2020 Giant Explore E+ 2 GTS, I think I found my bike!

[Browneye]

@Hobie65, I'm 59 and suffer from mobility issues (while I get onto a bike I can pedal the whole day long though). I have never regretted choosing the step-through frame for my both e-bikes. I would even prefer the low-step one but could not find a low-step e-bike to my satisfaction.

@Browneye, please resolve the mystery. Many Giant e-bikes use the RideControl One, a minimalist remote that relies on mobile devices for revealing the ride data. Some Giant e-bikes sport the full RideControl Evo display. Your family owns as many as three Giant e-bikes. What kind of RideControl are these equipped with?

Giant quit using the display on their bikes for 2019 - now have the 'one' you mention, it's a led and button controller. In lieu of the display they have a bluetooth connection to a smartphone with a RideControl app that connects to a cloud server for your login and data storage. It's a very slick setup. Prior to 2019 there were a couple of different lcd displays. I suspect trying to keep water out of them was their undoing.

The simple button control has two sets of led's, the left ones are the levels of assis, the ones on the right are the battery pack charge level - about 20% per button. There's also a center led that will light up red for an error, and it is also an indicator for 'headlight on', which is controlled by the headlight button. There's also the walk-assist button on the bottom rim of the house - press it once, the the +-button activates the motor assist walk mode.

I have phone mounts for our iPhones on our two roadbikes, but for the mountain bike, not wanting my expensive phone perched up there on the bars, I keep my phone in my pocket to monitor the ride and battery levels, nav and such, and added a wireless bike computer for speed and distance, odo, etc. - Cateye Quick, their newest one, that's very slim and small.


RideControl One:

RideControl EVO:

RideControl App:

An even older version of RideControl:

 

[Hobie65]

Giant quit using the display on their bikes for 2019 - now have the 'one' you mention, it's a led and button controller. In lieu of the display they have a bluetooth connection to a smartphone with a RideControl app that connects to a cloud server for your login and data storage. It's a very slick setup. Prior to 2019 there were a couple of different lcd displays. I suspect trying to keep water out of them was their undoing.

The simple button control has two sets of led's, the left ones are the levels of assis, the ones on the right are the battery pack charge level - about 20% per button. There's also a center led that will light up red for an error, and it is also an indicator for 'headlight on', which is controlled by the headlight button. There's also the walk-assist button on the bottom rim of the house - press it once, the the +-button activates the motor assist walk mode.

I have phone mounts for our iPhones on our two roadbikes, but for the mountain bike, not wanting my expensive phone perched up there on the bars, I keep my phone in my pocket to monitor the ride and battery levels, nav and such, and added a wireless bike computer for speed and distance, odo, etc. - Cateye Quick, their newest one, that's very slim and small.


RideControl One:

RideControl EVO:

RideControl App:

An even older version of RideControl:

With regards to phone being mounted on handle bar, I Always thought that having a phone face up in direct sun wasn’t a good thing and could result in damaged!

 

[Browneye]

Yes, I suppose if you left it face up towards the sun it would overheat. Have not had that scenario as of yet.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thank you Chris for explaining!

I like the new approach of Giant very much. I always ride with the smartphone on the handlebar, so I wouldn't miss the traditional display. For me, connectivity matters. For example, I ride with the Mapy.cz app on for route planning and GPS navigation; there is a small GPS based speedometer in the app, which is very accurate. Why should I need a traditional display?

Regarding smartphone overheating, I must live up to the summer heat-waves yet. While the device may get overheated inside the car, will it overheat on the ride? I don't know.

I'm considering a Bluetooth equipped helmet now. Not only would it allow me talking on the phone on my rides but I could better hear the directions given by the navigation app and Endomondo stats ("after 200 meters turn right towards the highway 595", "forty kilometres in one hour and thirty-eight minutes; the segment speed twenty seven point eight kilometres per hour, average speed twenty-four point five...") and then I don't need any display actually.

It is unlikely I would ever break any local speed limit so why the speedometer?

 

[Browneye]

I had a SENA comm set for wife and me for the adventure motorbike, and while it was handy for saying when to stop or where to go, I pretty much never cared for the interruption in solitude. When she complained incessantly I turned her off. LOL
And the speakers were too poor for music, phone was just silly - 1 call in 5 years. I never used it solo. Sold the set when the bike sold.

I chuckle a little when I see bike couples setting themselves up with them.To each his own, as they say.

 

[Hobie65]

In Quebec, they changed the law and it’s an offence to wear any earbuds while cycling. So cycled last year without listening to my music and it sucks! I came across this on amazon and will be looking at giving this a try this season!

 

[Browneye]

In Quebec, they changed the law and it’s an offence to wear any earbuds while cycling. So cycled last year without listening to my music and it sucks! I came across this on amazon and will be looking at giving this a try this season!

A law as well here in US. I think you can have one in an ear, but not both. I did anyway - they have to catch you. I would only wear them for long freeway stints to ward off boredom.
As an example, I got let off for going 87 in a 55. If I got stopped the first thing I would do is take off my helmet - gee, it's an old guy with white hair. They would look at me, then the bike, and shake their head.
Getting old has it's perks.

I got tired of getting pulled over so I got a radar detector. That fixed that.

My buddy was a little crazy, but at least he knew to put me in the lead since I would keep speeds to a sane level. If he was leading we would have been well over a hundred.
The hiway patrol thanked us for stopping - he said they were going by at well over a hundred, one guy was 150 and didn't stop, so they sent the chopper after him. Since we were so polite and old, he let us off. But said if we got stopped again we were going to get a ticket. IIRC thirty over is 'wreckless felony', kind of an expensive ticket and you lose your license, so getting let off was a little surprising, I've never heard of such a thing. But they expect motorcycles to be traveling faster than cars, they want you always passing, not riding WITH traffic. It's much safer that way. California has good laws to protect cyclists.

My Triumph Tiger 800XC was very fast, my buddy was on his KTM 990, on our way to Monterey for World SuperBike races at Laguna Seca.

 

[Browneye]

Thank you Chris for explaining!

I like the new approach of Giant very much. I always ride with the smartphone on the handlebar, so I wouldn't miss the traditional display. For me, connectivity matters. For example, I ride with the Mapy.cz app on for route planning and GPS navigation; there is a small GPS based speedometer in the app, which is very accurate. Why should I need a traditional display?

Regarding smartphone overheating, I must live up to the summer heat-waves yet. While the device may get overheated inside the car, will it overheat on the ride? I don't know.

I'm considering a Bluetooth equipped helmet now. Not only would it allow me talking on the phone on my rides but I could better hear the directions given by the navigation app and Endomondo stats ("after 200 meters turn right towards the highway 595", "forty kilometres in one hour and thirty-eight minutes; the segment speed twenty seven point eight kilometres per hour, average speed twenty-four point five...") and then I don't need any display actually.

It is unlikely I would ever break any local speed limit so why the speedometer?

I find a speedo and trip odo handy when riding. I guess old habits die hard.

In the RideControl app images above they didn't include the main one with trip data - what we usually have up on the display when riding, including 'remaining range'. Even this one on the ride is a summary, the active display has speed on top, then the rest of the stats below. And you can set to metric or 'imperial'. "Imperial"? Really? Yep. LOL

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It's good Chris to finally learn the Metric units in the United States

 

[Browneye]

It's good Chris to finally learn the Metric units in the United States

I'm only so-so. Speeds are pretty easy - multiply KM by .6 for mph. Liters are close enough to quarts. And I'm pretty good with metric tools, have both sets, SAE and metric. But I still couldn't tell you how many mm are in a inch.

 

[Riverman]

How hard does is the app on your phone battery?

 

[Browneye]

How hard does is the app on your phone battery?

If you leave the screen open on the app it sucks juice pretty fast. I have a charge brick I throw in the trunk bag and plug the phone into it. It will use half your cell phone battery in a couple of hours.
Sadly, Giant/Yamaha didn't plan for a usb port on the mail pack. Should have been a given, especially with no display on the RideOne control. They could have incorporated one on the control pad, or even somewhere near the top of the battery pack housing. Seriously, this is an $800 pack, even a $300 hailong pack has a usb charge port.

 

[Riverman]

If you leave the screen open on the app it sucks juice pretty fast. I have a charge brick I throw in the trunk bag and plug the phone into it. It will use half your cell phone battery in a couple of hours.
Sadly, Giant/Yamaha didn't plan for a usb port on the mail pack. Should have been a given, especially with no display on the RideOne control. They could have incorporated one on the control pad, or even somewhere near the top of the battery pack housing. Seriously, this is an $800 pack, even a $300 hailong pack has a usb charge port.

I was thinking the same thing. Why not have a port to keep your phone charged.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

As far as I can understand, those Chinese batteries offer very low amperage on their USB ports while you need whole amperes to charge the phone. At least the USB port on my Lovelec's battery offers very low current, far below the smartphone needs.

 

[Browneye]

As far as I can understand, those Chinese batteries offer very low amperage on their USB ports while you need whole amperes to charge the phone. At least the USB port on my Lovelec's battery offers very low current, far below the smartphone needs.

That could well be - never actually tried it. The bike with the hailong pack with a port didn't need a phone, but I thought wife had plugged hers in one time and it did charge the phone.
But yeah, 1 or 2ah at 5-6v or whatever for the phone. Especially for Giant with their RideControl app.

On the Trance I don't leave the screen open, don't mount it on the bike. I run the app in the background, put the phone in my pocket or backpack. It keeps track just fine, but doesn't use hardly any power. My guess is the screen uses more juice than the app.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

My guess is the screen uses more juice than the app.

Very much. Good smartphones can keep their screen on for some 5.5 hours.

 

[Mtl_Biker]

I was thinking the same thing. Why not have a port to keep your phone charged.

The EVO display DOES have a port for charging your phone. I use it all the time to power my iPhone Xs. It doesn't supply enough amperage to both run the phone AND charge it, but at least it can maintain a steady power level on the phone.

 

[Murrdenn]

Hi again And hoping everyone is doing well during cov19!
Was at my LBS 2 weeks ago to get pricing on some ebikes, so still trying to pick the right bike.
Now the question that I now face is, do I go it a with regular frame or go with a step thru?
I‘m 54yrs old and still able to get on a regular bike but the step thru seems like a breeze to get on.
so my question, do you have regrets going with regular frame when you had option for a step thru?

tks again

I’ve had my Giant Explore E+ 2 STA for a couple of weeks, and love it. I’m getting on in years, 73, and although my carbon road bike and steel touring have regular frames, I’m finding I have to lean them way over in order to swing my leg over. The Explore is for running errands, etc, so instead of having to manhandle the heavy weight, I can just step off and on.