What do you get when former McLaren designers turns his attention to the E-Bike World? No it’s not a joke; I can’t find a good punchline. All I see is a beautiful bike that’s been designed from the wheels up. Let’s start with those wheels; if you want to try doing 83.6mph on them, then you can – that’s the ‘world speed record for a human-powered vehicle’ and they did it on Pitstop wheels, which happen to be what’s used on the Gocycle G3. That’s the sort of quality you find on this e-bike.
The motor is situated in the front hub; an inconspicuous red ring on the single sided front fork is the only sign. Each pedal stroke is assisted in getting you up to speed quickly and keeping you there. It doesn’t assist as such, but rather it encourages you, or even dares you to pedal faster, seeing who wears out first. I’d have liked another gear as the cadence became unsustainable when up to top speed. I wanted to help the Gocycle G3, but just couldn’t keep spinning.
I did get caught out with a flat battery on my work commute and even without any assist it was an enjoyable bike to ride. The Gocycle G3 is a ‘one-size fits all’ bike. The higher the seat, the further away from the handlebars you’re positioned. I’m 6ft 1in and didn’t have the seat all the way to the top – which is a pleasant change. The battery is integrated into the bike’s frame, which means you have to be able to get the whole bike near to the mains, but as it only weighs 35.4lb (16.1kg) you can move it around quite easily. After all, this is a collapsible bike.
The handlebars display all the information you need: which gear you’re in, battery life remaining, speed and mode. This is controlled through two toggles (one on each handlebar grip). The gear change is electronic with a predictive shift and changes down when you’re slowing for junctions. The smaller tyres make the bike a little twitchy, as with any small-wheeled bike, but I was soon riding it with confidence.
All this design is finished off with an app; once you’re Bluetoothed to the Gocycle G3, a world of fine tuning is opened up. You have three predetermined modes: ‘City’, ‘Eco’ and ‘On-demand’ plus ‘Custom’. In Custom you can set how much effort you want to put in and how much assistance you’re given. This information is displayed on the app’s X-Y graph.
I would have loved to say I tweaked the Gocycle G3 to the max, but as it was so good out of the box I found myself just leaving it alone.
Gocycle G3 Specifications and Price
MOTOR : Proprietary motor gear drive 250W
BATTERY : Lithium ion, 13.5Ah, 22v, Approximately 300 Wh
CHARGING : 7-hour full recharge
HANDLEBAR DISPLAY : Integrated dashboard
TRANSMISSION : Cleandrive® Shimano Nexus 3-speed
SHIFTING : Electronic Predictive Shifting™
BRAKES : Hydraulic discs
TYRES : 406-50, 20 x 1.75in
FRONT SUSPENSION : Single-sided, 6061 T6, fixed
REAR SUSPENSION : Lockshock™ 25mm (1in) travel
SADDLE : Velo D2 Comfort
FRAME SIZE/FIT : Universal Vgonomic™
RIDING MODES : ‘City’, ‘Eco’, ‘On-Demand’, ‘Custom’.
ELECTRIC DRIVE SPEED : 25kph (15.5mph)
RANGE : Up to 80km (50 miles), depending on pedal input
FRAME COLOURS : White, electric blue, matt black
PITSTOP WHEEL® : Patented Hexlock system
DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS : 4 running modes
SMART DEVICE CONNECTIVITY : GocycleConnect® app via wireless Bluetooth®
PRICE : £3299
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