Possible Giant Hack

[tomtom69uk]

After taking my bike to the main dealers with a problem it was discovered by a little known fact. All Giant bikes are sold worldwide with exactly the same components and specs. Apparently where they go and to what restrictions that country has with ebike speeds etc.
The bike is set up using the control buttons to a set sequence.
My problem was the motor cut out at 20kph instead of 25kph and apparently mine had been reset to the Chinese regulations.

I think I'd played about with the controller and accidently reset it to this. To set to the European regulations you have to turn the power on and press the light button 5 times in quick succession. The technician did this and everything corrected itself .

Makes you wonder if the USA settings are to press the light button 6 or 7 times to get an extra 5mph out of them.

I think the Chinese setup is about 3 or 4 as to how I accidently changed mine!

None of the technicians at Giant knew about this and was only told by the techs at head office when asked. They said none of this was mentioned at their training courses!!

Worth a look at and it really makes sense.

 

[PDoz]

So are there any us riders who could ask their lbs what the us sequence is? Hypothetically speaking....

 

[Ron from BC]

There was a post in the Giant brand forum regarding the Quick E. The poster said that the dealer changed the speed limiter on one of the bikes in the shop to allow the customer to get a sense of the 28mph that some models come with from the factory. The maximum speed for the throttle on Pedego bikes can be changed within the display settings quite easily so it wouldn't surprise me.

It should be easy to test it, please report back...

 

[tomtom69uk]

Yeah, if you lived in California where the speed assist is allowed up to 28mph on a pedelec then you wouldn't buy a bike that wasn't capable of doing it and there's no way any bike manufactures would made specific models for individual states!

 

[tomtom69uk]

Yeah, if you lived in California where the speed assist is allowed up to 28mph on a pedelec then you wouldn't buy a bike that wasn't capable of doing it and there's no way any bike manufactures would made specific models for individual states!

 

[glenmorenee]

I would guess that if you were to do anything to change the speed assist, even if temporarily, that information would be stored. And if you were to ever need warranty work, it would show up and your warranty would be void.

 

[tomtom69uk]

Apparently not. I took my bike to the dealer and they did an analysis which did a print out of all the information which included all the rides, how many times it had been charged, speeds etc but not information that it had been chipped at some point. If fact, he mentioned that he used a badass dongle on his!!

 

[PDoz]

Apparently not. I took my bike to the dealer and they did an analysis which did a print out of all the information which included all the rides, how many times it had been charged, speeds etc but not information that it had been chipped at some point. If fact, he mentioned that he used a badass dongle on his!!

Did that information include what level of assistance was being provided at various speeds? ( eg indirectly indicated it was operating assistance above standard)

 

[tomtom69uk]

No, none what so ever. It gave the percentage of assists but not what speed or to what extent it gave.
You can see exactly what they know about the bike history. As I said, nothing about chipping can be detected!
Cheers

 

[Ron from BC]

Now that you know how to set the speed limitations for the UK have you tried to do the 'light' button clicks to get other market speeds?

 

[tomtom69uk]

I haven't no, I've got the Speedbox 2 in mine so that makes it unlimited anyway. I don't know if anyone else has given it a go?

 

[cheekee]

I have tried 2 speedbox 2 dongles on my giant dirt E+2 2016. both switched the bike off during riding. Now using the greenped module and its awesome.

 

[Gazza1977]

Hi, stay in Cape Town South Africa, ordered my Giant Quick-E from Canada and there the bikes have a (20mph) 32km/h speed limit, in South Africa they advertise and sell the same bikes with (28mph) 42km/h. Been reading various forums and it seems the display option can be changed to take off the speed limit but this may only be done if you have the speedbox 2 controller. Another easy hack is to change your tyre size on the display or move the speed magnet off the bike frame and connect to pedal making the bike think you are going slower which allows you to go faster, but your speed and distance on your display computer will be wrong so you would have to use another GPS for accurate speeds and distance. Just wondering if riding the bike at max speed of 42km/h may damage motor? Thanks Gary

 

[Hoseroony]

After taking my bike to the main dealers with a problem it was discovered by a little known fact. All Giant bikes are sold worldwide with exactly the same components and specs. Apparently where they go and to what restrictions that country has with ebike speeds etc.
The bike is set up using the control buttons to a set sequence.
My problem was the motor cut out at 20kph instead of 25kph and apparently mine had been reset to the Chinese regulations.

I think I'd played about with the controller and accidently reset it to this. To set to the European regulations you have to turn the power on and press the light button 5 times in quick succession. The technician did this and everything corrected itself .

Makes you wonder if the USA settings are to press the light button 6 or 7 times to get an extra 5mph out of them.

I think the Chinese setup is about 3 or 4 as to how I accidently changed mine!

None of the technicians at Giant knew about this and was only told by the techs at head office when asked. They said none of this was mentioned at their training courses!!

Worth a look at and it really makes sense.

This *exact* thing just happened to me. I bought a new Quick E+ 2019 and had played with the lights a few times (before I could 'open' it for xmas), then I took it out on xmas day and the motor stopped helping at ~10mph... came home, found this thread. Pressed power, then the light button 5 times, and then the screen turned off. today, I took it out, and the limit is gone. Keep this in mind giant owners!

 

[Ron from BC]

Gone? What was your limit before?

 

[Hoseroony]

Gone? What was your limit before?

good question, sorry for being indistinct. I live in the states, and its a class 3 here, meaning 28mph limit. I think, playing with the buttons, I had reset it to be in some sort of 'demo' mode that limited it to 10mph. Yesterday, it felt like I was like hitting a wall at 10mph. Then I hit power, then the light button 5 times, and now its assisting me over 20mph again, I didn't take it to 28 tonight, but I presume its back to its original limit.

 

[Ron from BC]

That's interesting, it will be good when you can confirm that you're getting assistance up to the US Quickie E+ limit of 28mph. Some time ago another poster mentioned that his LBS did some button pressing to allow a US customer to take a demo ride on a bike capable of 28mph as he didn't have one of the Class 3 bikes on the floor, a Quickie for example.

If this does work then it makes sense that the method would also apply to any Giant bikes with the same motor etc but that is 'throttled back' to 20mph as in the '18 Dirt E+ or it's replacement in '19 the Fathom E+.

Look forward to reading of your 28mph test. :>)

 

[Gazza1977]

I am also eagerly watching this as i should get my Canadian Giant Quick-E + in the next week and in Canada they limit it to 20 mph (32km/h) and i want the 28 mph (44,8km/h) and it makes sense they do a software change on it to cater for all the different countries.

Once i have my bike will do a ride on standard settings, then the POWER - LIGHT BUTTON x 5 and see what i get.

 

[Ron from BC]

Good idea, it's certainly not going to do any harm to try it. I also believe that this might work as my wife's Pedego is capable of changing the maximum speed on the throttle right in the controller set up menu settings. I realize that it has a different motor and electronics however the concept is the same.

I would also assume that if this method does work then in doing so it shouldn't effect the accuracy of any of the controller reported readings like in speed, distance, cadence etc.

 

[cheekee]

How quickly did you press the light buttons and did the display switch off after you did it ?

Thanks