The Giant Rove is something I already owned and fit my goal of simply assembling, it seems pretentious to call this a “build”. The things I am trying to do as a noobie is having everything fit first time and getting all I need in one order. If you are a noobie reading this I bet you are looking for the same.
So the short answer: 68mm bottom bracket and no interference from the chain stay. Bolts right up with no spacers. My only problem ordering was getting the brake cutout to work. I was told that by ordering the magnetic cutout option I would still get the mechanical brake levers, but I didn't. Order both.
Why order both? The Rove has the brakes and the shifter integrated on one thing. Therefor the magnetic sensor is needed on the right. On the left of course you could use the magnet sensor, but the bar is busy enough with throttle and up down buttons. A shifter that looks like two more throttles is confusing.
The other “does it fit” question is the battery. I ordered two mighty minis I planned to put them in the rear rack in parallel (see above). I asked on this forum if there was enough wire and the answer was it was going to be close. It was even tighter than that because the Rove is a 700c or 29er (tall). I ordered the Anderson to XT-90 adapter, again to ovoid soldering and calling this a build. This gave me the extra inch it needed to work.
I quickly found I could climb 1500 feet on one battery and it was only down to 49 volts. I am not going to need more battery than that so where to mount just one? This turned out quite elegantly. My Rove, or should I say my wife's, is a girls bike and the little square fit nicely in the tiny bottom triangle keeping the weight very low.
So what have I got and is it fun? I started with the original chain ring and that was scary fast. It went uphill because the cassette has a 36 tooth, but you had to be careful to be in the right gear. I thought of this before buying and ordered the 30 tooth chain ring and put that on within the first hour. I was worried about the chainline, but although it looks bad, the chain stayed on the 36 tooth part of the cassette. Now I could slowly climb up the mountain and only use 10 to 15 amps.
Then the stupid kid in me came out. (Growing old is mandatory, but going up is optional.) I found it would go up crazy steep driveways so I tried steep hill climbs in the dirt. The street tires gave out and I crashed spectacularly. So I stripped the tires of my mountain bike. The front is a 2.2 wide 29 tire, (just fit) and the rear is a 700 41C Surly Knard. This worked even better than expected and I got even more stupid. The crashes were getting you tube worthy. There are a number of knobby cross tires too wide to be legal for racing but good for this bike: the Surly I used, Continental makes a 700 42C and then a brand starting with a P that is 45C come to mind.
In the end this bike is great for slowly going up steep fire roads and even single track. Luna sells the Roam and I bet with the tires I used it would be a much better option than building a Rove like I did. It has disk brakes and a triangle for any battery you want. Like my Rove you can swing the motor up and get good clearance. Note my Rove has a springy seat, (cheep thudbuster), taller handle bars and short neck which makes things more comfortable for those of us on Social Security. The bars have the added benefit of being able to turn the bike upside down without hitting the display.
Gratuitous Beauty Shots:
Attached Files