GoCycle G2 at Redbridge

[Hackney Andy]

I thought the GoCycle G2 on trial at Redbridge was a significant improvement compared with the thumb-numbing original, but it's still woefully under geared. How they can justify a staggaring £1600 increase in the retail price just beggars belief. Shame really, because if they'd chosen a more realistic price point it could have been a cult machine.

 

[103Alex1]

£1,600 extra cost for looks, at the expense of any notion of real performance or sensible practicality for all but a very specific type of use (go out for ride, come back and stow away - do not pass 'Go', do not collect £200 and don't even think about stopping for a spell in the tea shop unless you want to carry a 16kg bike in with you as there's nowhere to put a decent security chain for a bike that value - hmmmm lol).

 

[Artstu]

The Gocycle was the bike that got me interested in electric bikes, so it does have its uses, a desirable bike I'd have as a show piece if I had money to burn.

 

[flecc]

The GoCycle is a daft price for most, but there's long been a premium e-bike market. BikeTec of Switzerland have made the Flyer e-bikes for many years at prices from £2500 to over £5000 recently. Their Panasonic unit models between 2001 and 2006 offered no practical advantage over the Giant Lafree models which were as little as a third of the price, but they were hand built using the finest cycle components and oozed quality. So the well heeled enjoyed the pride of ownership a product like that uniquely has.

Other examples are the Optibikes at up to around £8000 and the Swizzbee which was around £2500 I think some six years ago. Now IZIP in the USA make the Swizzbee-like Dolphin model from the same designer at around £3000 upwards.

So GoCycle will sell a few, and I've no doubt the high price is recognition that to survive, the profit per bike from small sales has to be very high. The several years of high development costs have to be met too.

 

[103Alex1]

Yes, it's in the "expensive toy" category. A bit like a jetski, or a JetLev :

http://mauih2o.com/jet-propulsion-flying-jet-ski-engine-power-pack-mauih2o

.. only nowhere near as much fun .