Giant Revive conversions

[Cowardlyduck]

I would suggest also investigating options from Grin. Personally I like a combo of RH212 + Phaserunner/Frankenrunner + CAv3. I also put a long string of 2170 cells inside the down tube for 10S4P for a nice compact battery setup.
That being said, either of those leafbike motor options would be good. I ran one of those motors at over 8KW on my Stealth Fighter years ago with active cooling. Was a beast!!! so one of those in a Giant Revive will definitely be fine.

Cheers

 

[Triple.Cone]

Hey @Volvo245 & @Cowardlyduck,

Thanks for the responses they were both very helpful.

After reviewing what you've both said & researching the options from Grin I've chosen some different components for my build.

I'm unsure if the Phaserunner or Frankenrunner controller from Grin would be more appropriate for my planned setup.

Also to my understanding, the fast wind motor option should be more appropriate for smaller wheel sizes.

At this point I'm planning on either using 20" x 2.5" bmx street tyres on the front and rear or alternatively a 20 x 2.5" tyre on the front and a 20 x 2.6 - 2.75" tyre on the rear.

Do you guys think it would help with the structural integrity, stability or steering ability of the bike if I was to try to replace/upgrade the chromoly front fork and/or handlebars?

Any other ideas that would help make the bike stronger or more stable at speeds of 40km+/h?

I don't plan on riding it that fast, I'd just like to be able to cruise at 35km/h with access to more speed/quick acceleration if necessary.
I plan on primarily using throttle only with occasional pedalling, will a 7 speed cassette be fine or would I be better off with a single speed, 9 speed, 10 speed etc?

From what I've calculated the components I'm looking at now will be capable of delivering a top speed of around 45-50km+ under a 120kg total load.

Do you guys have any recommendations for torque arms?

My apologies in advance for all the questions and the wall of text.

These are the components I'm planning on ordering/using now:

Controller - Grin Phaserunner/Frankenrunner

Phaserunner - Grin Products - Product Info
Frankenrunner - Grin Products - Product Info

Motor - Grin RH212 - 20" Rim Wheel - Fast Wind

FH212-RH212 - Grin Kits - Product Info

(I think this motor should be capable of outputting 1500~ watts at peak power, correct me if I'm wrong)

Display - Grin Cav3

Cycle Analyst V3 - Grin Products - Product Info

Battery - 52V 24.8ah EM3EV / Caprouge 52V 20ah

52V 20Ah / 1040Wh Downtube Samsung eBike Battery CPPOLF52-20

Initially I'm looking to begin with a single 52 volt, 20ah samsung cell downtube battery.

Is there any reason I should consider a 48 volt battery over a 52 volt battery assuming the ah is the same?

If I end up needing more battery I was looking at potentially mounting this EM3EV battery on the rear rack / concealed in a basket.

EM3ev 52V (14S7P) Hard Case Ebike Battery Pack | EM3ev

 

[neptronix]

I would suggest also investigating options from Grin. Personally I like a combo of RH212 + Phaserunner/Frankenrunner + CAv3. I also put a long string of 2170 cells inside the down tube for 10S4P for a nice compact battery setup.
That being said, either of those leafbike motor options would be good. I ran one of those motors at over 8KW on my Stealth Fighter years ago with active cooling. Was a beast!!! so one of those in a Giant Revive will definitely be fine.

Gosh, nearly any thing would work in a 20" wheel. Takes a lot of power to saturate a 27mm stator even. The really high RPM is such an advantage.

 

[LewTwo]

....

Also I was wondering if anybody could confirm the rear axle thread size and shaft size of the Giant Revive?

Originally the Giant Revive came with "skewer" axles. According to my old measurements, you should have no problem with 10 mm axles in the rear.

 

[Cowardlyduck]

Well it's about time....only been promising this for a few years now.
I had been slowly working away at making this fat bike conversion for a few months now.
When I saw we had a good dump of snow perfectly timed for the weekend, I rushed to finish it off just in time.





It rides great and can power through deep snow really well when called for.
Only problem is the internally mounted battery 21AH, 10S....isn't really enough to go far in these conditions. I will probably build another battery to mount in a bag on the rack and parallel it with the internal one in future for rides like this.

Cheers

 

[amberwolf]

What's that white stuff? It almost looks like sand, but it's stuck all over the trees too.... :lol:

(we're still at 100F well past complete darkness outside these days, and sunset is around 6pm....our trees can also look dead but that's because they actually are... )

 

[Cowardlyduck]

What's that white stuff? It almost looks like sand, but it's stuck all over the trees too.... :lol:

(we're still at 100F well past complete darkness outside these days, and sunset is around 6pm....our trees can also look dead but that's because they actually are... )

Yeah, most don't realise we can get the occasional decent dump of snow here in Aus, but like this one we sometimes get a lick of weather hit us from Antarctica. This time of year it won't last long though. It was already melting down to the ground from my tracks by the time I returned to the starting point a few hours after leaving.

 

[Volvo245]

Update: Finally after various problems with equipment and other issues (me being a dumbass mostly). I got my rear fork replacement project done. The original fork developed a crack to the right side hinge flange, so instead of just sourcing a replacement or having it welded I decided to make a new fork from steel.

Made a welding jig from plywood to duplicate the geometry except for the distance and angle of the hinge flanges in relation to the bottom bracket. I wanted the mid drive to be more "tucked in" and to gain precious centimeters of ground clearance.

Also bought a new tsdz8 as the original developed issues with the ratcheting mechanism. That was on me for neglecting maintenance. It did last 8600km and i do intend to crack it open and see if its salvageable. As an added bonus the new motor had the updated firmware so now the lower assists work as intended.

Managed to stuff all the cabling inside the fork fairly neatly, also added a 48 to 12volt converter so i can run 12v lights and compressor etc. Still have to wait for the lights to arrive so its not 100% finished (what project like this is? When its dropping into the shredder at the local scrap yard?)

I probably won't share any more detailed pics during the project because the welds are attrocious, partly because im rusty as hell and partly because my old MIG was having bunch of issues.

I really didn't care too much about the weight increase, though i did measure both forks when they were "clean" original is ~1480g and the new one is 4800g . Not great i know, but at least now its going to be the frame or fork that fails next.

 

[Cowardlyduck]

Thanks for sharing Volvo245. Love the build! And the fact that you built your own swing-arm is even better!

Taking these things off-road is definitely the most fun place for them, but the stock rear swing-arm is one of the weaker links. That is the part that failed multiple times after taking my BikeE AT off-road and I suspect it is only a matter of time before I do the same to my Revive's.

If you have any drawings, dimensions or more photo's of the swing-arm construction I'm sure you would save myself and others a lot of pain in constructing our own should we ever need to. Doesn't matter if it's a bit rough, we would all do similar.

Cheers

 

[Volvo245]

Thanks for sharing Volvo245. Love the build! And the fact that you built your own swing-arm is even better!

Taking these things off-road is definitely the most fun place for them, but the stock rear swing-arm is one of the weaker links. That is the part that failed multiple times after taking my BikeE AT off-road and I suspect it is only a matter of time before I do the same to my Revive's.

If you have any drawings, dimensions or more photo's of the swing-arm construction I'm sure you would save myself and others a lot of pain in constructing our own should we ever need to. Doesn't matter if it's a bit rough, we would all do similar.

Cheers

Thanks!

I might post them, if i get the chance. The temporary license on my fusion360 ended two months ago and I can't do the tweaks to the drawings i would like before sharing them. Some of the things i did to mine were not included in the drawings, like the flange angle which was only decided when i had everything test fitted and clamped up. If i did multiple swing arms i would have made a new jig from the finished "master". Obviously many of the materials used could be altered like the size of the tubing could be smaller than 60x20mm and material thicknesses could be reduced in many places. All of the main parts can be made without any drawings just by building a welding jig using the original swing arm. I made the shock absorber mount adjustable and removable (2 m8 bolts) and i might do significant changes to that in the future.

I have a BikeE too, though its totally disassembled waiting for my "creative input" to go from planning phase to building phase. I've had most of the new parts for it ready for 2 years now so i really need to get off my ass and start to slowly put it together instead of procrastinating endlessly. That one i planned on converting into a very long range(3kwh) gravel bike with electric front drive, larger wheels and improved suspension with jackshaft hub gearbox. (Also fix the unsafe factory seat mount system)

 

[qwerkus]

Revive fatbike! Nice work in there.