Gocycle review in The Telegraph

[HarryB]

Gocycle electric cycle review - Telegraph

 

[alex_h]

Hi harry,

Ta for the link but tell us how do you find your new Emotion bike? Is this one any better than the Cytronex or Kalkhoff?

regs

Alex

 

[NRG]

Yes, I'm also interested...

 

[thunderblue]

Gocycle electric cycle review - Telegraph

I tried one of these recently - I have to admit, the bike was really nippy, but personally I didn't like the lack of control in terms of speed. It has a red button to push on the left handlebar, and then the motor just kicks in. Not the same experience as riding a bike when you can ease off and pick up speed gradually. But I imagine that you would really easily get used to it.

 

[jerrysimon]

Does this have suspension on the front ?

Regards

Jerry

 

[HarryB]

Hi harry,

Ta for the link but tell us how do you find your new Emotion bike? Is this one any better than the Cytronex or Kalkhoff?

regs

Alex

I will but give some more details soon time permitting. Actually it is just like many of the Panasonics I guess but I think the Dérailleur gears work much better than the hub gears.

I have tried the 11 tooth conversion but found the range not good enough without charging at work (range is about 25 miles). I have put the 9 tooth back and will see if the range comes back to something a bit more acceptable. Also the bike comes with a sticker saying it conforms to EN15194 - however it has a 11-32 sprocket fitted as standard so the conformity is fairly loose. Not that I am complaining as I would have made that change anyway. Everything else is of high spec including the tyres which according to the pictures should match the Marathon Pluses. Brakes are fantastic but they were wired the spanish way and I had to pay a shop to swap them over and re-bleed.

I will do something more when I put a few more miles on it but if you have any specific questions then I would be happy to answer them.

I have question for somebody. The panasonic control panel has a switch for the lights but the bike doesn't have any fitted - do you think the wiring for lights is accessible behind a cover? I don't want to invalidate the warranty but I think I should be able to run a couple of lights off the battery. Anybody any info on this?

 

[flecc]

I have question for somebody. The panasonic control panel has a switch for the lights but the bike doesn't have any fitted - do you think the wiring for lights is accessible behind a cover? I don't want to invalidate the warranty but I think I should be able to run a couple of lights off the battery. Anybody any info on this?

The photo below is of a current model wiring loom, and the connectors at the right are those internal to the unit. The three white connectors at the top left will have connected ones but should include one for lighting which will be hanging free under the cowlings. The old unit was quite similar. I don't know what the connection order is or the type of connector needed, but the outputs can be checked and the connector could be substituted of course:

 

[HarryB]

Thanks, I will have a look before winter.I quite fancy the IQ lights on the front but there may be too many problems - one of which is that there is nothing to attach it to. The front forks are of an odd suspension design and don't allow for lights or mudguards for that matter. I will have to think of another solution.

 

[Barnowl]

Personally I'd much rather spend my money on Harrys bike - the Emotion Sport Max+. Having checked the bike out on the onbike site I think it looks great:
http://www.onbike.co.uk/e-motion-+sport-max-plus.html

I'd also be most interested in your experiences when you have time Harry. I hope it's a very satisfactory purchase.

 

[HarryB]

Thanks, I will have a look before winter.I quite fancy the IQ lights on the front but there may be too many problems - one of which is that there is nothing to attach it to. The front forks are of an odd suspension design and don't allow for lights or mudguards for that matter. I will have to think of another solution.

I should add a correction. There is a way of fitting the light to the forks it was just not where I was expecting it to be and being all black was difficult to see. I had a go at getting the cover off to see the wiring but it didn't come apart easily so I gave up. It does look like I should be able to add lights.

Barnowl - yes I do think it looks great and is reasonably light etc. I did look at the Sahel from 50 cycles but that was an extra £400 and not as good looking. I am probably still the only person in the UK riding one of these things as only two were imported and I suspect the other is still at Onbike. Still cannot beat the Cytronex for light weight and feeling like a proper bicycle but it is much quicker when you wind it up. With the 11 sprocket I seem to bomb along at about 23 mph but not sure how much it is assisting at that speed - the speed does drop back dramatically when I hit a hill. Still I left some fixie twit behind when he started to annoy me the other day, which is satisfying.