Giant Stance E+ 2 Review

This review was provided for free using a demo bike and accessories on loan from an owner in Vancouver Canada named Dave! My goal is to be transparent and unbiased with you, this video and writeup are not meant to be an endorsement of Giant products. I welcome your corrections, additions, and feedback in the comments below, and the Giant electric bike forums.

Observations:

• Giant is one of the “Big Three” bicycle brands that serve North America. Their network of dealers is extensive, providing opportunities for fitting, test rides, and post purchase service and repairs. Giant produces a variety of electric bicycle products, and most models come in multiple sizes.
• The Stance E+ is a cross country and possibly light trail oriented electric bike. It offers 130mm of travel in the front and 120mm of travel in the rear suspension. The 2 is a mid-level build, and it appears that the company also sells a 1 that uses more premium components. Dave told me that he saw a 0 and 4 which would represent the very best and most affordable, but I didn’t see them on the official Giant website (feel free to comment on this if you know more).
• Like other premium brands, Giant is such a large buyer that they can have their hardware co-branded and customized. This is the case with their drive system here, which is actually manufactured by Yamaha. I’ve covered Yamaha mid-drive motors on Haibike and Yamaha ebikes in the past, and dealers have told me that they tend to be very reliable. While the motor is fairly large physically speaking, it operates quite smoothly and is one of the quieter products I’ve tested.

Pros:

• The Giant Stance E+ 2 is a high quality build from a reputable company. The frame is purpose built with internal cable and wire routing, weight is well positioned low and center on the frame to maximize stability.
• Available in four frame sizes, this ebike provides excellent fit for a wide range of riders. While it’s not available in mid-step or step-thru to be more approachable, the top tube does slope down to make it easier to stand over. The high-step provides space for a bottle cage and makes it easier to hang on car racks like Dave had.
• Vast network of dealers means that you get in-person advice, fitting, post-purchase tuneups and warranty support. This should not be overlooked if you ride frequently or have limited experience with bike tools, even though it does add to the price of the initial purchase.
• Great comfort and performance from the two adjustable air suspension shocks. Being the mid-level build for the Stance line, you’re getting the value SR Suntour brand up front and RockShox in the rear. If you prefer RockShox for both, consider getting the Stance E+ 1 for $550 more, which comes with a RockShox Recon Silver RL suspension fork.
• Giant chose 29″ x 2.4″ tires here, which provide a low attack angle and smooth ride feel. They are tubeless ready, for those who wish to reduce weight, and have some puncture protection built-in.
• Great drivetrain, the 10-speed Shimano Deore setup is reliable and shifts easily. It offers a great range of 11 to 46 tooth for easy starts, climbs, and maintained speed. I love the two-way high shift lever from Shimano, and the one-way clutch on the derailleur itself, which reduces chain bounce off-road.
• Excellent hydraulic disc brakes here from Tektro. The calipers have been upgraded to quad piston for a larger braking surface, which adds power and cooling. The rotors are large 203mm vs. 180mm, improving the mechanical advantage and offering better control over the large 29er wheels.
• The brake levers have adjustable reach so you can dial things in on the trail as you need more control or switch from bare hands to gloves. This probably also benefits smaller and larger riders who select the different sized frames, so the brakes are reachable and feel comfortable.
• While I do have some complaints about the size and weight of the charger, it is nice to see a fast device like this which can reduce your times between rides. It offers 6 amps vs. the more common 2 amp or 3 amps devices I usually see.
• I appreciate that Giant added a bottle cage mounting point on the downtube of the frame! This wasn’t possible with their prior battery pack design, since the pack mounted to the top of the downtube vs. into the bottom. Dave used this as a place to mount his folding lock.
• Giant also added a mounting point for a kickstand at the left rear of the bike. There’s a little black plastic shield covering the mounting point for what appears to be a direct mount KSA stand, which you can see here.
• Nice touch points: the saddle looks good and felt comfortable to me, the grips had inner lock rings and functioned well. I also appreciate the premium wheelset with reinforcement eyelets that reduce the chances of cracking as wheels are flexed and trued over time.
• While I did not see this feature on the large frame that Dave loaned me for this review, the smaller frames may include rubberized downtube bumpers that protect from oversteer (when the crowns of the fork collide with the downtube and can bend or scratch it). I did see a long neoprene slap guard and rubber sticker to protect the frame and paint on the right chainstay.
• I love that Giant selected a narrow-wide tooth chainring, to help reduce slip and drops. They also included a small guide on top that could help to clear mud, grass, and other debris while fully preventing drops when riding hard and creating lots of movement in the rear swing arm.
• I don’t have a lot of experience with the rear suspension design chosen here, apparently it allows the chainstays and seatstays to flex and only has a single pivot point. It felt good enough to me, and I hope it doesn’t create chain kickback or squat, input is welcome in the comments below.
• I love that the latest control pad includes Bluetooth and Ant+ for use with their RideControl smartphone app and ANT+ wireless devices like Garmin! This was a big deal for Dave because it showed a more precise battery readout and other detailed specs.
• The motor controller measures pedal cadence, torque, and rear wheel speed. The motor performance felt dynamic and responsive, I was even able to do a wheelie! The bike climbed very capably, and shifting gears was smooth (but do ease off on pedaling to reduce chain tension when shifting).
• I appreciate that the control pad has a dedicated walk mode button. Dave said that he had used it on occasion to move the bike when walking through technical terrain or a steep climb since the bike does weigh a lot.
• There’s no reduction gearing or drag here, when riding completely unassisted or pedaling beyond the supported 20mph (32km/h) top speed, the bikes felt really smooth and natural vs. having a big “wall” cutout feeling. I think the motor is also capable of supporting up to 120 RPM (rotations per minute) so you can downshift and spin without losing support and momentum for a steep climb.
• The bike looks beautiful with the premium metallic paint and all-black accents. The motor, hubs, spokes, rims, stem, handlebar, seat tube etc. are all black. I also feel that the branding looks nice and is not overdone.

Cons:

• Since the battery pack has a plastic shield semi-permanently fixed that matches the frame, it’s not as convenient to buy two packs for extended range and just swap them. I also suspect that replacement shields could be expensive or unavailable in the matching color. There wasn’t a slap guard sticker on the cover, and there appears to be a gap at the bottom where dust and water could get into the plug interface area (Dave expressed this concern).
• While the battery interface and cover do appear to have some rubber for sealing out water, it does not extend all the way around (possibly for cooling purposes) but can pinch your skin when mounting the pack (according to Dave), so be careful. These bottom mount batteries take more arm strength and finesse to mount properly regardless of the interface. I appreciate that you don’t need to turn the key to re-mount it, just when taking it off the bike.
• The locking core that secures the battery is up high, but on the non-drivetrain side of the bike… which is the side you should lay the bike down on to avoid damaging the sensitive derailleur. I feel that Giant and other companies should put their key slot on the right side of the frame. Same goes for the charging port built into the frame. it’s super low, right in the path of the left crank arm, and the charging plug angles towards the spindle vs. away, so it’s very crowded and feels sloppy to me.
• The battery charger is fast at 6 amps, so I hope that their cells have a high C Rating and don’t get degraded by the speed and heat. This has been a concern for automobiles and other fast-charging devices. It would be a bummer to have the battery experience fewer cycles or have to be replaced early, especially with the custom cover situation.
• The battery charger is heavier than average at roughly 2.5lbs, and it’s physically very large. This makes it less enjoyable to haul around to extend rides. The fact that it also uses a dongle adapter to charge the pack directly vs. the frame plug is frustrating and inconvenient, it means you have more weight and more things to keep track of.
• While I like the button pad size and position, near the left grip, I feel that the readouts are fairly simple and unnecessarily confusing at times. To start, there are only five LEDs to represent the battery charge level while 10 or a percentage would be much more precise and reduce range anxiety. Second, the bike starts in auto mode (which is the middle of five other LEDs) but when you press up or down, it starts from the assist level three positions and just feels confusing and unnatural to me. Perhaps automatic could be the first dot or a different color or something and then you arrow up from level one? Maybe this is just me feeling confused because I’m used to a more linear 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 path with assist levels vs. starting at three. Also, we couldn’t figure out how to get back to auto mode once we arrowed up or down, the only way was to power cycle the bike :/ It’s a small display and less than intuitive for me, which can be distracting from riding.
• I was a little confused to see Boost hub spacing and a sturdy 15mm thru-axle on the front wheel, but a less sturdy 9mm axle with skewer and non-Boost spacing at the rear. It’s a minor thing, but having 148mm and 12mm thru-axle in the rear would have been nicer for a high performance mountain bike.
• I was surprised that the bike isn’t setup with a seat post dropper, especially given the high quality of the frame and other components. I’ve gotten very used to these for mountain biking and feel that they are worth having, especially for full suspension models. While they do add a bit of weight, the bike is already heavier than average.
• Weighing in at 54lbs, this full suspension eMTB is heavier than most… especially given the modest 500 watt hour battery capacity. It seems like most competitors in the same price range are in the low 50’s, but at least the 9.5lb battery pack is removable to make the bike easier to lift and transport on automobile racks.
• I am not a big fan of the cage style platform pedals that Giant includes with this ebike. They don’t offer a wide surface area and can bend and become sharp if the bike is laid on its side frequently. Dave swapped them out for some nice big green RaceFace pedals with metal pins shown in the photos and video above.
• In order to get more precise feedback about the battery, your current speed, and pedal cadence, you need to spend extra money on an Ant+ wireless device that’s compatible with the bike. This is what Dave did, choosing a Garmin. Since it’s wireless, and there’s no USB charging port built into the bike, you might have to remove the device frequently to charger. There is also a delay when activating and interacting with the device to wake it up.
• There’s no shift sensing built into the Giant (Yamaha) motor controller, and this can lead to increased chain and sprocket wear if you don’t back off a bit on your pedaling while shifting.
• As much as I like the performance of the Yamaha mid-drive motor, it is larger and hangs down more than competing products from Shimano, Bosch, Brose, and Mahle.

Useful Resources:

• Official Giant website
• Giant bicycles local dealer map tool