Updated fast-folding ebike gets a cleaner look, sheds some weight

[Andy-Mat]

Its not for me as I like larger wheels on a bike, but many here like the smaller folding style, so they might have an interest in this:-

Updated fast-folding ebike gets a cleaner look, sheds some weight

London's Gocycle has announced an update to last year's GX urban ebike, with riders promised a smoother 10-second fold, cleaner lines, flagship components and an overall weight saving of 10.5 oz compared to its predecessor.

newatlas.com

One point that it has, that I feel that is very important for any e-bike, is easy battery access for charging, swapping or replacement!
Its far too expensive for me personally I have just seen!!
regards to all
Andy

 

[vfr400]

The Gocycle is a fantastic bike. They're very powerful, light, fast and full of technology. They're a bit of an anomaly when it comes to hub-motor vs crank motor comparisons because they do everything so well (except off-road riding, obviously).

 

[Steed]

The Gocycle is a fantastic bike. They're very powerful, light, fast and full of technology. They're a bit of an anomaly when it comes to hub-motor vs crank motor comparisons because they do everything so well (except off-road riding, obviously).

Puzzled by the fantastic bike comment.
Yes it is a fantastic price.
Very powerful? According to the blurb it only has a 22v motor?
Perhaps its a question of power to weight ratio.
Full of technology may or may not be a good idea if reliability or repair is a consideration on what is advertised largely as a commuter machine.
Is it full of cheap generic Chinese components to help in this regard?
Bet not!

 

[RossG]

Nice bike but it has a major design fault....that hinge, wow ! Notice the two tiny pins that fit into indents on the front section, they are there to help prevent torsional distortion (twisting) of the two folding sections.
Basically they are just not big enough for the job, it would have been better to have indents moulded as part of the frame itself that interlocked for rigidity. Tern had a lot of problems with their hinge and had to redesign it for that very reason, I have a Tern framed folder myself that has an upgraded folding hinge with a interlocking design.
Also on this bike that the hinge clamp is far too feeble, look at the pin five or six mil in dia maybe ? That could easily snap, you can see where weight has been saved but sadly it's at the expense of strength. Nice for riding around town but I wouldn't trust it on a long journey where you might hit a few bumps on the way.

 

[vfr400]

Puzzled by the fantastic bike comment.
Yes it is a fantastic price.
Very powerful? According to the blurb it only has a 22v motor?
Perhaps its a question of power to weight ratio.
Full of technology may or may not be a good idea if reliability or repair is a consideration on what is advertised largely as a commuter machine.
Is it full of cheap generic Chinese components to help in this regard?
Bet not!

Voltage has nothing to do with it's power.

It's not full of Chinese components. It was designed from the ground up by British engineers (ex McClaren) in London. Every single component is bespoke, except maybe the brake levers and pedals.

You don't need to worry about repairs because they're properly designed. The mk 1 had some issues, but everything was sorted on the mk 2. Now we have the mk3. Search forums to see how many instances of problems you can find.

Basically, you're speculating without knowing anything about these bikes. Hopefully, I've given you some information that will make you wiser. I've not only ridden several of them, but I have dismantled one to see what's inside. They sold them from a shop that I worked at for three years. None ever came back. Some of us also got the chance to race them around the Redbridge race circuit, which was an absolute hoot.

 

[Woosh]

Search forums to see how many instances of problems you can find.

they didn't sell many Gocycles on here though.
I still remember how well they ride when they took them to Redbridge.
It was a joy.

 

[vfr400]

Nice bike but it has a major design fault....that hinge, wow ! Notice the two tiny pins that fit into indents on the front section, they are there to help prevent torsional distortion (twisting) of the two folding sections.
Basically they are just not big enough for the job, it would have been better to have indents moulded as part of the frame itself that interlocked for rigidity. Tern had a lot of problems with their hinge and had to redesign it for that very reason, I have a Tern framed folder myself that has an upgraded folding hinge with a interlocking design.
Also on this bike that the hinge clamp is far too feeble, look at the pin five or six mil in dia maybe ? That could easily snap, you can see where weight has been saved but sadly it's at the expense of strength. Nice for riding around town but I wouldn't trust it on a long journey where you might hit a few bumps on the way.

The folding mechanism isn't new. The GX folding Gocycle has been around for 18 months without any reported problems.

 

[Woosh]

Full of technology may or may not be a good idea if reliability or repair is a consideration on what is advertised largely as a commuter machine.

if reliability and repair are your main concerns, look no further than the Brompton.

This is my bike at the moment:

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/2020/brompton/cskit3.jpg

You can set the maximum current for each assist level. I set it for 50%, 65%, 80%, 90% and 100% so I ride most of the time on assist level 1.
40 miles range.
I can also swap in my lightweight 660g Bosch battery.
The whole e-bike weighs then under 14kgs.

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/2020/brompton/tool-battery.jpg

Not many bikes can do that.

 

[Steed]

Voltage has nothing to do with it's power.

It's not full of Chinese components. It was designed from the ground up by British engineers (ex McClaren) in London. Every single component is bespoke, except maybe the brake levers and pedals.

You don't need to worry about repairs because they're properly designed. The mk 1 had some issues, but everything was sorted on the mk 2. Now we have the mk3. Search forums to see how many instances of problems you can find.

Basically, you're speculating without knowing anything about these bikes. Hopefully, I've given you some information that will make you wiser. I've not only ridden several of them, but I have dismantled one to see what's inside. They sold them from a shop that I worked at for three years. None ever came back. Some of us also got the chance to race them around the Redbridge race circuit, which was an absolute hoot.

I'm not speculating just commenting on an open forum.
Voltage is quite a lot to do with power. Isn't electrical power measured in watts? Volts x amps = watts therefore less volts is less watts given equal amps. Hence most ebike motors running 36volts these days.

 

[vfr400]

I'm not speculating just commenting on an open forum.
Voltage is quite a lot to do with power. Isn't electrical power measured in watts? Volts x amps = watts therefore less volts is less watts given equal amps. Hence most ebike motors running 36volts these days.

Yes, but 36v x 15 amps = 540W and 22v x 30 amps = 660W.

Whatever the numbers, If you have a go on a Gocycle set to full power and speed, you will see straight away, that it's significantly more powerful than your average legal ebike. IIRC, we were getting well over 20mph around the test track. I was really surprised at how well they went.

For anybody that wants a full power and full speed Gocycle, make sure that you get the password, or at least an agreement to get it, before handing over your cash. the power profiles are set up through a phone app that has different passwords for the different legalities.

 

[Woosh]

we were getting well over 20mph around the test track.

I get a similar speed on the Brompton if I derestrict it. It's the motor winding. 328RPM for 349 tyres is the sweet spot. The Lishui controller is only 36V 14A. You get fast acceleration on small wheels (well, it feels fast on small wheels). Next time you drop by, test ride the Q70 motor (Aikema 84SX is the same motor I think).

 

[vfr400]

I get a similar speed on the Brompton if I derestrict it. It's the motor winding. 328RPM for 349 tyres is the sweet spot. The Lishui controller is only 36V 14A. You get fast acceleration on small wheels (well, it feels fast on small wheels). Next time you drop by, test ride the Q70 motor (Aikema 84SX is the same motor I think).

That sound a bit fast. can you check the actual no-load speed?

The 328 rpm motors do 22 mph no load speed in a 20" wheel so it'll be closer to 18 mph in a 16" wheel. That's with a fully charged battery at 42v. The real world speed is a lot less than that. The Brompton that I converted with a 328 rpm Q85 did about 16 mph real world road speed at full throttle on the flat. It climbed like a goat though at 4mph.

 

[Woosh]

I checked it. The speedometer is in the motor, you set the wheel diameter to 18". I can hold 20mph easy peasy. Try it next time you pass through Southend, it does not match the GoCycle on comfort but still quite good fun. At least it's light enough a woman can lift it up high enough to load into the boot on her own.
There is no throttle so nobody would notice you derestrict the bike (still illegal mind). BTW, you can't get noload speed on that Q70 kit because there is no throttle.

 

[vfr400]

I checked it. The speedometer is in the motor, you set the wheel diameter to 18". I can hold 20mph easy peasy.
There is no throttle so nobody would notice you derestrict the bike (still illegal mind). BTW, you can't get noload speed because there is no throttle on that Q70 kit.

I think you need to check that speed with GPS. 20 mph with 18" wheels would be 387 rpm, but to get that speed on the road, you'd be at around 75 - 80% of max no-load rpm because you'd already be well down the power ramp after the back emf controls the power level. Even at 80%, that would mean that it would have a max no-load speed of 483 rpm!

 

[Woosh]

OK, I'll take the Brompton with me next week to France.
Will give it a good GPS check then.

 

[kotafidasa]

The folding mechanism snaptube word to pdf vidmate isn't new. The GX folding Gocycle has been around for 18 months without any reported problems.

The Gocycle is a fantastic bike. They're very powerful, light, fast and full of technology. They're a bit of an anomaly when it comes to hub-motor vs crank motor comparisons because they do everything so well (except off-road riding, obviously).

 

[theabsurdman]

This is my bike at the moment:

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/2020/brompton/cskit3.jpg

You can set the maximum current for each assist level. I set it for 50%, 65%, 80%, 90% and 100% so I ride most of the time on assist level 1.
40 miles range.
I can also swap in my lightweight 660g Bosch battery.
The whole e-bike weighs then under 14kgs.

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/2020/brompton/tool-battery.jpg

Not many bikes can do that.

Is it standard for your Brompton kit that it can take a Bosch tool battery? Or is that some special modded version?

 

[Woosh]

I made a 3D printed adapter for my Bosch battery.
The main issue with making it for sale is sourcing the contact blades. The company that makes the blades would like me to order 10,000+ of them. I only need 2 contact pins per adapter and they don't want to make a small quantity.
I made mine by canibalising a charger for the battery.
If you have another 36V tool battery, you can do the same for your battery.

 

[theabsurdman]

I made a 3D printed adapter for my Bosch battery.
The main issue with making it for sale is sourcing the contact blades. The company that makes the blades would like me to order 10,000+ of them. I only need 2 contact pins per adapter and they don't want to make a small quantity.
I made mine by canibalising a charger for the battery.
If you have another 36V tool battery, you can do the same for your battery.

Cool, thanks. If it's just a question of interfacing terminals together I'll figure something out.