Why You Can Trust CNET GoCycle G3 review: A comfy commuter, with tech to satisfy the geek in you
With its comfy ride and ability to customise the motor assistance with a smartphone, the GoCycle G3 is a great bike for the tech-loving commuter
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The GoCycle G3 is the bike to consider if, like me, you're a bit of a gadget nerd.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The handlebars feature a built in LED headlight, along with a 'dashboard' made up of a variety of dancing lights. The lights indicate several things, including your chosen gear, your power settings and your light mode. It looks futuristic when you're riding around, but it's tough to remember what all the lights mean, which can make your cycling a little confusing.
Luckily, the bike pairs with your smartphone, which allows you to change your bike's motor settings in an easier to understand way. There are a selection of preset modes to choose from in the GoCycle app. They each give a differing amount of assistance from the electric motor, depending on how energetic you're feeling. If you want an easy ride to work, put it in 'city' mode and the motor will provide the maximum amount of assistance with your pedalling. There's a custom mode too which lets you fine-tune the controls.
Even with a medium assistance setting the GoCycle is extremely comfortable to ride. The bike is perfectly balanced, making it easy to throw into corners and nip in and out of traffic. Its small wheels don't let you get up much of a pace (the motor is limited to 25 km/h or 15.5 mph) but it's plenty fast enough for a busy city-centre commute, and the 64 km (40 mile) range should give you a few runs into the office before you need to recharge.
It has three gears to choose from, which are easily selected by twisting the left-hand grip. The hydraulic disc brakes are effective too, which is comforting when you're nose-to-nose with traffic in the middle of town.
The GoCycle has a very modern design which I'm personally rather keen on. It's a compact bike, made mostly from a variety of plastics, which helps make it light weight. It's easy to carry upstairs into your flat or office and although it doesn't fold down, you can easily clip off the wheels for easier storage.
The rounded, moulded plastic body conceals all the brake cables, as well as the chain, resulting in a fuss-free look -- not to mention no risk of getting your suit trousers caught in an oily gear. The front fork only connects to the wheel on the left-hand side, which gives it a very unusual look, but doesn't negatively affect the ride in any way.
The battery can't be removed from the bike for charging, so you'll have to store your bike next to a plug socket to charge it. That's not a problem if you live in a house, but if you live in a tall block of flats with specific cycle storage on the ground floor then getting it to a power outlet may be more of a struggle.
The non-removable battery is my only real complaint about the G3 though, and if that won't be a problem for you then it's well worth your time. Its nifty design and comfortable ride make it a real pleasure to take round inner-city streets and the smartphone linkup adds a touch of tech that suits me down to the ground.