Hi, just bought my first ebike -- Giant Explore E+3

[Slow Rider]

Hi everyone! First time ebike owner here. After doing way too much research, bought a Giant Explore E+3. A couple of unique things about this bike. It doesn't have an lcd control unit that most bikes in this price range have, but what Giant calls RideControl One; just a couple of buttons to control the power assist and a few lcd's to indicate the assist and battery levels. At first I was a little disappointed that it didn't have an lcd screen with all the outputs, but I probably don't need them anyway.

I also didn't know about the iphone app until after I bought the bike, which you can use to change the assist settings and it looks like it can also map your rides. Looking forward to trying it out!

 

[DaveMatthews]

Nice ride! Congrats and welcome.
The app is very new. It can map your ride, upload to Strava, has exact battery percentage, speed, cadence etc.
Enjoy!

 

[rich c]

Easy to find the valve stems with that highlight on the rim! I wonder how long your phone battery will last with that app running. Is there a place to plug in your phone? I agree, great looking bike. Giant's web site shows a display, curious. https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/explore-eplus-3-2018

 

[DaveMatthews]

Easy to find the valve stems with that highlight on the rim! I wonder how long your phone battery will last with that app running. Is there a place to plug in your phone? I agree, great looking bike. Giant's web site shows a display, curious. https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/explore-eplus-3-2018

Seems that almost all 2019 Giants have no built-in display, like my Fathom. 2018s all had them.

 

[Browneye]

Like! Just ordered the last one of 2019. Can't wait.

Now that you've had it for awhile, how 'bout a 'long term report' on it???

 

[Slow Rider]

Hi Browneye,

I've had the bike for over a year now, and I feel like it's probably the best money I have ever spent. I am commuting to work with it, a little less than 5 miles each way, pretty flat. The goal riding in is to not work up a sweat so I usually ride in PAS 2 or 3 at around 15mph and use around 7-9% battery. On the way home I don't use the PAS very much, basically using it only when I want to get up to speed from a stop (knee saver). The bike rides great with the power off, and its an opportunity for me to get in a little exercise. I have seen some posts claiming that all mid-motors have drag, but at least for my Giant/Yamaha, the drag isn't really noticeable.

Seat was a little hard so I bought a zacro gel seat cover and that has been good enough until now. The stock Crosscut tires were absorbing a lot of the bumps in the road, so when I switched to Schwalbe Marathon Plus last week, I definitely noticed a harsher ride. I got a Satori Harmony suspension seat and it helped out a little, getting the ride back to where it was before I changed tires.

Front suspension is a little too soft for me, and most of the time I have it locked.

The one thing which I am not sure is a good or bad thing is that the Explore E+3 doesn't have integrated lights. I'm running a Cygolite Metro Plus 800 on the front and NiteRider Solas 250 on the back, and think they are probably better than lights that come standard with the other versions of Explore, but it is slightly inconvenient to have to remember to charge them.

Not much else I can think of but quality of the bike seems really good, wheels are still true and the brakes stop me on a dime.

 

[Browneye]

Outstanding!
Those same tires arrived today , haven’t even got the bike yet, lol
Ordered a suspension seatpost, a phone mount, a helmet, and was looking at battery lights and a cateye speedo.
Can hardly wait to get the bike - what a great report!

Oh, and 45* stem - to raise the bars. I’m old. Lol