Giant electric bike - help pls

[npdp72]

Hi,
Does anyone recognise this Giant electric bike?
I want the model name of the bike and technical spec for the motor, battery, controller etc please?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111438569462?redirect=mobile

I'm wondering if its a suitable donor for a project.
Thanks.

 

[flecc]

I'm sure that model has never been sold in the UK and doubt it was sold in mainland Europe either, so I've no knowledge of the details you require. Judging from the markings on the battery case, it's probably a personal import from Taiwan, Giant's home country.

They produced a crank drive SLA battery bike from 1999 to 2002 and a Lafree with NiMh battery based on the Panasonic crank unit from 2001. Later they also produced a front hub motor e-bike similar to the Lafree under the model number 401, so I'm guessing this one may be from around ten years ago but equipped with the SLA battery preferred in Oriental markets. On their SLA e-bikes around that time Giant also had the oddity of the charger being built into the battery casing, probably accounting for the huge bulk of the battery casing on this model.

The motor looks like a Bafang so could be ok, but given how cheaply suitable current hub motors can be bought from China, it might not be worth bothering with this purely for a project.
.

 

[npdp72]

Thanks for the reply flecc.
So it's reasonable to assume this has SLA battery? I guess the hub motor is probably a 250W?
Do you know if this bike is likely to be a twist and go type?
That would be good for my project, if so.
Thanks again.

I'm sure that model has never been sold in the UK and doubt it was sold in mainland Europe either, so I've no knowledge of the details you require. Judging from the markings on the battery case, it's probably a personal import from Taiwan, Giant's home country.

They produced a crank drive SLA battery bike from 1999 to 2002 and a Lafree with NiMh battery based on the Panasonic crank unit from 2001. Later they also produced a front hub motor e-bike similar to the Lafree under the model number 401, so I'm guessing this one may be from around ten years ago but equipped with the SLA battery preferred in Oriental markets. On their SLA e-bikes around that time Giant also had the oddity of the charger being built into the battery casing, probably accounting for the huge bulk of the battery casing on this model.

The motor looks like a Bafang so could be ok, but given how cheaply suitable current hub motors can be bought from China, it might not be worth bothering with this purely for a project.
.

 

[flecc]

I'm practically certain that the battery will be SLA, judging by the size of the casing. Here's a photo of the original SLA Giant Lafree, showing a similar very large battery case with integral charger. (This one was crank drive):

I don't know if that one will have a throttle, the original Lafree models above did have for some markets, but since then all Giant's e-bikes have been pedelec only. However, I think it has judging by the indistinct photo and e-bikes sold in the Orient usually have throttles.

Bear in mind the small wheel size. If you are thinking of a larger wheel bike project, the motor will be well over-geared, giving assist to 22mph or more but lacking hill climb torque.
.