Just in at ebiketips is the new Gocycle G3. It's a striking £3,299 city bike with a low overall weight and some very interesting tech.
Weight first. Gocycle claim a weight of 16.3kg for the G3. Ours was a bit heavier than that, at 16.9kg, but even so this is a very light e-bike, a good 5kg lighter than the Orbea Katu-E and Kalkhoff Sahel we've had in recently, which are both 20"-wheelers too.
The weight saving comes in part from the use of injection-moulded magnesium alloy for the frame and wheels to keep the weight of those bits as low as possible. The compact 250W hub motor doesn't look like it weighs much either. The battery isn't huge, at 300Wh, so you won't get a massive range out of the G3 – Gocycle suggest a maximum of 80km – but this is a city bike designed for short hops, not a grand tour.
Integration is a key theme here. The battery is integrated into the frame, as are all the cables, and the drivetrain is completely enclosed which gives very low maintenance and clean running. There's a daylight running light in the front of the handlebars, and an LED display at the back which gives you lots of information about what the bike's up to.
The bike is controlled and configured via a smartphone app. You can set the assistance mode – there are three standard modes and one custom – and you can configure the power curve, maximum assistance speed and throttle function for each. You can set the motor to work up to 40km/h so it's possible to set up the bike so it's technically illegal on UK roads. You get a warning if you do that. Not that we'd know, obviously...
Gearing-wise the Gocycle uses a three-speed hub gear, with predictive electronic shifting. The bike will shift up and down for you depending on your speed, and you can also select the gear you want via a rotary control on the handlebars. There are two of them: the other one controls the daylight running light and also acts as a twist-and-go throttle, if you've enabled that function.
The Gocycle G3 isn't a folding bike, but it is demountable and fits into a carrying case that's very compact indeed. The wheels attach at one side to the monoblade fork and rear swingarm with three locking levers, and it's a ten-second job to remove a wheel. The seatpost is removeable, the bars fold down and by releasing the rear shock you can swing the drivetrain round making the bike into a package that'll easily fit into a pretty small space; it's ideal to stow away on a motorhome, for example.
The G3 is a one-size-fits-all design, with a slackened seatpost angle. Raising the seatpost provides a greater reach to the handlebars for taller riders. There's hydraulic disc brakes front and rear for stopping you in a hurry, and a double kickstand for when you're at a standstill.
We're off to put the Gocycle through its paces. Look out for a full review on ebiketips soon!
