Fazua vs giant syncdrive pro

[Curiouscarrot]

Hello,
I am going to purchase an ebike and require one that has decent power for going up inclines for health reasons, essentially the more power the better for me. Now I have looked extensively and I do like the sound of Fazua motor and also the giant bikes which use the sync drive pro. I am not savvy with all the technical details and so torque level doesn’t mean much to me, but am I right in thinking the sync drive pro would be a more powerful motor that would provide substantially more assistance than the Fazua motor? Also the Fazua battery is 250kwh and the giant is 375kwh however I don’t know how much difference this would make given that the giant may be more powerful would it use a lot more battery? Any insights would be great from people who I am sure have a lot more knowledge and experience than me . Also the 2 bikes in questions are the boardman adv e bike 8.9 which is fazua and the giant revolt e + 2020 version.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The Fazua motor makes sense for lightweight e-bikes where the rider is fit and requires little of assistance. It is a concept similar to Specialized SL 1.1 motor, which provides even less torque, and it still very popular on road, gravel, fitness and e-MTB SL Specialized e-bikes.

The 252 Wh battery for Fazua is very small. For comparison, the Specialized SL battery is 320 Wh with optional Range Extender of 160 Wh (giving almost double of Fazua capacity).

Syncdrive Pro is a powerful motor. It is really powerful. The point is, the 375 Wh battery of Giant Revolt E+ 2020 is a joke nowadays. For such powerful motors, 500 or 625 Wh batteries are necessary (the bigger the better). 2020 was a year in which Giant made several marketing/technical mistakes, among others releasing a 375 Wh battery, full power e-bike.

If you want a Boardman, try to rent it for a day to judge yourself. I would even not look at a 375 Wh full power e-bike, as that battery would allow very short rides only.

 

[Curiouscarrot]

The Fazua motor makes sense for lightweight e-bikes where the rider is fit and requires little of assistance. It is a concept similar to Specialized SL 1.1 motor, which provides even less torque, and it still very popular on road, gravel, fitness and e-MTB SL Specialized e-bikes.

The 252 Wh battery for Fazua is very small. For comparison, the Specialized SL battery is 320 Wh with optional Range Extender of 160 Wh (giving almost double of Fazua capacity).

Syncdrive Pro is a powerful motor. It is really powerful. The point is, the 375 Wh battery of Giant Revolt E+ 2020 is a joke nowadays. For such powerful motors, 500 or 625 Wh batteries are necessary (the bigger the better). 2020 was a year in which Giant made several marketing/technical mistakes, among others releasing a 375 Wh battery, full power e-bike.

If you want a Boardman, try to rent it for a day to judge yourself. I would even not look at a 375 Wh full power e-bike, as that battery would allow very short rides only.

Thanks for that response Stefan that is very useful. So do you think that even though the revolt e+ has a 375kwh it would not really give any further range than the 250kwh fazua battery due to it being more powerful and using the power quicker?

 

[jabberwocky]

I have the 2020 Revolt with the 375 battery. The extender (EnergyPak Plus) adds 240whr which helps with the pain somewhat. 375whr is fine for me as long as I'm doing a loop under 30 miles but generally I have the extender on there and the combo is good for 50-55 or so. I'm 220 pounds and ride fast, mostly gravel.

Giant does now sell a 500whr battery that is compatible with the 2020 bikes (link). My wife got a 2021 Liv Thrive which uses the same motor/battery as my Revolt but came with the 500whr battery and I sometimes borrow it for longer solo rides. I may buy one this year and relegate the 375 to a backup battery. The 500+extender is good for 60-65 miles for me at a brisk pace.

Agreed with Stefan that Giant effed up doing the 375. They seem to have agreed because it only lasted a year. The Revolt is a great bike though, I have thousands of miles of gravel on mine and it still puts a smile on my face when I take it out. The Yamaha motor is great.

 

[Nomad]

Hello,
I am going to purchase an ebike and require one that has decent power for going up inclines for health reasons, essentially the more power the better for me. Now I have looked extensively and I do like the sound of Fazua motor and also the giant bikes which use the sync drive pro. I am not savvy with all the technical details and so torque level doesn’t mean much to me, but am I right in thinking the sync drive pro would be a more powerful motor that would provide substantially more assistance than the Fazua motor? Also the Fazua battery is 250kwh and the giant is 375kwh however I don’t know how much difference this would make given that the giant may be more powerful would it use a lot more battery? Any insights would be great from people who I am sure have a lot more knowledge and experience than me . Also the 2 bikes in questions are the boardman adv e bike 8.9 which is fazua and the giant revolt e + 2020 version.

You should be able to look up the bike and battery to get some what of a idea of the range between the two. Let me explain the some what part. so it going to depend rider weight terrain and other factors however if one bike is saying average on moderate in eco mode is 40 miles and other is 60 that tells that the second one likely go futher on a sigle charge the the other. That's not telling it will go 60 miles it's telling you conditions be the same it will most likely go further then the other

 

[Nomad]

I have the 2020 Revolt with the 375 battery. The extender (EnergyPak Plus) adds 240whr which helps with the pain somewhat. 375whr is fine for me as long as I'm doing a loop under 30 miles but generally I have the extender on there and the combo is good for 50-55 or so. I'm 220 pounds and ride fast, mostly gravel.

Giant does now sell a 500whr battery that is compatible with the 2020 bikes (link). My wife got a 2021 Liv Thrive which uses the same motor/battery as my Revolt but came with the 500whr battery and I sometimes borrow it for longer solo rides. I may buy one this year and relegate the 375 to a backup battery. The 500+extender is good for 60-65 miles for me at a brisk pace.

Agreed with Stefan that Giant effed up doing the 375. They seem to have agreed because it only lasted a year. The Revolt is a great bike though, I have thousands of miles of gravel on mine and it still puts a smile on my face when I take it out. The Yamaha motor is great.

wow that is low but that seems about right for the 500. It pretty bad that a Giant mountian bike has more range. Who knows another 10 year it will be what you get less then 150 miles out of a full charge?

 

[jabberwocky]

I think mfg ranges are wildly overstated (to the point of delusion). Its also worth noting (as Stefan already said above) that the motors are different between the two. The Fazua motor is designed as a lighter weight but lower assist motor. You'll likely get more range per battery whr out of the Fazua, but thats accomplished at the expense of assist power (it provides less power so uses less battery). If thats what you want, its totally fine. The idea is to provide a lighter weight bike that feels more like a non-electric bike and still gives you some assist. The Yamaha on the Giant, on the other hand, is the highest power motor that Yamaha makes, generally specced on mountainbikes. In higher assist settings it will give a lot of assist and concurrently burn through battery very rapidly.

I'll note that I can probably stretch my Giant a lot further than I do by turning assist down (I've run it with eco in 50% assist while riding at lower speed with people on non-electric bikes and could likely stretch the 375 to 50 miles doing that). Even riding with my wife with eco at 100% assist (the default) I get more mileage because shes a more conservative rider than me and we ride at a slower pace. Conversely I've just about killed the 375 in 15 miles with it on max assist holding 25+mph into the wind.

 

[jabberwocky]

wow that is low but that seems about right for the 500. It pretty bad that a Giant mountian bike has more range. Who knows another 10 year it will be what you get less then 150 miles out of a full charge?

I'm not a lightweight dude (220lbs) and ride fast, mostly on hilly gravel. With the rough roads, hills and me liking to push speed on the ebike I generally burn about 11-11.5whr per mile. So the 375 gets me 32.5-34miles. The extender adds 20.5-22 miles to that. Thats almost entirely in eco at 100% assist, averaging ~17mph or so, roughly 100ft of climbing per mile.

I burn more per mile on my EMTB but it has a 540whr battery. My record on that bike is just under 40 miles of trail.

As I said above, I sometimes ride with the local gravel club (all on non-electric bikes). When I do I use Giants app to turn the assist from 100% to 50% so I can ride at their pace and get a good workout. At 50% assist I go slower and get much more range.

The bottom line is you can make relative comparisons between bikes, but figuring out real world range for a bike and person is hugely variable. Depends on what kind of riding you're doing (hills and how rough the riding surface is, how much you weigh, how fast you ride, how much assist you want, etc).

 

[Curiouscarrot]

Thanks for that information. The giant revolt + sounds like the kind of bike I want with regards to the power it can generate and sounds like a fun bike to use. I suppose the only sticking point may be the battery. I am UK based so max speed will be 15.5mph with the motor, not sure if that will make a difference to the battery range?

 

[ruffruff]

FYI, the Giant Drive systems are rebranded Yamaha motors. They are good, reliable motors. I had an eMTB with the pw-x motor and I felt it punched way above it's class.
If I remember it was rated at 65Nm and it never gave me a problem on single track climbs. I really liked the motor.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thanks for that information. The giant revolt + sounds like the kind of bike I want with regards to the power it can generate and sounds like a fun bike to use. I suppose the only sticking point may be the battery. I am UK based so max speed will be 15.5mph with the motor, not sure if that will make a difference to the battery range?

Oh yes, it will. The 15.5 mph speed restriction will certainly make your rides longer, as long as you will stay in lower assistance modes. However, it is the hills that kill the range in your case.

FYI, the Giant Drive systems are rebranded Yamaha motors. They are good, reliable motors. I had an eMTB with the pw-x motor and I felt it punched way above it's class.
If I remember it was rated at 65Nm and it never gave me a problem on single track climbs. I really liked the motor.

I agree the SyncDrive motors are good. I used to own a Giant Trance E+ 2 Pro with 80 Nm Syncdrive Pro (Yamaha PW-X2) and the motor was improbably strong, especially uphill. Only I soon discovered the 500 Wh battery was too small and soon invested in a 625 Wh one. The problem is, the Revolt E+ can only use the 375 Wh battery.

 

[jabberwocky]

The problem is, the Revolt E+ can only use the 375 Wh battery.

The 500whr battery from the 2021 fits the 2020 fine. Drawback is you probably have to buy it.

 

[Sefutau2020]

I have the 2021 Fastroad E+ EX Pro which is a great bike. This motor is really strong, and I ride exclusively in ECO mode, because frankly, the motor is so powerful, that I don't need a higher level of assist. At 6'3, and north of 250....I still get 50 to 55 miles out of one charge, which is perfect for my 40 mile loop ride. Of all of my ebikes, this is the favorite. It is so much fun to ride, I wouldn't mind having a second one as a backup....lol.

 

[Curiouscarrot]

So I ended up getting the giant revolt e+ 2020 and I also tested a FAZUA motor on a boardman bike and the difference really is night and day, the giant sync drive pro is so much more powerful and the acceleration is on a different level, I completed a 16 mile ride today and that used around 40% battery in basic mode which was enough power for me, so probably get around 40 miles out of the 375kwh battery, I contacted giant to order a 500kwh battery but they are not in stock until June. Really fun bike to ride though, now the question is do I de-restrict the bike or not? Has anyone used a badass box by any chance?

 

[Downhiller]

I have the 2020 Revolt with the 375 battery. The extender (EnergyPak Plus) adds 240whr which helps with the pain somewhat. 375whr is fine for me as long as I'm doing a loop under 30 miles but generally I have the extender on there and the combo is good for 50-55 or so. I'm 220 pounds and ride fast, mostly gravel.

Giant does now sell a 500whr battery that is compatible with the 2020 bikes (link). My wife got a 2021 Liv Thrive which uses the same motor/battery as my Revolt but came with the 500whr battery and I sometimes borrow it for longer solo rides. I may buy one this year and relegate the 375 to a backup battery. The 500+extender is good for 60-65 miles for me at a brisk pace.

Agreed with Stefan that Giant effed up doing the 375. They seem to have agreed because it only lasted a year. The Revolt is a great bike though, I have thousands of miles of gravel on mine and it still puts a smile on my face when I take it out. The Yamaha motor is great.

Has the thrive been used on gravel/dirt roads too ? Curious the range she gets and anything else !