Browneye
Well-Known Member
Why can't you charge at work?
I gotta hand it to you, if you ride 20 miles one way to work!
I'm 6 miles and drive my 400 horse muscle car. Lol It uses a LOT of gas!
2020 Giant E-Bike Models and Photos
- Thread starter t_h_k
- Start date
I gotta hand it to you, if you ride 20 miles one way to work!
I'm 6 miles and drive my 400 horse muscle car. Lol It uses a LOT of gas!
jabberwocky
Well-Known Member
I ended up picking up a Revolt E+ as an xmas present for myself. My main want was an ebike that felt as close to riding my normal gravel bike as possible, but allowed me to roll faster and do some of my mixed surface loops during the week when I had less time to ride. I live in the heart of Loudoun County VA, which is an awesome place for gravel riding, but even my shorter loops tend to be 15-20 miles.
So far I've put about 100 miles on it, and it definitely meets that goal. The battery was the one thing I was concerned about; I've killed the battery on one ride and it made about 33 miles (mostly gravel and dirt roads, about 2500 ft of climbing). I'm a good 100 kilos. Thats (barely) acceptable for me, but I've asked the shop to get me a range extender when they become available. Giant told my shop they would be out late March.
Aside from that I'm extremely pleased with it. I run it almost entirely in eco and it feels very close to riding my non-ebike; I'm getting my workout but rolling 50% faster. Put the assist up and it pulls hard to almost 30mph (which is immense fun, but obviously just destroys the battery). Useful on a few of my loops where I have to jog on a busier road to connect sections.
If anyone has any questions lemme know!
So far I've put about 100 miles on it, and it definitely meets that goal. The battery was the one thing I was concerned about; I've killed the battery on one ride and it made about 33 miles (mostly gravel and dirt roads, about 2500 ft of climbing). I'm a good 100 kilos. Thats (barely) acceptable for me, but I've asked the shop to get me a range extender when they become available. Giant told my shop they would be out late March.
Aside from that I'm extremely pleased with it. I run it almost entirely in eco and it feels very close to riding my non-ebike; I'm getting my workout but rolling 50% faster. Put the assist up and it pulls hard to almost 30mph (which is immense fun, but obviously just destroys the battery). Useful on a few of my loops where I have to jog on a busier road to connect sections.
If anyone has any questions lemme know!
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Thanks for all the details!
When you killed the battery over your 33 miles route, what was your average speed? Did you had portion with a high top speed?
lol indeed, that might be an idea.
Then the question is : do I have enough with 375Wh for a 20 miles commute with an avg speed of 20mph and with sustained speed of 28mph for about 8 miles. Reading the review from jabberwocky, I fear to be real close (too close) to the 375Wh maximum range. The good news is that the terrain is mostly flat but chances of strong winds are always present (along the St Lawrence River).
jabberwocky
Well-Known Member
Checking Strava, 17mph average speed. That includes a few miles with a depleted battery. Probably 70% of the loop is unpaved farm roads though, which tend to be washboarded and potholed and not conducive to high speed cruising. On my normal gravel rig I average 11-12mph on the same loop.
Top speed on the loop was 32mph.
If your goal is a good range while cruising at high speed, I'd likely look elsewhere (at least until the extender comes out). On shorter loops, I'll often ramp the assist up once I hit the road back to town, and its totally capable of cruising at high speeds, but the hit to battery is immense (I'm not sure even a more ebike-standard 500whr battery is gonna get you a lot of range at 28mph).
I just finished a 28 mile loop and had a car pull up at the light near my house and congratulate me on holding the 25mph speed limit the whole way back to town.
Those 2-3 miles cost like 15% of the battery though.
Saratoga Dave
Well-Known Member
I didn’t realize it wasn’t a Class 1 20mph bike for some reason. That does sort of argue against the smaller battery... I‘d think that range extender is pretty much mandatory, but you’ll then have 625Wh as opposed to the 500 I have on my ToughRoad. Not bad at all.
I really like that bike, looking forward to hearing how it goes for you. You live in a great region for the dirt and gravel as well, perfect place to have that thing.
I really like that bike, looking forward to hearing how it goes for you. You live in a great region for the dirt and gravel as well, perfect place to have that thing.
Checking Strava, 17mph average speed. That includes a few miles with a depleted battery. Probably 70% of the loop is unpaved farm roads though, which tend to be washboarded and potholed and not conducive to high speed cruising. On my normal gravel rig I average 11-12mph on the same loop.
Top speed on the loop was 32mph.
If your goal is a good range while cruising at high speed, I'd likely look elsewhere (at least until the extender comes out). On shorter loops, I'll often ramp the assist up once I hit the road back to town, and its totally capable of cruising at high speeds, but the hit to battery is immense (I'm not sure even a more ebike-standard 500whr battery is gonna get you a lot of range at 28mph).
I just finished a 28 mile loop and had a car pull up at the light near my house and congratulate me on holding the 25mph speed limit the whole way back to town.
Thanks! This help a lot.
Doing some simple calculations (rule of thirds!).
If you spend 15% for a 2.5 miles at 25mph. This means that my ~9.5 miles at say 25 mph (I doubt I'll be able to do 28mph as there is some curves) would cost about 56% of my battery (375Wh). This leaves 45% for the other 9-10 miles at a speed of around 18-20mph.
Might be enough juice!
I'm not in a hurry to buy so I could wait for more details about the Range extender. My 3rd child is still at the kindergarden and I can't use my bike to transport him and still have time to get to work. So, buying timeframe is next summer. I'm hoping for a compatible 500Wh battery or to see if the Range extender is easy to use.
Cheers!
jabberwocky
Well-Known Member
At some point I'll put the assist in something in the middle and go hammer the rail trail and see how far it goes riding pavement at speed. Checking the rides I've done, its been pretty consistently using about 11.5whr/mile running in eco for me, with average speeds in the 16-17mph range and climbing around ~75-100 ft per mile. Terrain is mostly rough and rolling (typical of western Loudoun County); I shoot for as little pavement as possible. I've been riding a long time, but I'm no skinny roadie (5'-6", 220lbs).
I'm actually curious how it will do on lower speed rides (I have a few friends who come out here and ride, who are typically too fast for me to hang with for long). I'm guessing if I'm riding at a 13-14mph average pace the energy consumption will drop quite a bit.
Talking to the shop, the range extender plugs into the charging port and communicates with the main controller and just takes over as soon as the main battery hits 0%. The port has some extra pins that aren't used by the charger that are presumably for that purpose. So everything works the same as normal until the main battery dies, then the extender immediately takes over and the battery percentage displayed switches to the extender. At the 11.5whr/mile I've been doing, total range would be 55ish miles.
I'm actually curious how it will do on lower speed rides (I have a few friends who come out here and ride, who are typically too fast for me to hang with for long). I'm guessing if I'm riding at a 13-14mph average pace the energy consumption will drop quite a bit.
Talking to the shop, the range extender plugs into the charging port and communicates with the main controller and just takes over as soon as the main battery hits 0%. The port has some extra pins that aren't used by the charger that are presumably for that purpose. So everything works the same as normal until the main battery dies, then the extender immediately takes over and the battery percentage displayed switches to the extender. At the 11.5whr/mile I've been doing, total range would be 55ish miles.
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Two comments after using my Explore E +1 for the last 6 months or so:
1). Very hard to average 32 km/hour with the Canadian version of the bike, with which the e-assist is limited to 32km. You get the e-assist up to 32 km/hour but not above, so unless you are going downhill or are a very strong rider, you'll spend a lot of time riding just below 32 km/hour. When average with some slower sections, the best I can get is an average of 27km/hour or so.
2). Range depends on boost level. In ECO, you'd get the 65 km easily but it's a lot of work. In "NORMAL", it would really be doubtful whether you could get the 65km.
Most dealers will let you have a good test ride, so you can see what boost level you'll need and that defines range.
Cheers
Browneye
Well-Known Member
I ride mine at level 3 most of the time. Late in the day, or for hills or headwind, I might click level 4, and very rarely level 5. I'm always hitting the limit as well, seems to taper off right about 19mph. I regularly pedal past that though, and when going down hills.
And yes, speed and boost level are what burns watts.
And yes, speed and boost level are what burns watts.
Thanks for the inputs!
Regarding point 1, I plan to derestrict the bike. About 50% of my route is on very low circulation backroads. On those sections, I expect to run around 40km/h. In the city, I will of course respect the 32km/h limits (dont want to die!). This is the combination where it gives me an avg speed of 32km/h.
For point 2, I want to commute and hence I'd be inclined to use as much assist as possible. I'm beginning to think that I''ll eat the bullet, buy the Range extender so that I will have access to 625Wh and charge at work if its not enough for 65km. The Range extender is not "user friendly" in my opinion but I still havent found the perfect model yet. The Fastroad E+, even with the Range extender, is the closest to what I'm looking for though!
The idea to test the ebike is a good one, thanks!
Paula Greenberg
New Member
How much does it weigh? What are your thoughts for using for touring?
Thanks for your response in advance!
jabberwocky
Well-Known Member
I went out and hung the bike from my scale. 47lbs, which does include pedals, cages, bags, multitool/extra tube/tire lever in the seat bag, bell, garmin mount, etc. I'd guess its in the 41-42 range bare.
As for touring, thats a difficult one to answer. There are lower rack mounts in back; I believe Giant makes a rack that works with a bar that attaches to what would be the brake bridge on a normal bike, though I imagine getting your rack of choice to work wouldn't be difficult. There are also front mounting points (I have a bottle cage attached to one in the pic). So the bike could certainly have racks mounted up. Not sure what the carrying capacity would be though, most touring bikes are designed pretty heavy duty so you can load them up. The bike seems solid enough, but its definitely nowhere near my Soma Saga touring bike when it comes to feeling like you can dump 100lbs of stuff on it without issue.
The sticking point would be range and serviceability; range is good for moderate day trips, but most bike tourists look to do decent mileage every day. I guess you could just add batteries to your load until you're at the range you want, and make sure you have someplace to charge every day. Mass Deduction had a really good thread about longer distance ebike rides here: https://electricbikereview.com/foru...d-doing-e-bike-travel-this-past-summer.31086/
As for touring, thats a difficult one to answer. There are lower rack mounts in back; I believe Giant makes a rack that works with a bar that attaches to what would be the brake bridge on a normal bike, though I imagine getting your rack of choice to work wouldn't be difficult. There are also front mounting points (I have a bottle cage attached to one in the pic). So the bike could certainly have racks mounted up. Not sure what the carrying capacity would be though, most touring bikes are designed pretty heavy duty so you can load them up. The bike seems solid enough, but its definitely nowhere near my Soma Saga touring bike when it comes to feeling like you can dump 100lbs of stuff on it without issue.
The sticking point would be range and serviceability; range is good for moderate day trips, but most bike tourists look to do decent mileage every day. I guess you could just add batteries to your load until you're at the range you want, and make sure you have someplace to charge every day. Mass Deduction had a really good thread about longer distance ebike rides here: https://electricbikereview.com/foru...d-doing-e-bike-travel-this-past-summer.31086/
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planetbike
Member
Balinus, what do you have now? I use my new Juiced CCX with the massive battery, and am usually going anywhere from 18-26mph on my roundtrip commute of 16.2 miles. It's a rear hub motor so that probably affects the comparison w the Giant bikes. I usually go with Level 2 or 3, and occasionally I need to kick it into race mode to go quickly by areas with dogs who want to devour me, or when I get onto the highway (twice) which each time lasts less than 30 seconds. But even for my short commute, I'm glad I have a big battery. If I were doing a 40 mile commute, even at lower levels and lower speed, there's no way a 375Wh battery would be enough.
Right now, I have nothing! I'm shopping. From what I gathered, its clear I'm gonna need the range extender (625Wh total). Thats gonna be enough I think. Worst case scenario is to charge at work. So, while I'd like a solution for the complete 40miles commute, its OK if I manage only 25miles (that include a 5miles security factor!).
Steveinconcord
New Member
I had originally posted to another thread about my buying a Revolt (in progress) but I'm interested in the riding conditions being discussed in this thread. Jaberwocky, your 30-35 mile range seems to be under pretty harsh conditions - gravel, hills, 17 avg speed. I think I'll do a lot better. The reason I'm getting an ebike is that my avg has fallen to around 12 mph in my old age and my ride group (all younger) has slowed down for me from their comfortable 15 mph avg. So now I can let them speed back up. But nowhere close to 17-18 mph. All I need is a 3 mph boost! A friend of mine got last year's Giant ebike with the 500 w-h battery, and he gets well over 80 miles on a ride. I think he stays in the lowest (ECO) power setting except on hills. We have a lot of hills here in Concord, NC, and do about 1,000 ft of climbing in 25 miles. Don't know how that compares with Loudon, although I used to ride there a lot when I lived in Reston. But that was 40 years ago and I just can't remember much about the hills. When I took my test ride on the Revolt a couple of days ago, I kept it in ECO most of the time, even on a couple of big hills. I rode about 10 miles and watched the battery drop from 98% to 88%. So that suggests I'm going to get well over 50-60 miles on a ride. Nevertheless, I am going to get both the spare battery and the range extender. Since I'm getting a heavy-duty cr-mo rear rack, I'll just sew up a custom bag to fit the battery and include a cushioned base plate and velcro straps to mount it to the rack. Maybe someone will come up with a hack for wiring in a spare battery with a transfer switch. Now wouldn't that be neat!
jabberwocky
Well-Known Member
Definitely, I'm probably worst case for the Revolt (or close to it). 220lb rider, riding primarily off road, relatively hilly. I've been trying to list not just range, but circumstances that lead to it so people can try and extrapolate. At this point, on several rides its been remarkably consistent in the 30-32 mile range for me. Yesterday was 24 miles with 2400ft of climbing, 15.5mph avg and used 75% battery, which extrapolates to 32 miles of range. I'm sure that a lighter rider would get much more range, as would someone who rides less hilly routes, more pavement, etc.
After going back and forth with the shop, I asked them to order me a second battery for now. I have a tubus rack I'll pull off my touring bike to carry it. Not sure if I'll grab a cheap trunk bag or just figure out a way to mount it up; leaning towards bag just because most of the roads I ride are unimproved gravel/dirt and I don't want it going flying next time I hit a giant pothole.
Post up that custom bag if you do end up making one!
iskjone
Active Member
Seems like having range anxiety is fairly common for freshman riders. Just back from a month riding the Pinellas Trail and we would average about 30 mile a day over a period of three weeks. This certainly is ideal trail conditions and is a flat hard paved trail with a number of overpasses . Comparison of my battery usage would be meaningless but I rode 6 gear auto mode the entire time and thought a 100+ kilometer per charge a snap to do. Explore E+ 4 Custom. Not a single issue the entire trip except losing a saddlebag briefly.
Réjeanne Basque
Member
For the one who has a Revolt E + Pro 2020 ,your suppose to have the Auto mode on your bike ,my has one that came in yesterday didn’t have it on.So i went to my local dealer that had one in display and that bike has the auto mode, so mine is missing the auto mode same bike came in the store same day of delivery.I know for a fact that the auto mode on the syncdrive Pro motor 2020 his suppose to have the auto mode no exceptions the one that does not have it is a defect problem like mine.I am gonna have an answer tomorrow from giant in Vancouver, I’ll let you know when I have my answers.
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