Greenerwheels Giant Revive Ebike build

Earlier this week I sold my actionbent jetstream, the buyer wasn't interested in the Ebikekit setup so I pulled off the hardware and returned it to its native state. So what to do with a 20" front hub motor? Well I have a Giant Revive that's been in the que for a conversion so I'll guess I'll build it up.
These are the before pictures, I plan on making a torque arm to bolt directly to the fork. The brakes on this bike are shimano band brakes and I will have to retro fit a V brake to the fork, the braise ons are already there to screw in the brake studs.
Batteries are going to be my universal adapted Bosch fatpack on the rear to balance the load, I plan on using 4 packs, The dash has a built in computer, it looks like a perfect place to mount a Cycle Analyst, unfortunately the ebikekit controller does not support it and I don't want to run a bunch of wires through the funky handlebars and stem.
In any case, the build shouldn't take too long and hope to have a completed project by this weekend.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

Greenerwheels

Congrats on selling the actionbent! By not riding that thing, you have extended your lifespan a few years lol..

GL on this build. Curious to see what comes of it.

greenerwheels said:

Earlier this week I sold my actionbent jetstream, the buyer wasn't interested in the Ebikekit setup so I pulled off the hardware and returned it to its native state. So what to do with a 20" front hub motor? Well I have a Giant Revive that's been in the que for a conversion so I'll guess I'll build it up.View attachment 4View attachment 3
These are the before pictures, I plan on making a torque arm to bolt directly to the fork. The brakes on this bike are shimano band brakes and I will have to retro fit a V brake to the fork, the braise ons are already there to screw in the brake studs.
Batteries are going to be my universal adapted Bosch fatpack on the rear to balance the load, I plan on using 4 packs, The dash has a built in computer, it looks like a perfect place to mount a Cycle Analyst, unfortunately the ebikekit controller does not support it and I don't want to run a bunch of wires through the funky handlebars and stem.
In any case, the build shouldn't take too long and hope to have a completed project by this weekend.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

Greenerwheels

Click to expand...

Nice Bike!
Here is a very rare photo of three Gaint Revive bikes, all with conversion kit

here is my wife's bike

wow, once you get the space wheels off those things they actually look pretty good.

Yup, Neptronix, I agree the funky wheels were from the 1st generation, the cover, covers spokes, I'd remove it but I'm not sure how well the wheel is supported with the spacing they used.
Its electric nice collection! I Would have preferred replacing the rear wheel, but I really like the 7speed internal hub and the invisible chain line.
Here's a couple of pictures of the power distribution box I'm working on. I'm planning on mounting it on the controller.

Once its done, I'll fill it with a high temp mil spec epoxy and it should be done. The amber plastic is called Ultem, its a high quality plastic with excellent insulating properties.
More pictures as soon as there is sun.

Greenerwheels

I have two revives that I have converted, one DX internal and one freewheel type.

Here's the DX:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13255&p=209221&hilit=giant+revive#p209221

I've found that the stock front fork on the DX internal hub version can be used as is for a front conversion, as the inside of the fork is flat and flush with the inside of the dropout, but the front fork on the derailleur version of the bike is too fat to accommodate any of the hub motors I tried, including Crystalyte, Fusin geared and 9C - no good for front conversion. The inside of the fork on that bike protrudes too far inside the dropout, conflicting with any hub motor, within an inch of the axle. That bike needs a fork replacement. It turns out I had two 110mm spacing threaded front forks, that were too short for the revive stem to attach to, but just right to get to the top of the headtube and a bit more, and thread on a ring to hold the fork on. Then adding a threaded to threadless adapter "Profile stem adaptor" (1" to 1 1/8") the existing stem could work with those forks which were originally too short, or a different stem could be used. One of my bikes has apehangers on the front with an adjustable angle stem attached to the adaptor. One of the bikes was originally set up as a rear 9C, but it didn't ride well, with the battery on the back. The front motors are very good even with the Ping battery on the back - the bikes feel nicely balanced with a 15 pound ping - even better with a lighter battery. I zip tied wire office trays to the top of the rack, on top of Axiom Dutch shopper panniers, with a strip of steel bent over the rack and down on each side, under the panniers, to hold the panniers away from the wheel. One bike presently has a geared brushed motor (its awesome) unknown brand, and the other has a Fusin v1 geared brushed motor on it. If the solution is a hub motor, I'd definitely recommend a front, as having both rear motor with rear batteries isn't much good. Otherwise something like a cyclone. there is a nice youtube of a cyclone on one, some Italian guy I think, but I wouldnt want the cyclone in the wet conditions of British Columbia. These are fun urban runabouts and work well, once you get the balance worked out, and panniers require a bit of improv due to the suspension of the bike.

greenerwheels said:

Its electric nice collection! I Would have preferred replacing the rear wheel, but I really like the 7speed internal hub and the invisible chain line.
Here's a couple of pictures of the power distribution box I'm working on. I'm planning on mounting it on the controller.
View attachment 1
Once its done, I'll fill it with a high temp mil spec epoxy and it should be done. The amber plastic is called Ultem, its a high quality plastic with excellent insulating properties.
More pictures as soon as there is sun.
Greenerwheels

Click to expand...

greenerwheels:
you know that is a small space under the rack plate? I was going to put controller in there. I ran all my throttle wire inside the steering cover.

Where are you plan to mount the battery? Which front motor will you be using?

I believe the same bike that you have was shown in iRobot movies. Anyone had image of that? The design of these bike was ahead of its time.

Ken

Other than a few small items this baby is close to done. Instead of cleaning up the mess I made in my shop I took it for a ride. Here's a quick tourView attachment 3 I am using a ebikekit front motor. The right side drop out was made larger than the left to mount the cycle computer sensor which can't be used with the front hub motor, so I took a piece of steel and made a custom torque arm that bolts to the extra metal. I still have to either move the sensor to the rear wheel or find a place further up the fork to remount the sensor.View attachment 2 I didn't find a straight forward way of mounting any kind of throttle on the right side without interfering with the shifter, so I took a handlebar extension and mounted as shown and put a thumb throttle on it. I'm either going to cut it flush or use the extended portion to put a camera mount so I can video tape a ride or two. There are six socket screws holding the aluminum rack plate on the back and I wanted to get in there to see how much room was available. Not enough for a controller, but enough to stash the extra wire from the controller. I drilled two holes in the tail to secure the controller and one big one to route wires so they weren't visible. Still to do, refit another aluminum plate on standoffs to cover controller and allow a rack of some sort. that pretty much covers the conversion. The ride is really nice, I don't think I would enjoy making this bike a daily rider without the addition of the motor, but it rides really nicely and seems infinitely adjustable, I was even able to drop the seat and handlebars to adjust it so my 9 yo daughter could ride the bike.
The bike needs a bath and I'd like to remove the rear wheel, clean it and paint the white spokes black.
I'll post more when I get a few miles on it and neat it up a bit.
It feels a little strange going straight (probably just takes getting used to it) but I like diving into corners.

Thanks

Greenerwheels

This weekend Portland is having a bike show at the convention center http://pedalnationevents.com/, they have a Pimp’d Bike Showcase, I sent a couple of pictures of the Revive in a couple of days after the deadline and got a response back. So I quickly cleaned it up the Revive and brought it down to the convention center this afternoon, kind looks out of place but I did have a bunch of vendors asking questions about it.
I spent a short time walking around while everyone was setting up, looks like there's a growing ebike presence there. Two Trek's, several recumbent vendors and a couple of upright bikes, at least twice as many as last year. I'll be back again on Sunday, lots of bike stuff going on there.

Take care
Greenerwheels

I haven't been around much, I've been putting most of my energy into finding a job, I'm tired of no money for new projects! But I have been revising my Revive, and looking for a newer version so I can build a 2 wheel drive version of a Revive. Anyway some of the updates I've done are to remove the bosch fatpacks from their plastic holders and put them in small instrument cases, now 4 fatpacks are in each removable side bag, I can remove either or both side bag and replace with a standard pannier for shorter range and more carrying capacity. I came across a really nice Novara Safari pannier recently but only one, still had the tag, so I attached, so I took some 1/4" square stock, bent and welded it and made an adjustable mount to clamp on the steering tube, when the pannier is full it makes for a nice "almost fairing", OK maybe wind breaker? Finally I trimmed off and painted the bar end I used to mount the throttle. I will say this bike has become my favorite ride, looking forward to finding a second Revive to build the next generation Revive

I like my Revives a lot too. I have removed the backrests from the seats, and I feel that this improves the comfort quite a bit. I've got apehanger handle bars on one of them. The geometry of the bikes is excellent. They make excellent bikes to collect and convert if you can find them cheap, like around 300 bucks.

Sorry for digging up an old thread.

I started a new thread for everyone to discuss Giant Revive conversions in one place.
Giant Revive conversions

Feel free to jump over and update us on your build if you want.

Cheers