emolden-e anyone have one?

[Cavi]

We are looking for a bike for my wife, she loves my Specialized Levo, however she is only 5ft tall and the Emolden-e is 2 inches shorter in standover which for her is a big thing. How does the motor system work? Other than the not too great Suntour fork how does the bike do? She will ride only easy trails and it will probably never get jumped...

 

[Cavi]

We are looking for a bike for my wife, she loves my Specialized Levo, however she is only 5ft tall and the Emolden-e is 2 inches shorter in standover which for her is a big thing. How does the motor system work? Other than the not too great Suntour fork how does the bike do? She will ride only easy trails and it will probably never get jumped...

We are also considering the Intrigue E+ 2

 

[IanVersion2]

Not sure if you've realised but the Embolden-E is just a Stance-E in female form and the Intrigue-E is just a Trance-E. The frame dimensions are obviously altered for the women, but everything else corresponds, I believe.

 

[Careyj1]

My wife has one for the past 2 years. Rarely rides it. Bought due to standover height. It works well for someone that is just riding non tech stuff. I have ridden it a few times and the motor and brakes and shifting works well and I am 185, 6 1'. My wife is only 5 2'. For a lot of ladies it's more than enough bike.

 

[djb]

We just bought my wife a 2021 Embolden-E and she loves it. really nice bike for the $.

 

[Cavi]

what color is the 2021?

 

[djb]

what color is the 2021?

The frame is light gray in a matte finish. It looks nice.

 

[Cavi]

any chance you could post a picture.... And how did you find it, they seem to be impossible to find, expecially in a XS which is what my wife needs

 

[djb]

any chance you could post a picture.... And how did you find it, they seem to be impossible to find, expecially in a XS which is what my wife needs

Just saw this. I will try to get one for you tomorrow. We purchased it at Folsom Bike in Folsom CA. It was on display, but not listed on their website.

 

[Cavi]

we want a XS and apparently those are not yet out

 

[Cavi]

if anyone knows of a XS for sale, I want it....... I will gladly pay to box it and have it shipped.

 

[djb]

@Cavi

My wife is 5'6" and she fits perfect on a medium. For what its worth, from most of what I have learned speaking to bike shops etc, folks in the know recommend going a bit larger than smaller with ebikes as its more common to travel longer distances on them.

You probably already know this but if not... from the Giant/Liv website, you can go to the bike and click on "buy" and if there are any bikes anywhere near you(and possibly nationally) will show up there. Clearly that wont work until they get the 2021 Liv's live on the website, but its a good tool to find where the bikes are! That is how I found my 2020 Trance E 3... Drove about 4 hours round trip to grab it. I paid for it on the Giant website using that tool, and picked it up at the store to lock it in. The bike store said that if it is a bike in their stock, they still make the same on it compared it you just walking in, so we felt a bit better about the purchase.

None of the bike stores I checked showed the 2021 on their websites and only learned of my wifes bike when visiting the store. It was actually a display bike. Just lucked out I guess.

Here is my wife's bike.

 

[Cavi]

that is what we are getting. My wife is 5 foot nothing, so the XS is really what she needs, she really suffers on her current bike with a high stepover

 

[Cavi]

did they really go to 29er wheels?

 

[djb]

Awe, I see... Yes, her bike has 29s. I was surprised as well. She sure seems to like it though. We went out last weekend and we did about 8-10 miles on single track with some good hills in there and she did great. Bike has lots of power. Way more than enough, especially for her size.

 

[Cavi]

I hope the 29er wheels did not cost any standover height

 

[Cavi]

Well, I got my wife's preordered from the Folsom shop. End of November beginning of December. And they are going to find out if the intigues are going to happen so I might even be able to swap for one of them. Depending on color and delivery dates...

 

[djb]

Well, I got my wife's preordered from the Folsom shop. End of November beginning of December. And they are going to find out if the intigues are going to happen so I might even be able to swap for one of them. Depending on color and delivery dates...

Congrats ! Where are you located?

 

[urastus]

That bike frame can't go smaller with the stack height (22") because of the wheels (27.5); 29" would be worse. See that medium frame in the photos - that is for someone 5'6". Anyone smaller is going to have the handlebars higher than the seat - this is going to be more pronounced the shorter someone is, regardless of stated frame size. My partner is 4'11". I have found 24" full suspension for her and she is all over it. Other bikes, even 26", she couldn't work it (body dynamics) the way you're meant to. There isn't anything like that in emtb that I'm aware of - some hard tails, yes. The selection of 24" full sus acoustic bikes that are good quality have only started appearing in the last few years. I imagine emtb will have something like this sometime in the next 10 years?

 

[djb]

Here it is in the wild with a bit of dirt on it after about 10 miles of single track... sitting next to my 2020 Trance E+ 3.

 

[Cavi]

Congrats ! Where are you located?

We are in Red bluff, just south of Redding

 

[Cavi]

Sooooo apparently the Intrigue is still going to be made for 2021. now the questions and dilema. Embolden will arrive November, Intrigue only like in march. My wife is not the best rider, she does mostly flowy stuff, she is in her 50s as am I so no air for her and rarely for me. Is there any reason to think that we would really be better off with the intrigue? I am willing to add a seat post dropper and maybe even swap the fork if needed. What is the difference in the motor system? Liv states the one on the intrigue is the "pro"while the embolden looses 10nm and is not the "pro" . For my wife I do not think she would notice 10nm as most of the time she rides with very little power assist on her current bike. Does the Embolden let you tune power levels on the app? I actually have a brand new Rockshock Skeletor 29er 150mm travel that came off my Levo......., but that might be too long..
I wish the color was nicer as that might be my wife's biggest hangup....

 

[djb]

My wife is also in her 50's but she enjoys riding single track with me and has been doing great on her embolden. I was struggling with some of the same questions. In 2020 or 2021, they upgraded the motor on the embolden. I read its lighter and now has auto mode as well.

Even with my bike, my biggest hang up was the 250/500 watt power when there are some bikes out there have throttles and 1500 watts. After riding the bikes at Folsom Bike shop, I left that behind. The bikes have plenty of power IMHO, even up steep hills, and I commonly run in level 1-2 as I want some exercise, but once you are up in 3-5 you are really cheating

I tell you this as I rode my bike and then my wife's once we got them both home and did some steep areas around our house and honestly barely noticed a difference between the two. Im certain that my wife has more power available to her when you consider the riders weight. Even though I weigh about 50lbs heavier than my wife(Im thin) her bike still have more than enough power.

While my shocks are supposed to be much better than hers, the ones on her bike felt pretty good to me. Again, she has been going on some pretty technical trails for her skill level, she likes it and has no complaints with the suspension.

My wifes previous bike was a nice periwinkle color, while not a perfect color, she likes how her new bike looks... or at least doesn't mind it.

 

[Cavi]

Thanks

 

[Carajean]

As a woman that's 5'3 on a good day and owns the 2020 embolden e+ 2 I think it's a great bike. I went with the small size. I was not a a fan of the 21 color so went with the 20. I can say mine does have auto mode. You can tune via ride control app. What I'll be upgrading is of course the front fork and adding a dropper post. Really that's about it. I'm sure the front work will do fine for right now I'm not grabbing huge air and being 34 I think it's wise at this age. Also glad I went with the 21 as I had a 29er before and don't want it again. Mine came with 27.5+

 

[Cavi]

I wish we could have gotten a 2020, but there are no XS from 2020 available, so the 2021 is the only choice.... I have a Rockshock Sketor that is new that come off my Levo! I just have to get the travel adjusted as it is 150mm which is too big for this bike

 

[1oldfart]

4 months ago i got the male frame, 2020 Stance E. It is great, i love it.
It might depend on importer, distributor, country but here in Canada i got
the last 27.5 and i love the wide rims. I switched the 2.6 Rekons to 2.8 Rekons.
With our rocky trails that bit of lift is welcome. The 2021 are 29.
I love my Fat wich is a Specialized FatBoy female version. Try to get a frame
wich is a good fit that realy helps to control our bike and ride long hours in confort.