While slightly narrower at 45 mm, this particular set of Bluemels is largely the same as the 53 mm pair on my TCX, with a few changes. The most notable ones are the shiny finish and reflective piping running along these fenders’ length, which is a nice touch. It’s similar to the reflective sidewalls on my folding bike’s Schwalbe Marathon Racer tires.
Shiny.
The rear fender also gets this retro-styled red reflector. I’m not a fan of reflectors in general, but this one is just neat, and blends in perfectly with the set.
The only place the Alight frame needed zip ties for fender mounting was on the seat stay bridge. The holes are perpendicular to each other, so a bolt can’t get through. Ah well.
The chainstay-mounted kickstand/fender mounting plate makes this an easy, rigid connection.
Installing and adjusting the Bluemels on the Alight frame is made so much easier with the Feedback Sports workstand and my Park Tool DH-1 dummy hub. Initial install of the stays, and screwing down the rear fender to the chainstay-mounted fender/kickstand plate, is made simpler when you don’t have to contend with the bulk of a rear wheel or spokes getting in the way.
Once the rear fender and stays are in place, the rear wheel can be brought back in for fine-tuning the fit. As usual, you want the fender as close as possible to the wheel and tire without rubbing, so that it can maximize containment of any water the tires pick up. After dialing in the fit, there’s barely any cutting needed on these stays.
I wish the front fender could go a little lower. The fender-to-tire gap is a little big.
Moving to the front yields another improvement on the build kit. SKS now provides you a handful of 5 mm plastic spacers, which you can use to push the stays outward for clearance purposes. On the Alight, they came in handy for the fork, as the dropout-mounted fender bosses are set slightly inboard. I use a similar metal spacer for the fenders on the TCX to help clear the disc brake caliper, but that one was given to me by a bike shop.
I’d like an alternative solution here. Disassembly will require two tools and a lot of parts.
Fitting front fender to the fork crown yielded a slight surprise. Unlike with the TCX’s fork, the Alight’s fork crown doesn’t have threads; it’s just a simple pair of holes that goes clean through. This means disassembly and reassembly of the front fender for transport purposes is a little more involved, and there are more parts to keep track of (a longer bolt, a nylock nut, a washer, and a plastic spacer) and potentially lose. I might be able to replace the nylock nut with a thumb nut or wingnut so less tools are required.
At least there was zero cutting needed on these stays at all – the plastic caps going over eye bolts and excess fender stays easily.
This front edge cut isn’t quite symmetrical.
My wife is a fair-weather cyclist at most, so fenders like these perhaps are a little overkill. However, Philippine roads just sprout puddles and standing water out of nowhere sometimes, and that’s still protection against any dirty road water and muck that the Alight’s tires might kick up. Truth be told, this fender set looks pretty damn good.
That said, there are a few tweaks she’s asked for, mainly to make the bike more her own. For starters, she gave her new steed a name: “Livi.” Also, I got her some name and flag decals to stick on the Alight’s frame, courtesy of VeloInk. Most of the first set of decals I bought from them in 2014 still look great today, eight years later. Even with the rigmarole of ordering from overseas, they were a very easy repeat purchase – and I got three dozen or so of them this time around.
The two bikes mounted to the Minoura Vergo-TF2-WH transport rack inside our GUN143 Toyota Innova. The wheel holder strut has to pivot to an angle to fit both front wheels, but otherwise this works great.
One persistent issue for her is a way of carrying small items and knick-knacks aboard. She’s never really been comfortable with carrying stuff in pockets on her person, and these days it’s also unwise to set out on a ride without spares for puncture repair. So on went one of my old trusty Giyo GP-61S mini pumps, plus one of my Topeak Wedge Drybag saddlebags to store her spares. Nestled inside are 700C inner tubes with Schrader valves – rather hard to find locally. I resorted to Amazon to keep a small stash of these on hand.
For small item storage, I got her a Revelate Designs Mag-Tank top tube bag. I’ve had very good results with mine, so this was a viable solution for her. She opted for one in purple for an added dash of color, and I took some extra steps to protect her frame’s paint from the grippy rubber dots that help keep the bag from sliding around. I bought strips of frame protecting tape (informally called “helicopter tape”) and cut them to size to sit where the Mag-Tank would. Some time with a water spray bottle later, the Alight’s top tube was fully protected from any ugly marks the Mag-Tank’s rubbery underside would leave.
If only I had thought of this when I got mine two years ago…
For improved visibility, I hooked up a Cat Eye Rapid Mini rear light, but was concerned as my wife’s saddle height is quite low. Any saddlebag-mounted light with this low of a saddle height runs the risk of getting obscured by the rear wheel. The Rapid Mini isn’t powerful enough to act as a main light in these scenarios.
The Cygolite Hotrod 90 rear light as mounted on my bike Hyro. This thing is seriously bright.
I decided to add lighting to the chainstay via Cygolite’s Hotrod 90. This made-in-USA item is very, very eye-catching due to its 90-lumen output, which is impressive for a rear light. At its higher intensity modes, it can be borderline annoying if you had to look at it while drafting another rider – it’s that powerful. The flip side is, this strong flashing output makes it a very good safety light to run in the daytime.
Look closely at the top tube and you can just about make out the helicopter tape I added.
After all this, there is still some scope for improvement on the Alight.
I’m waiting on a set of full-length fenders to fit onto the frame; that should arrive soon. As nice as the freebie bottle cage is, it’s not ideal given the Alight frame’s tight front triangle – especially with the short seat tube. A pair of side-loading bottle cages is a better fit. Third, the supplied plastic pedals are definitely going to break at some point.
The bigger concern is the front shifting. I believe I’ve set up the Shimano Tourney front derailleur as well as I could, but upshifts are simply harder and more inconsistent than they should be. I can shift to the big ring just fine on the workstand, but my wife may not necessarily have the thumb strength needed to do it successfully and/or consistently. I find it’s due to the stock Prowheel crank, and the shift ramps and pins on the inside of its big chainring just not doing their job well. This is one item which I think is ripe for an upgrade, but at the same time I don’t want to stray too far from its beginner-friendly 46/30T gearing.
The lavender-and-brown bike box arrived just over two weeks after I had placed my order with Cycle Express. After three years, I was finally able to gift her her own bike!
Pulled out of the box, the Liv Alight 2 DD Disc was about 70% pre-built. The saddle and seatpost, front wheel, front brake caliper, handlebar, and side-mount kickstand (!) came lashed to the rest of the bike, but not assembled to it; these are simple enough to install. Smaller but more important things like shift cables and hydraulic brake lines were pre-installed, although these would become the subject of more involved final preparation later on.
Like with Hyro, my TCX, Giant/Liv throws in a smaller box of odds and ends with the Alight, combining important items like the front QR skewer and rear derailleur cable housing, with more optional accessories such as reflectors and a dinky bell.
To Cycle Express’ credit, they threw in a bottle cage and a basic but large water bottle for free with the Alight – both Giant-branded items.
FRAME
Looking at the frame reveals interesting details I didn’t spot in photos. Even at this low price point, Liv saw it fit to offer partial internal cable routing on the Alight, the shift cables and rear brake hose disappearing into the left side of the head tube and reappearing just before the bottom bracket shell. Unlike with Hyro, however, there appear to be no inner guide tubes for the shift cables after they enter the head tube – it’s just a straight shot along the downtube.
The Alight in XS size has a rather small front triangle, but still has bosses for two bottle cages. A pair of side-exit bottle cages would be a better fit for this bike.
Liv’s supplied kickstand bolts onto the end of the chainstay near the dropouts.
That plate between the chainstays serves as anchor point for both a center-mounted kickstand and a full-length rear fender.
Somewhat evident in Cycle Express’ Facebook photos is the bike’s ability to accept a kickstand. Liv throws one in the box, attaching to the non-drive side dropout directly via two bolts. What isn’t obvious is that the Alight also readily accepts kickstands that mount between the chainstays. If preferred, the LitePro double-leg kickstand will work here just fine.
Cushy 38 mm tires with puncture protection. All good…except for that confusing name.
Lastly, Liv says the Alight frame has clearance to swallow 700C x 40 mm rubber. The bike comes shod with 700C x 38 mm Giant “S-X2” tires on Liv’s GX wheelset. This naming convention is confusing and a little funny as Giant has previously used the S-X2 moniker for the wheelset, but hey, okay I guess. The wheelset is basically a Liv-branded copy of Hyro’s stock wheelset with 19 mm internal rim width, although the hubs have slightly taller flanges, there are 32 spokes instead of 28, and the rims are drilled for a Schrader valve instead of a Presta one. Such fat tires allow more air volume and lower tire pressures – I inflated these to 60 psi front, 70 psi rear.
DRIVETRAIN
As advertised, the Alight in “2 DD Disc” form came with a 2×8 drivetrain, combining a Shimano CS-HG31-8 cassette with a Prowheel 46/30T crankset with 170 mm arms attached to a square-taper bottom bracket. A Shimano Altus RD-M310 rear derailleur handles shifting at the rear, while a Shimano Tourney FD-TY710-2-TS3 front derailleur shoves the chain between chainrings. Both mechs are hooked up to Shimano’s own SL-M310 trigger shifters.
Shimano’s “MegaRange” cassettes and freewheels for 7- and 8-speed bikes emphasize the 34T cog as a bailout gear, with a large jump from the next smaller cog (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-34 in this case).
Don’t let the rough finish fool you.
The front shifting was a challenge to adjust and get right. I suspect most of it lies with the crank and bottom bracket design though.
Despite its quaint looks, the Altus rear derailleur is perfectly serviceable. Setup and indexing adjustment are as straightforward as a 105 5700 rear mech, with action that’s just as good. On the other hand, the front gearing as a whole isn’t as nice. Adjustment was strange until I learned that setting the low limit properly is 75% of the process. Even then, there is chain rub that I just can’t trim out or silence. The crank is the likely culprit, as shifts to the big ring can be hesitant, and the shift consistency of cranks for square-taper bottom brackets is at the mercy of their friction fitment.
BRAKE HARDWARE
I’m still shocked at how small the caliper mounting bolts are.
This is my first experience with any Flat Mount hardware and frames, as Hyro is a Post Mount bike. As mentioned, the front brake caliper shipped away from its fork, so I had to mount it up. I was surprised at just how short and tiny these brake mounting bolts were, but I guess it makes sense given how they only need to secure the Flat Mount adapter and not the whole caliper.
A Liv-branded saddle comes stock, perched on a “D-Fuse” D-shaped seatpost. You can just about make out the two bolts on the saddle clamp.
The stock saddle on the Alight is a standard-length item, about 3 cm longer than the Specialized Power installed on my folding bike Bino. This has a touch more give to its padding, but retains firmness and support past that point – which is promising and shows Liv know effective saddle construction. My wife hasn’t gone on long rides with this bike yet, so the jury’s out on whether this will work for her or not.
Giant’s D-Fuse seatpost appears here in a bid to increase ride comfort even further. The D-shaped profile encourages the seatpost to bend rearward, acting as a cantilever or leaf spring, and this technology works better when more of the seatpost is exposed.
The final item of note is the strange saddle clamp. While a two-bolt design, it doesn’t appear like it allows adjusting saddle angle independently of saddle setback. For all intents and purposes, this is almost identical to Bino’s saddle clamp, where loosening the mechanism lets the saddle move unconstrained.
The trigger shifters are okay. No trim position on the left one though.
The 600 mm handlebars are just 20 mm wider than Bino’s, making for a compact, familiar profile. This bike is too small for me to ride comfortably, but I’d guess the larger wheel and shorter steerer tube length would make for a more stable steering feel despite the almost identical handlebar width. That stability is helped by the XS-size-specific 78.2 mm of trail, which is on the high side and bodes well for jaunts on gravel. I did have to loosen the headset a little, as there was too much preload and the steering felt unnecessarily strained out of the box.
Liv finishes the bars with simple slide-on rubber grips, and throws in a pair of cheap plastic flat pedals. It’s a nice cockpit given the price, but there’s lots of scope for improvement as well, especially when things start to wear out with use.
MY IMPRESSIONS
Apparently the “DD” in the designation stands for “double diamond” – a reference to the frame shape. The “normal” Alight is a quasi-mixte frame with a lowered step-through top tube.
The 2022 Liv Alight 2 DD Disc is not a shabby bike. At first blush, I think it’s a solid package for general getting-around and fitness riding, and my wife is very happy with her Christmas gift.
If she were so inclined, though, there are lots of areas for performance improvement – and the frame is smartly designed to accommodate them. If my experience with Hyro’s stock wheelset is any indication, the (identical) wheelset here is pretty heavy (accounting for 2 kg of the bike’s total weight), and a swap to a lighter pair will unlock some more ability. Personal-fit things aside, I think the other major area for potential performance gains is the crank. Switching to a two-piece crank would greatly improve the front shifting, as doing away with the square-taper bottom bracket will also greatly reduce the inherent variability in chainring position. FSA makes applicable “adventure” crank options that will retain the 46/30T gearing.
That’s all up to her, though. After all, this bike isn’t mine. I’m glad to report that she enjoyed her maiden ride on it – just a short jaunt around our village.
the accidental randonneur 