Gocycle G3

What do you get when a former McLaren designer turns his attention to the e-bike world?

No it’s not a joke; I can’t find a good punch line. All I see is a beautiful bike that’s been designed from the wheels up. Let’s start with the 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 used on the 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. I would say it doesn’t assist, but 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 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. Gocycle are a ‘one-size fits all’ bike. The higher the seat, the further away from the handlebars you’re positioned. I’m 6’1’’ 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 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, 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 blue-toothed to the G3, a world of fine tuning is opened up. You have three predetermined modes: ‘City’, ‘Eco’, ‘On-demand’ plus ‘Custom’. In custom you can set from how much effort you put in, to how much assistance you’re given. This information is displayed on the app’s X-Y graph. I would have loved to have said that I tweaked the G3 to get the maximum out of it, but as it was so good out of the box I found myself just leaving it alone.

Words Finch
Images: Mau

SPEC:

MOTOR
Proprietary motor gear drive 250W

BATTERY
Proprietary Battery Management System with improved sleep power management and charge control, increase capacity in frame lithium ion, 13.5Ah, 22V, Approximately 300 Wh

CHARGING
7-hour full recharge

HANDLEBAR DISPLAY
Integrated dashboard display

TRANSMISSION
Cleandrive® Shimano Nexus 3-speed

SHIFTING
Electronic Predictive Shifting™

BRAKES
Hydraulic disc, front and rear

TYRES
406-50, 20 x 1.75 in

SUSPENSION
Front: single-sided, 6061 T6, fixed
Rear: Lockshock™ 25mm (1-in) travel

SADDLE
Velo D2 Comfort

FRAME SIZE/FIT
Universal Vgonomic™

RIDING MODES
‘City’, ‘Eco’, ‘On-Demand’, ‘Custom’. Multiple, programmable through interactive dashboard functions or GocycleConnect App

ELECTRIC DRIVE SPEED
25km/h (15.5 mph)

RANGE
Up to 80km (50 miles), depending on pedal input

STOWABLE DIMENSIONS
Portable Docking Station for easy stowing and transport (L780mm x W370mm x H580mm)

APPROX WEIGHT
16.3kg (35.9 lbs)

MAXIMUM RIDER WEIGHT
100kg (220 lbs), incl clothing/luggage

FRAME COLOURS
White, electric blue, matt black

PITSTOPWHEEL®
Patented Hexlock system

PITSTOPWHEEL® COLOUR
Gloss Black

DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS
Light Pipe technology, 4 running modes, user selectable

SMART DEVICE CONNECTIVITY
GocycleConnect® app via wireless Bluetooth®

CONTACT
http://gocycle.com/