Go, go gadget!
Gocycl e GXi
£3699 British-designed, futuristic, folding ebike
Gocycle’s latest ebike, the GXi, is the latest iteration of the clever, singlesided design that was first seen a decade ago when the company formed and launched its ebike range with the G3 model. Aimed primarily at commuters looking for a fast-folding ebike this iteration of the company’s notoriously stylish range adds a more integrated design and clever connectivity over the GX.
The single-sided design is a great idea that works particularly well for commuters because the stub-axles that hold the wheels in place mean that punctures can be repaired without the need to remove the wheel at all.
The sealed drivetrain is trouser-friendly and inside is housed a Shimano Nexus 3-speed hub gear that’s electronically controlled. It gives a gear range of a 39.1-inch in first, a 53.3inch in second and a 72.5-inch gear in third. The lightest gear is the equivalent of a 34/22 on a standard road bike (50/34, 11-32 cassette) – an easy gear for climbs; the middle gear is the same as being in 50/25, so you can happily spin up low-gradient inclines with ease. The largest gear is similar to being in 50/19, great for holding a decent pace on the flat. The injection-moulded magnesium back end also integrates 1-inch of suspension travel for added comfort.
The GXi handlebar incorporates an LED display, which shows your effort, the motor energy, battery level and gear through a series of coloured lights. The front of the bar incorporates a wide and bright integrated daytime running light using tech borrowed from the car industry.
The system configuration is set for EU regulations, which means the standard 250w motor output and assistance up to 25kph (15.5mph) within 10 per cent. Gocycle’s setting is at the upper level of 10 per cent and power delivery is a smooth curve. It does have great pick up from the front wheel motor (Gocycle’s own) from a standing start as Gocyle has engineered in traction control, which monitors how fast both of the wheels are going so that it can bring in traction control when needed.
The 17.5kg bike houses a large 375Wh battery within its aluminium frame, which powers a powerful front hub motor up to a claimed range of an impressive 50 miles. The battery can be charged to full from empty in four hours.
The integration of the bike is completed by the Gocycle app within which you can tune the power delivery to match your own power output through a series of tuneable power curves. It displays a myriad information, including speed, cadence, max speed, average speed, trip distance, odometer, calories burnt, pedal power in watts,
max pedal power, average power in watts for you and the bike (showing the split) and the equivalent in fuel litres you’ve saved using the bike. Gocycle also includes lights and integrated mudguards and plenty of accessories are available aftermarket.
On the road the Gocycle is seriously good fun. The full-length wheelbase of 1065mm gives it great stability and a pretty relaxed 70-degree head angle makes for stable handling still swift enough to navigate through traffic with ease. As for range – we got on average of around 47 miles on a single charge using the ‘city’ mode via the app. This limits the assistance until the rider is putting in the equivalent of 100 watts of their own power and ramps up to full assistance at around 250 watts of rider input. ‘Eco’ mode comes in at around 175 watts, and then there’s on-demand where the system delivers e-assistance when it deems you need it. You can also set your own custom powerband assistance level via easy-to-use sliders on the app power grid screen.
The GXi is a folder, but doesn’t have Brompton levels of compactness. The folded size is 830mm x 370mm x 750mm. That’s small enough to fit into the boot of a small car, but it won’t slide under a desk like a Brompton. At 17.5kg it’s a little bulky too.
The gear range is ideal for urban riding and the low 39.1-inch bottom gear along with e-assist means the Gocycle has an impressive climbing ability. On one of our test rides it took on a local hill a kilometre long with 95m of elevation gain and a gradient average of 10 per cent with a max of 16.8 per cent without a hitch.
The ride quality is impressively smooth thanks to the combination of the soft-tail back end and the massively voluminous tyres. In fact, the combination of the handling and ride quality encouraged this tester to try the Gocycle way out of its comfort zone on one of our favourite gravel excursions. With the bike running in ‘eco’, but with a tweak to the assist coming in at the 200 watt mark it achieved an impressive 61.236km with 418.75 metres of elevation at an average speed of 25.07kph on a route that took in everything from long road climbs to real gravel (nearly 30km of it). What was even more impressive was how well the bike coped with different terrain. The motor may be tiny compared to most of its
On the road the Gocycle is seriously good fun with great stability and stable handling; swift enough to navigate traffic with ease