The Giant Stance E+ is aimed at less experienced ridersGiant
Giant Trance E+ 0Giant
Giant Trance SX E+ 0Giant
Giant Stance E+ 0Giant
Giant hopes that its e-MTBs will get more riders out into the mountainsGiant
A simpler single pivot with linkage-actuated shock is used on the Stance E+Giant
The motor’s weight sits low in the bikeGiant
Giant has worked with Yamaha on the SyncDrive motorGiant
The new SyncDrive motor has four sets of sensorsGiant
The Trance SX E+ is aimed at big-mountain ridersGiant
The new battery will be placed as low as possible in the down tubeGiant
Giant’s new e-MTB range boasts the new Yamaha SyncDrive motor for up to 360 percent assistance when pedalling, a quick response time and a battery that recharges to 60 percent in one hour.
The popular Stance, Trance and Trance SX get the e-bike treatment, giving a range of e-mountain bikes that cover everything from a 120mm intro bike for exploring, to a beefier 140mm trail machine.
Giant has worked with Yamaha over the years on its SyncDrive motor and this has seen updates for 2019 with two models: the Pro and the Sport.
The updated motor gets two battery options, with 500Wh or 400Wh capacities. These new motors have found their way in to three mountain bike model families, with 150mm, 140mm and 120mm of rear wheel travel, covering a range of price points.
Giant’s new SyncDrive motor and EnergyPak batteries
Giant has worked with Yamaha on the SyncDrive motorGiant
SyncDrive Pro and SyncDrive Sport motors
The Pro gives up to 360 percent assistance (within the 250W limit), and up to 80Nm of torque — these torque figures are about as high as any e-bike motor gets.
This power is provided to the cranks fully up to 120rpm in the three higher power modes, while it’s provided up to 110rpm in the two lower modes.
The Pro motor also reportedly benefits from a very quick response time, 190 milliseconds, to crank inputs. So, in theory the motor shouldn’t have much discernable lag when riding up technical climbs.
The clutch mechanism inside and the internal ratchet have been improved as well, to help with the reactivity of the motor, while the 168mm Q-factor (distance between the cranks) is pretty low. Giant claims the motor weighs 3.1kg
The new SyncDrive motor has four sets of sensorsGiant
The Sport motor is built for cheaper bikes. As such, it weighs a touch more at 3.48kg and has a slightly slower reaction time to crank inputs thanks to a longer clutch engagement time.
It still provides up to 250W of assistance, with up to 80Nm of torque, though that’s only available up to a pedalling cadence of 110rpm. The crank/bottom bracket interface is square taper.
The motors react thanks to ‘PedalPlus’ technology, which uses torque sensors (for pedal inputs), speed sensors (not linked to the crank’s rotations), as well as motor and pedal rotation sensors to make sure the motor reacts properly to the rider’s inputs for a natural, efficient and immediate assistance — according to Giant.
EnergyPak battery
The new battery will be placed as low as possible in the down tubeGiant
The accompanying battery is better integrated into Giant’s frames, mounting lower down in the down tube for better weight distribution.
There is a two-lock system, which Giant says makes life easier, while there’s also smart charging, allowing recharging up to 60 percent of full capacity in one hour. Increased space between battery cells means the battery should heat up less too.
With the 500Wh battery, Giant is claiming up to 150km of range in Eco mode with the less-powerful Sport motor and 110km with the Pro motor. In the top ‘Power’ mode this drops to 50km and 45km respectively. The 400Wh battery option obviously provides correspondingly lower ranges.
Giant Trance SX E+ Pro
Giant Trance SX E+ 0Giant
The Trance SX E+ Pro is a 140mm trail and enduro bike, coming equipped with 160mm of front suspension. Giant says that this is for advanced and aggressive riders looking to ride more technical terrain with greater ease.
The rear suspension utilises Giant’s long-used Maestro linkage to deliver the 140mm of travel to the aluminium frame. The bikes come with 27.5in wheels and are specced with 2.6in rubber.
The Trance SX E+ is aimed at big-mountain ridersGiant
A size Large bike will have a reach of 452mm, 469.5mm chainstays, a 66-degree head angle, 73.5-degree seat angle and 1,233mm wheelbase.
Both models of the Trance SX E+ Pro (the ‘1’ at €5,999 and the ‘2’ at €4,599) will get the SyncDrive Pro motor and 500wh EnergyPak.
Giant pitches the Trance E+ Pro as an all-round trail bike, built for better climbing and longer days in the mountains. The bikes will come with 140mm of rear wheel travel, via the Maestro suspension system, and 150mm of fork travel.
A Large Trance E+ Pro will have a reach of 460mm, 469.5mm chainstays, a 66.5-degree head angle, 74-degree seat tube angle and a wheelbase of 1,231mm.
There will be four models of the Trance E+ Pro, from the top-level ‘0’ at €5,499 to the ‘3’ at €3,799. They all get the SyncDrive Pro motor and the 500Wh EnergyPak.
The Stance E+ is aimed at slightly more recreationally focussed mountain bikers; those looking to get in to e-MTBs as a starting point or those whose position on the bike favours a less aggressive style of machine.
Giant uses a linkage-driven single pivot suspension for the Stance E+, rather than the Maestro suspension found elsewhere. These aluminium bikes will have 120mm of frame travel and 130mm of fork travel.
All four Stance E+ models will use the SyncDrive Sport motor, and the top three models (the ‘0’, ‘1’, and ‘2 Power’) get the 500Wh EnergyPak. The entry level ‘2’ model gets a 400Wh version of the battery.
The Giant Stance E+ is aimed at less experienced ridersGiant
Tom Marvin is a technical editor at BikeRadar.com and MBUK magazine. He has a particular focus on mountain bikes, but spends plenty of time on gravel bikes, too. Tom has written for BikeRadar, MBUK and Cycling Plus, and was previously technical editor of What Mountain Bike magazine. He is also a regular presenter on BikeRadar’s YouTube channel and the BikeRadar podcast. With more than twenty years of mountain biking experience, and nearly a decade of testing mountain and gravel bikes, Tom has ridden and tested thousands of bikes and products, from super-light XC race bikes through to the most powerful brakes on the market. Outside of testing bikes, Tom competes in a wide range of mountain bike races, from multi-day enduros through to 24-hour races in the depths of the Scottish winter – pushing bikes, components and his legs to their limits. He’s also worked out that shaving your legs saves 8 watts, while testing aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. When not riding he can be found at the climbing wall, in his garden or cooking up culinary delights.
