New Gtech ebike

[Nealh]

Jaundice sounds like he is suffering from extreme prejudice as a result of posters slating the GTECH a little.

I have well over 10k miles on various hub motors/kits and have yet to find any struggle due to weather, there have been the odd niggle. My Norco 700c conversion using 4 different kits over the last 4 -5 years has been pretty much faultless and is used practically 4-5 days a week all year round.
Certainly Woosh I know/have experienced their CS and cannot fault it for expedition of resolving issues or even a refund.
Most kits using generic parts are generally easy to repair if an issue arises and parts can often easily be sourced for spares/replacement parts, If parts are an issue and are of Luishi brand then often Woosh are able to supply a spare part even if you haven't purchased on 0f their models. As part of their business plan they are keen to support e-bikers and realise that repeat business/sales is their bread & butter no matter how small the sale.

 

[Jaundice]

Where can I walk in unannounced for a same day repair of a woosh FOC for 2 years?
I can walk in to any halfords with my gtech....

How many £300 spares have you overnighted to customers of the back of a single phone call?

Where are your stores/distributors located again?

 

[Woosh]

Where can I walk in unannounced for a same day repair of a woosh FOC for 2 years?
I can walk in to any halfords with my gtech....

How many £300 spares have you overnighted to customers of the back of a single phone call?

Where are your stores/distributors located again?

Have you tested to walk in a Halfords branch and have your GTech fixed on the same day?
and for £300 spare on a £683 bike (the figure you posted as the cost of your Gtech), if my bikes are that expensive to support, I'd be out of business long time ago.

 

[vfr400]

Where can I walk in unannounced for a same day repair of a woosh FOC for 2 years?
I can walk in to any halfords with my gtech....

How many £300 spares have you overnighted to customers of the back of a single phone call?

Where are your stores/distributors located again?

How many times did your bike break down? The best customer service is to give the customer a bike that never needs a visit to Halfords for £300 spares.

PS you're going to lose this arguement. Better to ask someone with a Smart Bike, Turbo Levo or Kalkhoff Impulse if you want to go down that route, but better to base your argument on your bike's redeeming features.

 

[Jaundice]

Have you tested to walk in a Halfords branch and have your GTech fixed on the same day?
and for £300 spare on a £683 bike (the figure you posted as the cost of your Gtech), if my bikes are that expensive to support, I'd be out of business long time ago.

I have once tested an immediate drop in to Halfords, (not on my Gtech though as I haven't needed to) for a same day warranty repair. Service was excellent, part was replaced and bike fixed same day. I admit, some Halfords branches are better than others when it comes to the ability of their mechanics, but what I've found is what they can't repair they can replace.
Woosh by your own admission you are unable to offer the same support as you'd "be out of business a long time ago".

Turbo Levo or Kalkhoff Impulse

Cheapest Turbo Levo, £3k, triple the price of a Gtech, cheapest Kalkhoff, £2k+. They are in a different league. There you go again comparing the Gtech to something completely irrelevant. Oh and the Smart bike £1800.... No longer available, I guess it wasn't very successful.

My Gtech didn't break down, the battery display failed I still got home with assistance on. A new one was dispatched the same day and received the following. As I said previously, this is easily the most reliable bike I have EVER owned. Over 2300 miles for 2 sets of brake blocks, one puncture and the display on a battery. Some of us just want reliability so we can cover the 12 miles to work in the morning and not have to faff with bike maintenance at weekends (I have 6 other bikes that bring me enough work in that department).

I don't understand why you lot are slagging off the Gtech so much? So many people on this thread have said how happy they are with their purchase, but the same few characters keep popping up to tell us how rubbish they actually are despite never owning or in most cases even riding one. Even after one person posted about how it was perfect for their child specifically because of the lack of gears, another Gtech hater immediately starts on about how they should have bought blah because blah blah blah.

They are a £1000 ebike. Comparatively cheap looking at the market as it stands today. Available on the R2W scheme through Halfords which is very tax efficient so the real cost to me was £683 (YMMV). I also got a £100 Halfords voucher which bought me a rack, mudguards, lock and waterproof gloves. A fantastic deal in my opinion. For my requirements it has been excellent and surpassed my expectations.

My previous commuter was (is some days when the weather is better) a£2500 custom built Kinesis Tripster ATR (but the earlier version designed by Dom Mason). In its approx 1800 miles, its needed several sets of front brake pads, guards fettling about every 100 miles, gears (Shimano 105) indexing every 2-300 miles and cleaned down every 50-100 miles (depending on the weather). It is the most comfortable and fastest bike I have ever owned, but it requires a lot of maintenance. The Gtech has had front and rear brake pads and one puncture. The battery was replaced by Gtech, I haven't even cleaned it yet.

Yes I'd prefer to have gears, but there is nothing in that price range with a groupset I want, a decent hub gear system with a Gates belt drive would blow most of the budget before you had a bike to attach it to. Similarly, Tektro V-Brakes, could be better, but they are perfectly adequate.

I agree that for a lot more money, there are better ebikes available, but not everybody has £3k, or wants lots of gears, I want reliability that I can buy on the Halfords R2W scheme (because thats all my company offer) for less than £1k.

 

[Woosh]

I have once tested an immediate drop in to Halfords, (not on my Gtech though as I haven't needed to) for a same day warranty repair. Service was excellent, part was replaced and bike fixed same day. I admit, some Halfords branches are better than others when it comes to the ability of their mechanics, but what I've found is what they can't repair they can replace.
Woosh by your own admission you are unable to offer the same support as you'd "be out of business a long time ago".

we keep all parts used on our bikes, electric and mechanical. Most local bike shops carry only mechanical parts and don't have the skills to fix electrical faults. I you come to my shop, you can expect a diagnosis in under 5 minutes and the fault fixed while you go to the High Street for a coffee.
I rode the Gtech Sport when it came out so I could spec the Karoo to do better. Many Gtech were sent out on two week try before you buy with the condition that you return it in the condition that it was sent to you. A number of those bikes end up on ebay at about 35% off. Second hand price is an indication of how much the bike is truly worth to a customer. Yours was bought for £683. My guess it was in perfect order when you bought it because many Gtech were advertised on ebay at around that price. If you look on ebay for second hand bikes from other vendors on here, Wisper, Juicy, Kudos etc and my own brand, you will see plenty of examples where the Gtech suffer faster depreciation.

 

[Woosh]

@ jaundice: how many miles do you get out of your 200WH battery?

 

[boyabouttown]

Woosh or anyone, do you know if it's possible to fit a crank drive motor to the gtech. Keeping the belt and replacing the back wheel with a geared hub.

 

[Woosh]

Woosh or anyone, do you know if it's possible to fit a crank drive motor to the gtech. Keeping the belt and replacing the back wheel with a geared hub.

yes, you can but it's a rather expensive conversion.
You have to replace the battery. The Gtech 200WH battery is not ideal for a crank drive motor. Total cost is about £700 + a new rear wheel with hub gear, approaching £900-£1000.

Convert something like this £365 Fairfax SG2 IG 8-speed hub gear with my £659 Tongsheng 48V 12AH TSDZ2 kit.
https://www.cyclerepublic.com/marin-fairfax-sc2-ig-men-s-hybrid-bike-2018.html
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/cart/#/product/uid-207-tsdz2-12ah/tsdz2-cd-kit-48v-12ah

 

[boyabouttown]

Cheers woosh, already got the gtech. Was just wondering if it was possible. How do i find out what bottom bracket the gtech has without taking apart.

 

[Woosh]

How do i find out what bottom bracket the gtech has without taking apart.

You don't have to take it apart. It's fitted with a Gates crankset, the bottom bracket has the torque sensor but for conversion, you just remove it, the fitting is standard 68mm x 35mm.
https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/bicycle-parts-city-bike/bicycle-crank/crankset-v-belt-belt-drive/gates-carbon-drive-cdn-crankset-46-teeth-175mm-black-575670/

 

[boyabouttown]

Thank you, so would it be a fairly straight forward conversion. Thinking of one of your kits plus a nexus hub. Alternatively, would one of your rear hub kits give me more hill climbing assistance than the gtech hub.
I am about to buy a couple of cube acid hybrids (one for wife) but i do like the gtech simplicity (for lazy people) so just trying to see if it's worth converting before buying 2 acids.

 

[Woosh]

Thank you, so would it be a fairly straight forward conversion. Thinking of one of your kits plus a nexus hub. Alternatively, would one of your rear hub kits give me more hill climbing assistance than the gtech hub.

I agree that converting the Gtech is straightforward with something like the TSDZ2. The alternative is also OK, but you'd need the 48V SWX02 to get a substantial improvement. If you want to consider that solution, I think the Gates rear cog can be transferred over to the new motor wheel but would still like some close up pictures to check.

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/cart/#/product/uid-188-swx02-48v12ah/bafang-swx02-48v-250w-rear-hub-kit-with-48v-12ah-battery

 

[Jaundice]

@ jaundice: how many miles do you get out of your 200WH battery?

Varies wildly depending on weather. Worst ever was 12 miles with only 4% remaining into a very strong headwind (storm Gareth). Best was 36 miles with 30%ish remaining, with what felt like calm weather, but was in fact a pretty good tailwind.

I'd say on average though I usually get to work (12 miles, 614ft ascent) on the top 30-40% and charge back up to 100% when I get there, the return leg from work (12 miles, 456ft ascent is usually the top 20-30%.

But I'm a reasonably fit 39 year old, with a long history of cycling, including cycle commuting most of my working life, cross country MTB racing and audax riding, I make more effort than the motor does. If you let the motor do all the work, you won't get that far.

 

[Jaundice]

Gtech suffer faster depreciation.

I promise you, mine will be worth absolutely nothing when I'm done with it. I always struggle to part with bikes, but this one is getting ridden until its completely worn out.

When it gets to 3700 miles, its paid for itself in fuel savings, thats all I care about now.

 

[silles]

every now and than when I stop and start again, I hear a load bang, feels like when the chain is skipping a tooth, but there is no chain, so not sure what it could be.
bottom bracket? anyone had similar symptoms ?

 

[vfr400]

Is your belt properly aligned?

When you're freewheeling, then pedal, the motor re-engages with a bit of a clunk because of the big difference in speed between the motor and the spinning wheel. The clutch engages instantly so the motor gets sort of knocked from whatever speed it's at to wheel speed in an instant.

 

[silles]

Is your belt properly aligned?

When you're freewheeling, then pedal, the motor re-engages with a bit of a clunk because of the big difference in speed between the motor and the spinning wheel. The clutch engages instantly so the motor gets sort of knocked from whatever speed it's at to wheel speed in an instant.

the belt is aligned, i think. I also checked the tension with the gates app and its 45-49hz, which seems about right.

the clunk happens when I stop and make the first push on the pedal, does not happen when I freewheel

 

[Amoto65]

Bottom bracket bearing?

 

[silles]

Bottom bracket bearing?

i have only done 900 miles, is it possible that it went ?