The people behind the Gocycle G4 thought of everything – Ars Technica

Foldable bikes offer a pretty obvious trade-off: the convenience of something you can easily pick up and store in the corner of an office or small apartment, but with some compromises in the cycling experience. Typically, putting a greater emphasis on one of those will mean sacrificing a bit on the other.

But e-bikes offer the possibility to sidestep some of that trade-off, boosting aspects of cycling performance without adding much in the way of added bulk. And the Gocycle G4 provides an excellent demonstration of how well that formula can work out, offering excellent performance in a thoughtfully designed package that is easy to pick up and lug around. It’s not so good that it will completely replace a regular bike, but it comes a lot closer than I expected, and it has a number of brilliantly designed features.

All that said, the bike still has a couple of issues that temper my enthusiasm a bit.

Brilliant design

Gocycle is an English company that was founded by a designer from the performance automaker McLaren. The original idea was to make a bike that would perform well while getting people to and from a train station but fold up neatly enough that it could be carried on the train. The result is a heavily customized design. There are a few standard components on it, but the frame and many of the parts are custom-made for Gocycle. The good news is that the freedom from conforming to standardized parts allowed for some truly inspired features.

But it also means that if you want some accessories that come in standard sizes—like mudguards or a rear rack—you have to buy them from Gocycle. Buy off the shelf parts, and there’s a good chance they’ll be the wrong size or have no way of attaching to the frame.

What are the positive aspects customization enables? It’s a very long list. Rather than a standard kickstand, the G4 comes with a pair of legs that tuck up neatly against the frame when not in use. Push one down, and both extend and spread out to provide a stable tripod with the rear wheel that holds the bike upright, even when it’s fully folded. Tucked into the frame is a bit of bungie and a clasp; the bungie is just the right length to allow the clasp to latch onto a knob on the handlebars when the bike is fully collapsed, holding it in the folded position even if you lift it and move it around. And the frame shape provides an obvious place to hold the bike when carrying it folded.

The seatpost inserts into a tube that’s not part of the frame, allowing you to adjust the height and lock the seat in place before inserting the assembly into the frame. This design also lets you remove the seat without losing the adjustment. Gocycle thoughtfully tucks an allen wrench for adjusting the seat height into the bottom of the seat itself, and there’s also a convenient handle for tightening the assembly into the frame.

Finally, most e-bikes with a single suspension place it on the front wheel, where it cushions sudden braking on bulky frames. But the G4 doesn’t have a bulky frame, and the suspension is on the rear wheel, which makes for a far more pleasant ride when seated. This effect is accentuated by the long seat post, which turns a small bit of compression in the suspension into a much larger bit of flex.

All of these design decisions clearly involved a lot of thought by the bike’s designers. Two other aspects of the bike don’t work out quite so well. The motor on the G4 is on the front wheel, which presented a problem on the steepest climb I tested the bike on. The slope, combined with the long seat post shifting the center of gravity well to the rear, led to the front wheel nearly lifting off the pavement a few times, causing the motor to spin the wheel without any traction for a half second here and there during the climb. I still made it up the hill, but it was a clear indication that, despite the fact that it generally performs well, this isn’t a performance bike.

Another issue is the use of an internally geared rear hub. This allows Gocycle to completely enclose the chain, keeping clothing and shoelaces safe and clean during commutes. The downside is that the gears were ever so slightly out of alignment, causing me to skip a cog about once every 10 minutes when in the top gear. Fixing this sort of thing on a regular derailleur would take only the time needed to find the right allen wrench. But on the G4, it would require disassembling a fair bit of the rear of the bike just to access the gears—and I have no idea how to fix internal gearing.

Almost great software

The G4’s only internal display is a single row of red LEDs embedded in the handlebars. Learning anything about the bike requires the use of a phone app, which is where I had my biggest problems during my testing. If you launch the app while the bike is on and nearby, it will recognize the bike and attempt to start Bluetooth pairing. Unfortunately, due to a known bug, that attempt—and all subsequent ones—will fail.

And it will fail in the most annoying way imaginable: The interface stops responding while searching for the bike, but it doesn’t indicate it’s busy in any way. Meanwhile, two buttons on the screen remain enabled but don’t respond to any inputs. It took repeated flailing just to figure out that the software hadn’t just locked up.

A representative from Gocycle eventually walked me through deleting the app, avoiding the failed pairing, and pairing later in the setup process. Once that hurdle was cleared, the software was excellent, but the company really needs to get these pairing problems sorted out.

The software offers a mode that provides a very nice display of speed and basic stats while you’re riding, and it allows you to change the assist from the light support of eco mode to the big boost provided in city mode. It’s also possible to create a custom mode with a distinct pattern of assistance. In addition, there’s a variety of self-diagnostics you can run to make sure the bike is in good shape. Overall, it really is good software once it’s working.

I hope a fix comes soon because the app is essential to getting the most out of the bike—using a phone is so fundamental to the Gocycle experience that the G4 comes with a USB charging port in the handlebars and straps to attach your phone so you can view it while riding. As of last check, though, the software hasn’t been updated in three months.

The ride

All those thoughtful design touches wouldn’t be worth much if the riding experience was disappointing. And here, the G4 defies expectations, providing much better performance than it looks like it should. Gocycles rely on a torque sensor, which measures how much force you’re applying to the pedals, as opposed to a simpler cadence sensor, which checks how fast the pedals are rotating. While more expensive, a torque sensor provides better overall responsiveness. When you’re accelerating from a complete stop, the bike apply a stronger assist, even though the pedals aren’t moving that fast.

The assist is combined with a three-gear rear hub, which is controlled by rotating the right hand grip. The low gear is enough to get moving with ease, and it handled most hills nicely—at least until the slope started lifting the front wheel off the pavement. The high end made it easy to top out at a bit over 15 mph an hour (25 kmh). It was possible to hit 20 mph (32 kmh)—where the assist cuts out—but it required pedaling at a cadence that was too fast for comfort. I was left wanting a nonexistent fourth gear on flat stretches.

In between those two extremes, the bike performed remarkably well, accelerating quickly, cutting smooth turns, and handling bumps with ease. It’s important to note that what the bike really provides is a pedal assist, so you’ll almost always need to be putting some effort into the cranks to keep the bike cruising. If you were hoping to use the motor to avoid any real exertion—something that’s not unreasonable if you intend to use it to commute in a hot climate—you’ll be disappointed. The G4 is very much still a bicycle, just one where your pedaling feels unnaturally effective.

The riding experience is so good that the bike’s ability to fold is secondary. If it weren’t for the T-shaped handlebars in front of me, it would have been easy to forget I was riding something that was designed around collapsing into a compact form. In fact, the long seat tube made this one of the only e-bikes I’ve used where I could fully extend my legs while still seated and pedaling. I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed riding this bike.

The G4 comes with a smaller motor (500 W) than most of the other bikes we have tested, but it was difficult to notice the difference. That’s in part because the bike itself was also considerably lighter, at under 40 pounds (> 18 kg). And it was partly due to the fact that the bike’s gearing kept it from being able to reach speeds where the extra power would really shine. Under normal riding conditions, the bike’s 300 Whr battery is rated for about 40 miles (65 km). If battery size is a concern, there are also two higher-end models, the G4i and G4i plus, which have larger batteries offset by the increased use of carbon fiber.

In the fold

While it has a few flaws, the overall G4 experience is excellent. The bike is light and folds down to a very compact form, making it both portable and easy to store, even when space is tight. Many features of the bike, like the suspension system, seat post, and kickstand, are extremely well thought-out and more functional than the equivalents on other foldable bikes we’ve reviewed. And the ride is remarkably good. The bike accelerates quickly, holds its speed nicely, and handles well.

That said, this is not a replacement for a more balanced all-around bike. With only three gears, it can’t reach the sorts of speeds that are trivial to hit on a road bike without any electric assist. Its design means that it can struggle on steeper hills. There is no “only bike you’ll ever need for everything,” and Gocycle hasn’t changed that fundamental reality. But it wasn’t trying to. Instead, the company targeted a specific niche: people who want a bike that can fit into commutes that may include rail travel or destinations without bike parking. And the G4 completely nails it here.

That said, there are a few caveats to keep in mind. One is that all the design features and custom components come at a price. The G4 base model starts at $3,500 and scales up to $7,000 for the G4i+. You get what you pay for, but you still have to pay.

The second is that Gocycle is a UK-based company and doesn’t have a large footprint in the US, especially outside of major urban centers. This can be an issue, as many of the bike’s parts are custom, and it may not be easy or quick to get servicing or replacement parts at a local bike shop. Gocycle offers a premium service plan that expedites all service and maintenance, but it costs over $300 per year.

So there’s a lot to consider before committing to a Gocycle. But if you decide that it’s a good fit for your needs, it’s a superb piece of hardware, one where the careful thought put into its design can be a regular source of pleasure.