The New Liv Devote Is Ready for Your Next Big Gravel Adventure
Takeaway: A fast, functional gravel bike for racing or exploring.
Wide, smoothish tires that are fast on the road and grippy on gravel.
Lightweight carbon frame and wheels whip right up hills.
Flared handlebar dialed frame geometry kept me comfy and in control all day long.
Price: $5,500
Weight: 18.3 lbs (XS)
This new women’s bike from Liv is ready to rip up your favorite dirt and gravel roads, and help you find new ones to love. It’s ready to toe the line at the next gravel grinder you race (whenever that happens again) and it’s so down to explore your local routes or pushing yourself without a race bib in the meantime. The Devote Advanced Pro I tested has a lightweight carbon frame and wheels that give it a snappy and smooth ride, while 40mm slick tires offer grip without slowing you down on pavement. Mounting bosses for three bottles, racks, and fenders let you load it up for a weekend trip, or just attach a saddle bag and bento box for when you’re ready leave the competition in your dust.
Like all of Liv’s bikes, the geometry of the Devote is based on global data the brand has collected on women’s bodies that they also use to inform their carbon tuning process. Each size is not a scaled percentage of another, but designed specifically for that size rider and the muscle recruitment patterns of women riders.
Made for Fast Rides and Fun Roads
A super sloping toptube (from the headtube to the seatpost) creates a more compact main triangle—that decreases weight and adds stiffness while giving the Devote a nice low standover height (683mm on my extra-small). The less-aggressive reach and stack (378 and 530 on an XS, respectively) put me in a comfortable endurance-ready position that was easy on my neck and wrists, and conducive to taking in the scenery as I explored new roads. The flared handlebar was perfect for getting in the drops when I wanted to tuck low and let it rip across gravel and dirt, and it offered a bit more control on looser surfaces than a typical, narrower drop bar would. In anticipation of all the gravel getting kicked up while you shred down the road, the downtube and drive-side chainstay have protective coverings to help maintain the life of the carbon. This model, which is a little more race oriented, doesn’t come with a dropper post, but it does routing for one. If that feature is important to you, check out the more adventurous version, the Devote Advanced 1.
THE BREAKDOWN: LIV DEVOTE ADVANCED PRO
Frame and fork Carbon
Drivetrain 12-speed SRAM Force eTap AXS
Cassette 10-36
Crankset 30/43
Brakes SRAM Force
Wheels Giant CXR-2 Carbon Disc Wheel System, 700c
Tires Maxxis Velocita AR, 700x40c tubeless
Seatpost Giant D-Fuse SLR composite
Saddle Liv Approach
Handlebar Giant Contact SLR XR D-fuse
Stem Giant Contact 8-degree
Ready To Rip
The Devote Advanced Pro comes with parts that make it ideal for fast gravel rides and races. The super-responsive light frame and fork is complemented by light and snappy SRAM eTap Force shifting, an electronic 2x12-speed drivetrain that responded lickety-split to my lever taps. The large gear range allowed me to pedal comfortably and stay seated up loose gravel hills, which made it much easier to maintain traction in the rear wheel as I climbed. Liv’s D-shaped bar and seatpost have more compliance that some round options, helping soak up chatter and vibrations from gravel roads.
The wide, smooth Maxxis Velocita AR tires strike a nice balance between fast-rolling and good traction, transitioning well from pavement to gravel and back again, giving me confidence in loose and wet corners. These tubeless ready, 40mm-wide tires sit on Giant CXR-2 carbon wheels that are also extremely responsive to input, and can accommodate gravel tires as thin as 28c or as wide as 45c on a 700c wheel. Swap to a 650b wheel and the frame can handle a 50c tire for even more traction. The lightweight parts keep overall weight relatively low: my extra-small test bike weighed 18.3 pounds.
The bar tape is also excellently cushy and tacky—I rode it barehanded on a super humid day down gravel roads and across rough pavement, and did not wish for my gloves (thank goodness—it was so hot). The bar tape also has a gel backing, which helps damp vibrations, but since it’s not made with tape or glue, you can unwrap and rewrap your bars if need be, and it wipes down nicely.
More Devote Models to Choose From
There are three other Devote models available in the US. The Advanced 1 ($3,000) and Advanced 2 ($2,500) have full-carbon frames and Giant’s P-X2 Disc wheels. The Advanced 1 comes with a dropper post, knobbier 45c Maxxis Rambler tires, and a 1x11-speed Shimano GRX drivetrain. That model is designed for the rider who leans more toward exploring than racing. The Advanced 2 has a 2x11-speed Shimano GRX drivetrain. The Devote 2 is great for the race-ready gravel rider on a budget; its on the most affordable end of the line at $1,150, and has an aluminum frame with a carbon fork, Giant S-X2 Wheels, and a 2x11-speed Shimano Sora drivetrain.
Ride Impressions
The Devote is fast and light, and transitions well between gravel and pavement. The smooth, wide tires rolled well on tarmac, and offered just enough cushion and traction when I hit the dirt, barely slowing me down. It climbed really well; the wide gear range allowed me to stay seated as I picked my way up washed out gravel hills. It descended confidently, both in the tops and drops, and I was thankful for the extra stability and control from the more-upright positioning and flared handlebar. The snappy electronic shifting gets you in the gear you want smoothly and efficiently, even under load, so I never wasted any effort spinning out or mashing too hard.
It’s definitely a fast bike, but also still feels exciting and comfortable on long and adventurous rides. With no gravel races on the calendar, I knew I’d be testing the Devote on some solo adventure rides. I loaded up my handlebar bag with dehydrated mangoes and my camera, and spent an Saturday morning taking detours whenever I saw gravel. Bikes like these inspire new routes, and that is always worth it.
I rode it down to a singletrack trail system along a river to test its limits, taking it through chunky, loose gravel and down mellow-to-medium trails. While some gravel bikes can really hold their own on bumpy singletrack, the Devote Advanced Pro felt about how you’d expect a fully-rigid bike with narrow tires to feel—a bit of a rough ride, but still easy to control and light enough to pop over log. It definitely performs best on tightly packed gravel and dirt, feeling better on fast straightaways than rocky, winding trails. It’s more for roads, of the paved and gravel variety, and the wide tires didn’t hold me back on the pavement—I could accelerate and cruise without feeling like I was losing a ton of energy into knobby, squishy tires.
The new Devote Advanced Pro is a light, efficient gravel-ready race bike that’s comfortable enough to go explore all those dirt roads you’ve always wanted to check out, and fast enough to drop the group on the climb. She’s fast, curious, and ready for adventure, just like the rider she was built for.
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