Kevin Smith
New Member
After months of shopping around for a bike under $3k CAD I had pretty much exhausted the sales bins around town and almost given up for the season.
Then while cruising a few bike shop sites with a coffee on a Saturday morning I landed upon the new 2018 Giant Explore +3 for $2899. Really just what I was looking for - a hybrid with front suspension, Yamaha mid motor, and great 29er wheels. I rushed down to Toronto for a test drive and pulled out my credit card and bought it about 5 minutes later.
This bike is a 2018 model in North America but it was a 2017 in Europe with two higher level versions. So bit of a bare bones bike, no lights or fender but great suspension forks and sporty geometry and loads of fun on the trails. Very much like my Giant Roam I've ridden for the past few years. Picked up a Thudbuster off of Amazon for 30% less than the LBS, and a Giant rear rack and Axiom trunk bag and it's been smooth sailing. Went camping with it last weekend and blew away my riding buddy.
A little over a week and 100km in I couldn't be much happier. Range is looking great - after a 40km ride on the weekend with really mixed terrain there was still 65% on the battery and the range estimator said 70km to go. 20 hilly km a few days later and I still had 35% left.
