Ride Control Firmware

Hey I appreciate this forum. I have a 2019 Quick E+. The bike has been fantastic. I've put about 1900 miles on it. I'm a complete techie and I can't believe I just figured out this week that there's an app for RideControl. I downloaded it last night and it all worked fine to connect to my bike. It works on both my Android and iPhone. The one thing I cannot get to work is the Nav feature. I can use the planning function in the app and set a destination and see the route in the app, but I cannot see anything on the Evo display. Similar to other posts, in the Bluetooth settings on the iPhone, I can see the bike, but don't have the ability to select the info button for that bluetooth connection. My LBS is pretty good and nearby, and they have flashed the Evo themselves at my last service. Is there anything I need to do or check to get the Nav working? Or is it just a wait-and-see as Giant works out the kinks? Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Hi Alvin,
No, I haven't had time to try this out yet. Today is heavy rain and 50mph wind gust, so maybe tomorrow if I'm lucky.
Glad you got connected!
Hello Dave,
The new APP version works pretty well. I don't think that the visual format is anywhere near as clean or straightforward to use as the previous version. Still, serviceable and I will just have to get used to it. With respect to my issues with the firmware updates and Smart Assist...I ride with my tools, patches, CO2, winter gear, spare battery, etc. so I run a bit high on the power settings. At sport and sport+ (about 250%) the bike rides very closely to what it did with Smart Assist (pre-update). In the manual setting I am seeing none of the hesitation or surginess (is this a word?) and trouble of the new Smart Assist. Down to about 55 miles/charge from about 65-70 miles/charge on the 500 watt battery so I need to reoptimize my gear selections. Still, all is good and it is perhaps time to give up on help from manufacturer.
 
Hey I appreciate this forum. I have a 2019 Quick E+. The bike has been fantastic. I've put about 1900 miles on it. I'm a complete techie and I can't believe I just figured out this week that there's an app for RideControl. I downloaded it last night and it all worked fine to connect to my bike. It works on both my Android and iPhone. The one thing I cannot get to work is the Nav feature. I can use the planning function in the app and set a destination and see the route in the app, but I cannot see anything on the Evo display. Similar to other posts, in the Bluetooth settings on the iPhone, I can see the bike, but don't have the ability to select the info button for that bluetooth connection. My LBS is pretty good and nearby, and they have flashed the Evo themselves at my last service. Is there anything I need to do or check to get the Nav working? Or is it just a wait-and-see as Giant works out the kinks? Thanks in advance for any help.
I had a pretty good discussion on email with Giant tech support and they said "the turn by turn navigation on the Evo is not possible at this time with the current update." I'm not sure if it's specfic to the bike or to all Evo displays. Here's to hoping it works at some point.
 
I had a pretty good discussion on email with Giant tech support and they said "the turn by turn navigation on the Evo is not possible at this time with the current update." I'm not sure if it's specfic to the bike or to all Evo displays. Here's to hoping it works at some point.
Also does not work on 2021 Giant Explore e+ 1 with the newer EVO display. No heart rate either.
 
I had a pretty good discussion on email with Giant tech support and they said "the turn by turn navigation on the Evo is not possible at this time with the current update." I'm not sure if it's specfic to the bike or to all Evo displays. Here's to hoping it works at some point.
What is the email address for Giant USA Tech Support ?
 
Navigation and on screen phone messages were both advertised selling features of the Giant bike. It still upsets me these don’t work flawlessly after having the bike a year and a half. At his point a partial refund seems like a logical request.
 
Navigation and on screen phone messages were both advertised selling features of the Giant bike. It still upsets me these don’t work flawlessly after having the bike a year and a half. At his point a partial refund seems like a logical request.

Navigation and on screen phone messages were both advertised selling features of the Giant bike. It still upsets me these don’t work flawlessly after having the bike a year and a half. At his point a partial refund seems like a logical request.
I now what you mean. We spent several months reading, renting and riding. Already owned two Giant dino-bikes and loved them. Now my wife won't download the software onto her phone and refuses to take her LIV ebike into the shop for fear of what will get irreversibly messed up. I actually feel ill when I get to feeling like I got 'took'. I think we are like a lot of riders...repeat customers. We've owned 3 dino-bikes from Specialized and 2 from Giant. This is getting to the point of moving on to another company just so I can keep my blood pressure under control and not be upset all the time. I ride to relax. This doesn't help.
 
Calm down Alvin please. Giant hardware is sound. The software in the bike is adequate. We, Giant e-bike owners are only infuriated with the app. Just think of Bosch equipped e-bikes: you cannot think of any connectivity with most of them. Is it Trek Allant+ or the luxury Riese & Müller 😄 With Giant app you can at least control the battery level, get some diagnostic info and adjust assistance levels. Try that out with Bosch Purion or Intuvia...
 
There’s always gonna be a disconnect between what the engineers build and what marketing says it can do. Best practice is to buy based on what the bike and software does at the time you wrote the check, and just assume any features that get added later are happy bonuses. I think giants hardware is great, and have no complaints about it. Their app is rough but gets the job done, where the job is “update firmware and adjust assist levels”.

Honestly, if you want notifications and navigation get one of garmins units. I’m willing to bet that nobody is going to ever do that as effectively as them, since software in general and navigation in particular is a total side gig for the Giants of the world, whereas it’s garmins bread and butter. Plus then you can move it between bikes and have a common interface.
 
Honestly, if you want notifications and navigation get one of garmins units. I’m willing to bet that nobody is going to ever do that as effectively as them, since software in general and navigation in particular is a total side gig for the Giants of the world, whereas it’s garmins bread and butter. Plus then you can move it between bikes and have a common interface.
Or, a smartphone and one of many apps such as RideWithGPS...
 
Calm down Alvin please. Giant hardware is sound. The software in the bike is adequate. We, Giant e-bike owners are only infuriated with the app. Just think of Bosch equipped e-bikes: you cannot think of any connectivity with most of them. Is it Trek Allant+ or the luxury Riese & Müller 😄 With Giant app you can at least control the battery level, get some diagnostic info and adjust assistance levels. Try that out with Bosch Purion or Intuvia...
Hello Stefan,
Many thanks. You are, of course, correct. Just infuriating on occasion. My Explore rides well and is fantastically predictable (no surprises in the hardware). I have read about the Bosch equipment.
Calm down Alvin please. Giant hardware is sound. The software in the bike is adequate. We, Giant e-bike owners are only infuriated with the app. Just think of Bosch equipped e-bikes: you cannot think of any connectivity with most of them. Is it Trek Allant+ or the luxury Riese & Müller 😄 With Giant app you can at least control the battery level, get some diagnostic info and adjust assistance levels. Try that out with Bosch Purion or Intuvia...
Hello Stefan,
Thanks, you are, of course, correct. I let my frustration get the better of me. My Explore is rides very well and has been mechanically reliable. In the big scheme of things, y'all have helped me with a good work around settings that give me what I need. I was preparing another, similar, post and it suddenly vanished from my screen...it may also appear...sorry, I just started over. On another front, on the Ride Control One, on going to the middle power setting and then decreasing the assistance level by one value, I have managed to get the ride to feel very similar to my Revolt 3 on level pavement and the range is at 115 km for the the 500 watt battery. That is with me and about 13 kg of tools, water bottles and cloths. I just have to stop and think before letting my typing get ahead of me.

Thanks again, Alvin
 
I was very pleased with how the first iteration of the Giant Ride Control app for the iPhone updated my Transend E+'s firmware and recorded my rides. Unfortunately the 1.0 version of the newest Ride Control app for the iPhone didn't work for me. It would attempt to update my bike's firmware and lock up at 15%. Thankfully the previous version of the app still worked fine for a while then it expired. I rode without an app for a week or so and finally version, 1.1.0 of the new app was available and it updated my bike and worked just fine as has the newest version 1.2.1. Fingers crossed everything keeps working.
 
I was very pleased with how the first iteration of the Giant Ride Control app for the iPhone updated my Transend E+'s firmware and recorded my rides. Unfortunately the 1.0 version of the newest Ride Control app for the iPhone didn't work for me. It would attempt to update my bike's firmware and lock up at 15%. Thankfully the previous version of the app still worked fine for a while then it expired. I rode without an app for a week or so and finally version, 1.1.0 of the new app was available and it updated my bike and worked just fine as has the newest version 1.2.1. Fingers crossed everything keeps working.
Thanks! I will keep trying to load it. Been thinking that it might even be heavy internet traffic during the holidays and everyone being at home.
 
Thanks! I will keep trying to load it. Been thinking that it might even be heavy internet traffic during the holidays and everyone being at home.
Hello Coolbob and anyone that reads this...
Hoping that someone has had more luck than I. Still trying to update the RideControlOne app on my phone. Took it off and then reloaded. Confirmed that password and email address still worked. On attempting to start the update the little bike icon just keeps rolling across the screen and the percent complete bar never moves. I have been standing there and intermittently pushed the control buttons so that the bike doesn't shut down. I have still had no movement in the percent complete bar after 10 minutes and 15 minutes. Perhaps this really takes much longer than the advertised 'about 5 minutes'. That's okay. When the bike has switched 'off' in the previous efforts the app tell me that the connection has been lost. In addition to trying to figure this out, I need to know if the firmware/software resident in the bike is being updated or is it only the app setting up communications with the bike. I have the phone adjacent to the RideControlOne panel. Thoughts, suggestions and insights are welcome. Right now, I'm not sure how to tell if the app and bike are really 'talking to each other'. Thanks, Alvin
 
@Alvin1957 Sorry to hear you are still having difficulty.
Here’s what I’d try... Delete app from phone, reboot phone, don’t open any other apps after restarting phone, go straight to App Store and reinstall the app.
Be sure you have bike in a location where you have a good WiFi signal. Also make sure bike and phone have a good charge. Power up bike, launch app, initiate update and set phone near bike. Cross fingers......
I did all of those things and it didn’t work with first version of new app, but worked like a charm with the two latest app versions.
 
@Alvin1957 Sorry to hear you are still having difficulty.
Here’s what I’d try... Delete app from phone, reboot phone, don’t open any other apps after restarting phone, go straight to App Store and reinstall the app.
Be sure you have bike in a location where you have a good WiFi signal. Also make sure bike and phone have a good charge. Power up bike, launch app, initiate update and set phone near bike. Cross fingers......
I did all of those things and it didn’t work with first version of new app, but worked like a charm with the two latest app versions.

@Alvin1957 Sorry to hear you are still having difficulty.
Here’s what I’d try... Delete app from phone, reboot phone, don’t open any other apps after restarting phone, go straight to App Store and reinstall the app.
Be sure you have bike in a location where you have a good WiFi signal. Also make sure bike and phone have a good charge. Power up bike, launch app, initiate update and set phone near bike. Cross fingers......
I did all of those things and it didn’t work with first version of new app, but worked like a charm with the two latest app versions.
Hello Coolbob,
The procedure does seem to have worked. With respect to the signal strength...Finally had to move my bike right up next to the router. Signal strength indicator didn't change but the update started immediately and only took about 3 minutes. Many thanks. Alvin
 
@Alvin1957 So glad to hear you were able to update your bike!

My understanding is that the bike firmware isn't downloaded in it's entirety and stored on the phone. So the phone/app act as a conduit between the Giant server with the firmware and your bike, downloading the firmware on the fly over your phone's WiFi and sending it to your bike via bluetooth. That's why it's important to have a strong WiFi signal.
 
My bike did not come with lights, so I've added a battery powered light to my rear rack and wired an aftermarket headlight into the bike's wiring so it is controlled by the OEM headlight switch on the RideControl One controls. This may have been covered already, but I just powered up my Transend E+ for the first time since the most recent update and the headlight now comes on by default when the bike is powered up.
 
@Alvin1957 So glad to hear you were able to update your bike!

My understanding is that the bike firmware isn't downloaded in it's entirety and stored on the phone. So the phone/app act as a conduit between the Giant server with the firmware and your bike, downloading the firmware on the fly over your phone's WiFi and sending it to your bike via bluetooth. That's why it's important to have a strong WiFi signal.
My experience is that WIFI is only necessary to download the latest app. After that it's Bluetooth from phone app to Bike. My garage is well outside of my home's wifi range and I've always updated my bike in the garage. I could be in error but I don't think I get a wifi signal out to the garage.
 
I just got my Explore and the RideControl app a few weeks ago. Where in the app is the firmware upgrade option? The app updated itself to the latest v1.2.1 but I have not seen any options to upgrade the firmware for the bike.
 
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