Ride Control Update

Trancer

Member
Feb 19, 2020
50
78
UK
Hi everyone, I've just joined the forum after lurking for a couple of months. Found the information on here very useful so I thought I'd contribute...
There is now an update available for the Ride Control app (Android) allowing power mode tuning and firmware updates on 2020 spec. Giant ebikes. Downloaded mine this morning with no snags.
 

Silato

Member
Nov 29, 2018
128
73
Manchester UK
Hi everyone, I've just joined the forum after lurking for a couple of months. Found the information on here very useful so I thought I'd contribute...
There is now an update available for the Ride Control app (Android) allowing power mode tuning and firmware updates on 2020 spec. Giant ebikes. Downloaded mine this morning with no snags.

Just updated my 2019 trance e
 

Oldcrank

Member
Jan 5, 2020
67
54
Albuquerque NM
Good! Even if for Android.
I talked to Giant USA and learned that the current RideControl for iOS does not play nice with 2020 bikes. Mine! ?
However, update expected in a month or two ( or three).
Really like my Stance e+2. Auto mode works great.
 

04fuxake

Active member
Feb 12, 2018
321
205
Porirua, NZ
Yup, just updated my iOS version and the elusive “Update e-bike” menu option has now also appeared.
 
Last edited:

Wernher

Active member
May 30, 2019
180
181
Cape St Francis
Hi everyone, I've just joined the forum after lurking for a couple of months. Found the information on here very useful so I thought I'd contribute...
There is now an update available for the Ride Control app (Android) allowing power mode tuning and firmware updates on 2020 spec. Giant ebikes. Downloaded mine this morning with no snags.
Thanks I almost missed this one. This is really awesome. I like the change to the walk mode as it has always been a bit creepy to use and the upgrade option is fantastic. Until now this has been my biggest criticism against Giant. I love it! ?
 

Softsand

Active member
Dec 5, 2019
151
115
Western Australia
Be nice if the app did half the things that the Levo one does but it’s getting better.

No firmware update showing for a 2020 Reign E+ but we can now tune the settings - and also get an extra 10% (350>360 now !).
 

Oldcrank

Member
Jan 5, 2020
67
54
Albuquerque NM
New app, still not stable. Won’t record trip or show status sometimes. Giant tech said reloading app may help. He, too, had problems. I deleted app, reloaded & will check out again tomorrow.

Please post problems & fixes.
Many Thanks!
 

DrStupid

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Patreon
Jul 10, 2019
1,464
2,128
Pleasureville Ky
Thanks I almost missed this one. This is really awesome. I like the change to the walk mode as it has always been a bit creepy to use and the upgrade option is fantastic. Until now this has been my biggest criticism against Giant. I love it! ?

Update worked on my 2019 trance.

Totally agree after update... walk mode actually seems to work now!

Hopefully next we get higher cadence support on the 2019 models.
 

Wernher

Active member
May 30, 2019
180
181
Cape St Francis
Update worked on my 2019 trance.

Totally agree after update... walk mode actually seems to work now!

Hopefully next we get higher cadence support on the 2019 models.
Do you need more than 120 rpm? As long as you are in mode 3 or higher That's what you've got and it's never bothered me. Once you pedal higher than that you must change gears. TBH, I've never seen anybody going that high except maybe downhill and then it doesn't matter any way. I would have liked a trail mode on my 2019 Trance but I am so used to just touching the button when I need more power that I've learnt to work around that. What I want to experiment with is to use the heart rate training option in the app. If that will increase your power when you reach a certain heart rate threshold, it would be very useful. Never tried it before so not sure if it's going to work though.
 

DrStupid

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Patreon
Jul 10, 2019
1,464
2,128
Pleasureville Ky
Do you need more than 120 rpm? As long as you are in mode 3 or higher That's what you've got and it's never bothered me. Once you pedal higher than that you must change gears. TBH, I've never seen anybody going that high except maybe downhill and then it doesn't matter any way. I would have liked a trail mode on my 2019 Trance but I am so used to just touching the button when I need more power that I've learnt to work around that. What I want to experiment with is to use the heart rate training option in the app. If that will increase your power when you reach a certain heart rate threshold, it would be very useful. Never tried it before so not sure if it's going to work though.
The yamaha just feels like it goes flat at higher rpm when compared to the Shimano's I also ride. It makes great torque down low, what a motocrosser might call "grunt." But then goes flat, forcing a shift where the shimano sings on a little longer in each gear. Granted, the shimano's aren't as torquey at lower rpm.

I'd like the Giants grunt, with the Shimano's breadth... they should be able to do that by Monday?
 

Wernher

Active member
May 30, 2019
180
181
Cape St Francis
The yamaha just feels like it goes flat at higher rpm when compared to the Shimano's I also ride. It makes great torque down low, what a motocrosser might call "grunt." But then goes flat, forcing a shift where the shimano sings on a little longer in each gear. Granted, the shimano's aren't as torquey at lower rpm.

I'd like the Giants grunt, with the Shimano's breadth... they should be able to do that by Monday?
? I hear you. It reminds me of the time turbo diesels just came out. Some had a wider torque spread with more torque and the others had lower torque with a very narrow band. The ones with the very narrow band always felt super powerful when that torque kicked in but the others out performed then on the road and under constant load. That said, I love the Shimano and with the right apps their tunability. It is perhaps the most tunable motor out there as you can change every metric and the trail mode is a great advantage. My brother has 3 of them and I ride them occasionally.

One of the drawbacks of Giant is the absolute lack of information about some of their kit like the ride control app. It has exercise goals like heart rate but no indication about what it does. For instance whether it alters the motor support to keep you in a zone. If that was the case it would be a marvelous training tool and it would also assist you more when you start going over your target heart rate. There is however no indication anywhere about what it does and I'll have to experiment to see.

Other than that the Giant Yamaha combination is really reliable and a strong performer.
 

Wernher

Active member
May 30, 2019
180
181
Cape St Francis
Be nice if the app did half the things that the Levo one does but it’s getting better.

No firmware update showing for a 2020 Reign E+ but we can now tune the settings - and also get an extra 10% (350>360 now !).
Max power in boost was always 360% even on my 2019 Trance-e. The Yamaha PW-X had 350% with a lower max cadence as well. This I think has now been brought up more in line with the Giant spec.
 

Wernher

Active member
May 30, 2019
180
181
Cape St Francis
New app, still not stable. Won’t record trip or show status sometimes. Giant tech said reloading app may help. He, too, had problems. I deleted app, reloaded & will check out again tomorrow.

Please post problems & fixes.
Many Thanks!
On Android or could be related to permissions and battery management. If battery management is set up incorrectly it will interfere with the app and do this like switching it off to save battery.
 

Wernher

Active member
May 30, 2019
180
181
Cape St Francis
The yamaha just feels like it goes flat at higher rpm when compared to the Shimano's I also ride. It makes great torque down low, what a motocrosser might call "grunt." But then goes flat, forcing a shift where the shimano sings on a little longer in each gear. Granted, the shimano's aren't as torquey at lower rpm.

I'd like the Giants grunt, with the Shimano's breadth... they should be able to do that by Monday?
You could also try to lower your assistance on the third level because on level three it supports to 120 rpm whereas the two lower levels only supports to 100 or 110. I think it's 100 if I remember correctly. It makes a massive difference if you're climbing long hills and don't want to upshift and also want to keep the power at the same level. If I have one criticism, it's the fact that the different modes can't be swapped around because I don't need 5 modes but I can't get max support in mode 3. Then again if I'm under full pedal power in mode 3 going up a hill there is no difference when I go up in power as the bike is already giving its max anyway so I never go over mode 3 except when I really just want to cruise up something with low effort
 

Tony.OK

Active member
Mar 20, 2019
191
234
Napier, New Zealand
The yamaha just feels like it goes flat at higher rpm when compared to the Shimano's I also ride. It makes great torque down low, what a motocrosser might call "grunt." But then goes flat, forcing a shift where the shimano sings on a little longer in each gear. Granted, the shimano's aren't as torquey at lower rpm.

I'd like the Giants grunt, with the Shimano's breadth... they should be able to do that by Monday?
More up top support would make the Yamaha a beast.....would love to compare my 19 with the higher cadence 2020 Giants......found this graph which shows the Yamaha falls off way earlier than others.......see the green line. Torque drops off massively after 80rpm, very tractor like.

Torque-reverse-engineered.png
 

Wernher

Active member
May 30, 2019
180
181
Cape St Francis
More up top support would make the Yamaha a beast.....would love to compare my 19 with the higher cadence 2020 Giants......found this graph which shows the Yamaha falls off way earlier than others.......see the green line.

View attachment 26291
What's the max cadence on the 2020 bikes? Last time I checked it was the same as the 2019 bikes at 120. The only change I'm aware of is the auto mode that automatically ups the power if you go up hills. In reality I doubt its going to change my riding experience but I need to go and test the new bikes to see how it translates in real life riding.
 

Tony.OK

Active member
Mar 20, 2019
191
234
Napier, New Zealand
What's the max cadence on the 2020 bikes? Last time I checked it was the same as the 2019 bikes at 120. The only change I'm aware of is the auto mode that automatically ups the power if you go up hills. In reality I doubt its going to change my riding experience but I need to go and test the new bikes to see how it translates in real life riding.
Cadence is same but torque carries out further meaning you won't have to short shift to stay in full power/torque.....
 

Softsand

Active member
Dec 5, 2019
151
115
Western Australia
So, I checked a couple of 2020's (Liv Intrigue and Giant Reign) and using either Android or iOS devices, they all now allow for tuning but the RideControl section of the app is greyed out.

BTW. It would be great if the LED's displayed on the control cycled while charging like supposed to occur (and as the 2019's did ?). Maybe in the next update ?

BTW2. There was no firmware update available for either bike.
 

Oldcrank

Member
Jan 5, 2020
67
54
Albuquerque NM
Back from ride. Yes, deleting the RideControl app completely the reinstalling fresh worked......Mostly. the app showed correct miles even though the bike shut off during a snack break. However. The app lost all the map info.
All other functions worked. IF I remember to start the app THEN turn on the bike’s power. Progress nonetheless. ?
 

KuRi

Active member
May 30, 2019
376
186
Spain
Hey! Do you know what are the new features for 2019 bikes? I have read that the walk mode is more usable... but anything else? Thanks!
 

Oldcrank

Member
Jan 5, 2020
67
54
Albuquerque NM
I finally got Walk Mode to work.
Not a throttle. Got to push.
Lowest gear does help.
If cranks turn it is working!
Up a unrideable hill it was like the bike weighed 20 lbs not 55. ?
 

lharpel1

Member
Oct 18, 2019
52
32
Bristol
Morning,

The weekend was the first time I used the Ride control app and I used it to map my ride. But coming towards the end of my ride and I was down to 1 led on the bar control so I wanted to view the battery percentage on the app, but I could not find anyway to go back from the Map page to the page that show the battery percentage with out stopping and finishing my ride.

Is this right or am I missing something and it was purely user error ?

The the questions is. Can you view the battery percentage if you are Mapping your ride ?
 

Wernher

Active member
May 30, 2019
180
181
Cape St Francis
Back from ride. Yes, deleting the RideControl app completely the reinstalling fresh worked......Mostly. the app showed correct miles even though the bike shut off during a snack break. However. The app lost all the map info.
All other functions worked. IF I remember to start the app THEN turn on the bike’s power. Progress nonetheless. ?
Losing the map information sounds like a rights issue. You must allow the app to right to your phone in the settings. I've had that with another app.
 

oktc9712

Member
Apr 20, 2020
13
5
Canada
Good! Even if for Android.
I talked to Giant USA and learned that the current RideControl for iOS does not play nice with 2020 bikes. Mine! ?
However, update expected in a month or two ( or three).
Really like my Stance e+2. Auto mode works great.

Yes once you use the app it appears to be designed and programmed by a six year old kid
 

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