G-tech bike,has anyone seen a proper test

[Cyclezee]

I own 2 Gtech battery-pack products which came as a package. They are both well-made. One is a hedgetrimmer which performs adequately on light jobs for a fairly short time; the other is a lawn-edger strimmer which is useless. I suspect their ebike will fall somewhere between the two descriptions.

Jim

I have to say the two Gtech cordless vacuum cleaner products that we have seem quite good, but the up right is very noisy.

Most of my power tools are Ryobi, including a petrol powered strimmer.
The same motor also powers several other attachments, brush cutter, hedge trimmer and chainsaw type pole pruner. Unfortunately it's not running at the moment, carb problems which I need to get parts for.
As an interim measure I bought a Ryobi cordless strimmer as it it uses the same battery pack as my other Ryobi cordless electric tools and I was pleasantly surprised as to how effective it is.

 

[Kudoscycles]

When I first got involved in e-bikes I bought into the future-green energy bit which suggested a market with big volumes. The result was a £7k advert over a summer in the Easyjet magazine,I think we sold 6 bikes.
It became obvious that e-bike sales are very much a local business,companies like On-Bike and LEBC have established a local market,say 30 mile radius,but customers are not impulse buyers they do their homework,seek a lot of advice from their local dealer and analyse carefully what they want the bike for and take time to decide.
There are national companies selling on the Internet,customers buy off these if they know already what they want or take a gamble if they are cheap,but they still do some homework.
This forum is a good source of that homework.
I think G-tech have made the same mistake as we did when we first entered the market but they have over estimated the size of the market by a massive amount. I also think that they think they can create a market by throwing big marketing money at it,after all they achieved that with the vacuum cleaner.....but customers can see the advantage of a £200 cordless vacuum cleaner,it was a new concept to overcome the downsides of wired vacuums.
But the e-bike is already a known concept nothing original,their advertising may introduce new people to the concept but at £1000 customers will look around and there are better value,I don't see it as an impulse buy.
Ironically,they are doing such a good job of marketing the e-bike concept but is this reflected in sales of G-tech or other marques.
A proper and impartial test of the G-tech is long overdue
KudosDave

 

[martin@onbike]

When I first got involved in e-bikes I bought into the future-green energy bit which suggested a market with big volumes. The result was a £7k advert over a summer in the Easyjet magazine,I think we sold 6 bikes.
It became obvious that e-bike sales are very much a local business,companies like On-Bike and LEBC have established a local market,say 30 mile radius,but customers are not impulse buyers they do their homework,seek a lot of advice from their local dealer and analyse carefully what they want the bike for and take time to decide.
There are national companies selling on the Internet,customers buy off these if they know already what they want or take a gamble if they are cheap,but they still do some homework.
This forum is a good source of that homework.
I think G-tech have made the same mistake as we did when we first entered the market but they have over estimated the size of the market by a massive amount. I also think that they think they can create a market by throwing big marketing money at it,after all they achieved that with the vacuum cleaner.....but customers can see the advantage of a £200 cordless vacuum cleaner,it was a new concept to overcome the downsides of wired vacuums.
But the e-bike is already a known concept nothing original,their advertising may introduce new people to the concept but at £1000 customers will look around and there are better value,I don't see it as an impulse buy.
Ironically,they are doing such a good job of marketing the e-bike concept but is this reflected in sales of G-tech or other marques.
A proper and impartial test of the G-tech is long overdue
KudosDave

Must disagree with your statement there Dave about Ebikes being a local market...most of our sales are from outside Worcestershire (apart from Malvern!) and indeed the majority are from across the U.K, from Fife to Isle of Wight, and everywhere inbetween.
Also think GTECH are doing a great job promoting the concept of Ebikes with their Marketing budget, and are happy to have the extra footfall they bring to Worcester.

 

[flecc]

I think G-tech have made the same mistake as we did when we first entered the market but they have over estimated the size of the market by a massive amount. I also think that they think they can create a market by throwing big marketing money at it,

I agree, they are doing the whole e-bike market a big favour but I fear they will ultimately realise that it was inadvertantly a charitable effort.
.

 

[Kudoscycles]

Must disagree with your statement there Dave about Ebikes being a local market...most of our sales are from outside Worcestershire (apart from Malvern!) and indeed the majority are from across the U.K, from Fife to Isle of Wight, and everywhere inbetween.
Also think GTECH are doing a great job promoting the concept of Ebikes with their Marketing budget, and are happy to have the extra footfall they bring to Worcester.

Martin,OK accept that your marketplace is now very widespread and I am also being unfair to LEBC who I know ship nationwide.
But you have been established a number of years,initially your market was in the Presteigne to Kidderminster area. The point I am making is that area probably knew nothing about e-bikes,it is down to your local strength that created a local market.
I can think of parts of the U.K.,Scotland for example,where e-bikes are so rare,yet the terrain obviously suits them,but good dealers with choice are very rare,the market in those areas is very small.
IMHO national advertising does not realise direct sales,however it does bring the concept to a wider audience who then look locally to try/buy one. I too am very happy that G-tech have blown serious money on a national advertising campaign,it has made Kudos very busy,especially in London,but how many G-techs has it sold?
KudosDave

 

[mike killay]

KudosDave,
All that I can say is
Shush.......

 

[Cyclezee]

Just like Martin our market is UK wide and further, last week we shipped four bikes to the Outer Hebrides and have bike customers as far away as Marseilles, for us local sales are only a small part of our business.
One lady is prepared to travel from Geneva to pick up an eZee Expedir from Dover because it would cost her less than buying one locally.
We also sell parts worldwide and have sold to every continent except Antarctica.

 

[mike killay]

My feelings are that the GTECH is a very ordinary, under batteried, under equipped bike that is being oversold at an 'aspirational' price
The only thing that the highly puffed advertising has going for it is the carbon belt drive, and that is very questionable.
Chain driven bikes are about 130 years old now. Countless generations have coped with them without trouble, just as they have with electricity, power tools etc.etc. i.e. keep away.
If chains are as objectionable as the advert writers seem to think they are, where are all the after market adverts to convert chain to carbon belt drive?
To me, it is a non starter.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

The Gates carbon belt is an exceptional price if engineering. Much more expensive than a chain but will last several times longer.

The biggest advantage apart from the near silent running is they stay incredibly clean and never need oiling which in turn keeps the rest of the bike clean. Every time the belt passes over the drive wheel the bars that pull on the belt "squeegee" it clean. Brilliant.

Can't cope with heavy soling though so not so good for mountain bikes.

Agree re the rest of the bike though, it looks great but is a bike built by people who don't understand Ebikes or EBike bike users. Through our manufacturers they asked us to get involved in the early days, we even visited them, but it didn't get off the ground.

 

[danielrlee]

I finally got round to watching the ad on YouTube (haven't seen it on TV yet and I've got Sky) and it was bloody awful. I'm not sure if I'm the target demographic (I'm 36, so just about middle aged) but for me the ad failed to convey the most appealing aspect of ebikes - FUN! Maybe my idea of fun is different from the masses though.

They should get Soundwave on the creative team. I can picture it now. Joint in one hand, can of cider in the other, pedaling with no hands on the bar. "Rolling like a G".

I have to agree though, the belt drive looks a step forward. Why are we still using oily chains in 2016?

 

[Kudoscycles]

I was told that the chain is a much more efficient energy transfer than the belt drive?
KudosDave

 

[trex]

it still is but nobody is going to drool over a chain.

 

[flecc]

I have to agree though, the belt drive looks a step forward. Why are we still using oily chains in 2016?

See this post for the reasons.
.

 

[trex]

the split frame seems to be quite elegantly solved on the Gtech bike, just a metal box held in place by 4 bolts above the rear hub axle.
The rest is of course true but infrequent happenings.

 

[Dc42]

HI. The GTECH has, through its advertising campaign opened my eyes to the electric bike option. Once looking at it closely, I decided it wasn't fit for the use I had in mind and I decided to get a more Mountain Bike setup from Oxygen. I think maybe their campaign may push sales throughout the whole industry. Not a bad thing?

 

[flecc]

Signs are that belt drive on bikes will end up with a similar incidence to that on motorcycles. A few models from certain makers, but the great majority staying with chain.

The pressure to do that is much greater on bicycles, due to the popularity of derailleur gears, even more so on e-bikes with their greater limitations on gearing options.

And I still think back to the old Sunbean oilbath chaincases and their chains which lasted for decades, easily outliving belts.
.

 

[mike killay]

I have to agree though, the belt drive looks a step forward. Why are we still using oily chains in 2016?

After reading Flecc's post, the answer is obvious, they are not as good as 'oily' chains.
I don't get this objection to chains, mine is entirely open but I don't get oil on myself.,
If they are a problem, there are trouser clips, chain cases etc.
The 4 downsides to carbon belts mentioned by Flecc are enough to put me off the device.
Especially when I have no problems at all with chains.
I suspect that the hype they make of the belt is really a bored advertising writer, who may not even like bikes, desperately trying to write something up-beat about the bike.
I stand by my original comment, the bike is an over priced, very ordinary bike that does not even meet existing competition.

 

[Chainring]

After reading Flecc's post, the answer is obvious, they are not as good as 'oily' chains.
I don't get this objection to chains, mine is entirely open but I don't get oil on myself.,
If they are a problem, there are trouser clips, chain cases etc.
The 4 downsides to carbon belts mentioned by Flecc are enough to put me off the device.
Especially when I have no problems at all with chains.
I suspect that the hype they make of the belt is really a bored advertising writer, who may not even like bikes, desperately trying to write something up-beat about the bike.
I stand by my original comment, the bike is an over priced, very ordinary bike that does not even meet existing competition.

Very true, and surely we are in the era of rust-resistant chains, which need even less oil sprayed about. I, hopefully, have learned my lesson as far as over-oiling my chain is concerned, and with a hub motor and hub gears, there is hardly any stress on the chain anyway. I also notice that Cycleeze do not seem to sell the Emu brand any more. That appeared to be a useful bike, attractive, but a bit dear for what it was/is. The marketing men were thick on the ground with that one as well, I think. (My Woosh Santander had done over 5000 miles on the original chain when I sold it).

 

[Chainring]

I forgot. The firm I work for sells and repairs garden machinery. We sold a couple of GTech cordless cylinder mowers, until we had to repair one, and found what was inside.... We, and our supplier, stopped selling them.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Look up Hebie Chainglider. It can be fitted to a chain driving a Nexus 8 Inter (or Rohloff) and achieves the same goal as a belt drive for much less €$£. You need a frame with horizontal dropouts for it to work