Today Sunday I decided to do a little local touring on my Scooterbike and wound up riding to Winter
Park. This is a beautiful suburb of Orlando...in fact it's a city in it's own right with a mayor, a
cityhall, police department etc. The area is affluent and is home to Rollins College which is
considered to have one of the best MBA/business progams in the nation.
Anyway on Fairbanks Ave near the corner of Park Ave, there is a bike shop called LoCo Motion. I
stopped by and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had several Giant Revives on the showroom
floor! They had both the base and the high end model called the Revive DX. This last one has the
intergrated cyclometer on the handlebar, fully enclosed drivetrain, rollerbrakes and a Shimano Nexus
7 speed hub.
One of the shop's employees whose name is Travis was kind enough to take some time and explain
the features of the DX. This young man who is a BMX/MTB enthusiast had a very good recumbent
awareness as I call
it. He has ridden many bents will here recognise such as several models from RANS, BikeE, Easy
Racers, Vision etc.
After showing me how easy it is to make adjustments on the DX, I took it for a spin. Wow...all I can
say is that this thing is a hoot to ride. It felt much like an upright but relaxed as a recumbent.
The pictures of the prototype showed a seat that seemed to be copped off one of their beach cruisers
but the one on the bike I rode was much wider...I say at least 12 inches across and cradled my
behind quite well. The back rest is also larger than the original. Adjustments were handled by quick
releases. I don't believe you can adjust the tilt but then again I could be wrong.
In my short test ride, I determined that in spite of the wide bottom bracket to seat ratio, the
seating position along with the back rest allows you to generate quite a bit of power and torque.
You get that feel of being "in the bike" much like a full recumbent unlike the "on the bike"
sensation when riding a wedgie. Handling was a bit quick but very control-able. Stopping and
starting was a snap and very confidence inspiring. This is great while ridding in city traffic.
The only issue I had with the DX is the fact that I felt that the bike was a tad overgeared. Giant
uses a pretty good sized chainring in this drivetrain. First gear allowed me to reach 8-10 mph and I
wasn't even spinning the crank very fast. While it won't be an issue for the terrain here in
Orlando, anyone who buys this bike and lives and rides in hilly terrain will be begging for lower
gears. And besides this is a comfort bike and it should be easy to pedal. Travis explained to me
that changing out the chainring for a smaller one is no issue.
Prices have been lowered which is a good thing. The DX was selling for $800 and the base model was
$600. There is a possibility that these could be had for $50 less than these prices.
Overall I was quite impressed with the DX. The fit and finish was good though the weldings were not
the best but who cares as long as the bike works good which it does. One of the most recent a.r.b.r.
discussions on these Giant semi bents had someone say that it is a "failed attempt". My counter to
this is, a failed attempt at what? Giant never said that it is trying to reach the audience that is
attracted to bikes like the P-38 or the Gold Rush replica. If it were then the Revive would be a
"failed attempt". In fact it is not calling it's bikes "recumbents" so we're not talking an "apples
to apples" comparison here. On the other hand, a high BB SWB machine would be a "failed attempt" in
the market Giant has been pitching with it's Revive. These bikes are really very inviting and non
intimidating.
Edward Wong Orlando, FL