycosa]

hmm since weight is the main factor the Obsess still seems to be the best thing so far. But now I'm worried we could instead find an aluminium bike nearly as light but with much better components. She could go for the Obsess and upgrade components later, but it's hard to tell how much of the £2k is the frame and fork. I quick google revealed carbon frames for only about £500ish :/
What is the price markup in Giant bikes like compared to brands that bike newbies don't know about?

Again there's perhaps the more sensible option of getting a lower spec bike now and a buy/build a higher spec one in a couple of years time. She's in a cycling club and she knows people who build their own bike so I might be able to borrow tools.

 

[HarryTheDog]

The mark up for a shop can be 100% on bike and components, the strange thing is quite often the more expensive the bike/part the less the % of mark up. My son worked for Evans for 2 years, I have had my fair share of cost price gear. for example a 1000 quid cannondale trail SL1 for 500 quid, however a 5,500 bike was 3,500 cost to the shop. Similar story on wheels, the mark up on zipp wheels was not a lot however( 1800 for a 2200 wheel) Coles was nearly half price.
If you look around yes you can get a cheap frame for 500 quid, also you can pay 2,100 euros ( rocky mountain vertex) . Some people have done very decent jobs on cheap Chineese frames.
I looked at planet x cheap carbon on one 456 frames 399 quid but they were too large, even the small was for a 5ft 6 min person.
Secondhand is another option, your mum is going to knock it about anyway, camp out on ebay with a followed search, thats how I got my Scott scale a 1 yr old shop demo bike with scratches 800 quid, a 1800 quid bike in those days.
Also have you looked at, If your mum is in a club maybe they have a bike shop associated with them offering discount, I am in a MTB club that get a minimum 10% off at a certain shop, so does my road club. Have a word with the shop, if they are enthusiasts they may source and build you something, quite often the spanner work may be a lot less than you expect. ( local lbs put a bike together for me from parts mostly supplied by me for around 100 quid labour)

 

[bonsaibilly]

I'm trying to find a new bike for my mother who has become a very keen cyclist. After a bit of research, the bike we're most interested in is the Liv Obsess Advanced http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/obsess.advanced/25022/90618/.
She does mostly cross country and needs a bike that's as light as possible so she can keep up with her group when climbing steep hills off road. There also tends to be the odd bit of technical single track on her rides.

The Obsess Advanced seems to fit the bill at the £2k price point, but before we pull the trigger on this, my only question is this: Do you think this bike is good value for money or can one that is as light/high spec be easily acquired for significantly less?

It's worth mentioning that there is a Giant store in town which may be convenient if anything goes wrong with the bike.
ps She's a little worried she will knock her knees on the wide top tube that many carbon frames seem to have, I wonder if that has ever been a problem for anyone?

Thanks

Maybe if she's that keen she could train harder and then you could spend half that. BB

 

[OskarTennisChampion]

Maybe if she's that keen she could train harder and then you could spend half that. BB

Don't be a slave driver @bonsaibilly

 

[Drago]

Can riders race bikes that don't have XT gears or DT Swiss wheels? A lot of people with trophies on their mantels would suggest that you can. No rider ever lost a race because it gears had SLX logos - they lost because they aren't good enough riders.

 

[OskarTennisChampion]

Can riders race bikes that don't have XT gears or DT Swiss wheels? A lot of people with trophies on their mantels would suggest that you can. No rider ever lost a race because it gears had SLX logos - they lost because they aren't good enough riders.

I agree totally @Drago ,I just felt for that price,you could get a better spec on the bike.
I just feel they cut back on the parts a bit.
As I said,nothing wrong with SLX,it's a durable capable groupset.
But I would normally see it on a bike about £500 less.And a good one at that

 

[bonsaibilly]

Don't be a slave driver @bonsaibilly

Hup hup!!