richard calvert

Ride centrally when the road is narrow or car drivers will try to come past even when there's no room for them - they are not too bright.

It's just a shame the lock holster spoils the beautiful lines of the frame, but I have one, it's been essential.

Yes wind was a bit much today, I had to use the red button. Just got my Schwalbe Big Ben Tyres at last from Fully Charged - they were noticably heavier in my hand but the GoCycle still seemed as fast as before. The guy at Fully Charged said that GoCycle are not making the G3 any more, which is a shame because it's a nice machine. He said they were selling several GSs per week to commuters but I still haven't seen one in the wild - it's only a matter of time though? Wouldn't a bigger tyre/wheel make the GoCycle think it was going slower (fewer revolutions) so it should actually go faster? I know we all want to comply with reasonable laws but I'm sure EN15194 will be an issue right after they've sorted out cars and lorries parking in cycle lanes, the cars and motorbikes in the cycle areas at traffic lights, cars, motorbikes breaking the speed limit, the people driving without tax or insurance, the people driving on drugs, people driving on the phone, people driving drunk, the moped muggers etc.

The road vibrations managed to unscrew my rear mudguard and it was going to come off after a few rides, so make sure it's properly screwed on with an allen key, not just fingers.

I saw a G3 in the summer apparently being commuted near Borough, only time ever.

Streatham to the City, 7.5 miles, sometimes Battersea. Saw some other pedelecs today - including a BMW and a very smart looking Stromer. One of my colleagues said she has a "Dutchy" with a conversion kit, I didn't see it though. I read more about the New York "war on ebikes", it's nothing to do with the speed of the bikes, it's the cops picking on ethnic minorities and calling it "anyone who goes through red lights". My bike is now set to 17mph and I use the button if I need a little boost - only a couple of places where this is worthwhile on my route full of red lights and sluggish congestion.

Hi, 250 London miles on the odometer (saving around £100 on rail fares so far) and my rear tyre went flat. I've been waiting 3 weeks for fullycharged.com to supply Schwalbe Big Ben puncture resistant tyres and they apparently haven't been able to get them yet. When I took out the inner tube I found one sliver of glass going through the thickest part of the tyre, but then 5 separate holes in random places in the inner tube, apparently unrelated, including one on the inside... This is a first for me, never has more than 2 holes before. For me this means the GoCycle performance tyres are not more puncture-resistant than regular tyres (regular tyres are not practical in London, unless you like fixing punctures) and something better is required, but what's up with the Schwalbe / FullyCharged delay? Also still waiting for my front mudguard from the same, luckliy the front wheel isn't spraying water at me, I think the frame is blocking it and it gets chucked forwards too. FullyCharged were blaming GoCycle for delivery delays, I want them to provide servicing and so in future, but I might have to source my tyres elsewhere. Also I have been successfully riding in the rain with a Brooks John Boutlbee Cambridge rain cape, which isn't perfect btw, I have to physically hold the cape onto the handlebars (the magnetic straps immediately fall off), but I did ride my 7.5 route miles in pretty insistant rain and only had wet shoes / top of socks (you can get gaiters to take care of this). I think the cape idea is good in principal, but might go for a different one over the Brooks, in the mean time I may fix the handlebar loops a bit more securely. The pannier is brilliant but doesn't look waterproof, there is no sealing around the zips, but I have a waterproof rucksack cover that fits over it and has kept it completely dry when used in the same insistant rain.

Imprecise charging additional: I have the "fast charger" (4.5 hours total charge time) and it is supposed to cut out when the bike is fully charged (over-charging is bad for the battery) but having tested the auto-cut out I wasn't convinced it was working, however, last night it did actually stop charging by itself, so now I know it works I don't need to stop the charger manually, therefore the imprecise charging figure on the app is slightly less of an issue than I made out.

Hi, thanks! I tried the G3 and got a very good feeling from it, so there is for me a bit more of a sense of luxury (and maybe build quality) to it, although I wonder if my particular GS could use some fine tuning. But the G3 is more desirable and I considered upgrading to it (how did you get a discount?) I have had it in City mode and set to 20mph (average speed so far is about 13.5mph), although after reading about the law on that, I have changed the speed and acceleration down a bit, I find myself stuck behind other cyclists quite often and matching their speed would be useful - I don't want to be the "Audi" of cyclists, also obeying the law is good, although the 20mph speed limit is completely ignored by all motor vehicles in South London (not an exaggertion), after the New York situation I don't want to be part of any conspicuous e-bike anti-social behaviour. Still there's no way to safely leave the GoCycle in public anywhere which is a bit of a disadvantage - even more so with the G3 which looks shinier and fancier still.

I'm really enjoying riding my gocycle GS to work every day, I can't wait to get on it in the morning or evening, riding it is just a fantastic feeling. The lights are really good and bright, the range is good, riding up the hills is great! I can ride 7.5 miles into central London just wearing regular clothes, overtaking people on regular bikes and then overtake people having showers at work because I don't need one. I reckon I save 30mins to 1 hour per day and in 2 weeks around £60 on train travel. Plus commuting is fun! As long as I don't try to hurry then the GoCycle gets me to work quickly enough The front luggage bag is very good, I love the way it clips quickly on and off, however the velcro has already started to fray, so although that is a secondary connection point and is just there for stability, I wish this was a bit more durable. I'm quite popular on the GoCycle, a few people have asked me about it, I do feel very lucky to have it. Originally I thought the GoCycle was a bit poserish, but it's very practical - the kick stand and folding pedals mean I can push it right over to the side of the hallway where it keeps well out of the way, also carrying it up the stairs to my flat is manageable - not sure another e-bike would have been. My retired parents are interested in it, it will be fun to give them a demo when I see them next. There are a couple of things not perfect though, sometimes the app looses connection with the bike while I'm riding it. Sometimes the motor doesn't come on when it is supposed to, but stopping pedalling and starting again makes it come on. Sometimes the chain skips a little. The measure of how much charge the bike has is very imprecise, last night it was saying 100% charge, so I turned off the charger, but when I start to use it today it immediately says 90% - apparently it wasn't quite at 100% after all - it only shows increments of 10% and those might be off by 9.99%. Some accessories seem to be hard to get, I bought the lock, the mudguards, the front bag, the lights and some puncture resistant tyres - having commuted before I felt these were essentials. But the front mudguard and tyres are still in transit somewhere - hope they will arrive before rainy season gets going and I haven't had a puncture with the regular tyres yet so maybe I'll be lucky. In summary I've commuted by car, bicycle, moped and train and GoCycle is my favourite method. I haven't dared leaving at the supermarket yet, but I'm considering how and where that would be okay, and what to do about the easily removable seatpost. Before buying the GoCycle GS I tried the Mustache Friday 27 Black (amazing, but huge for carrying up stairs), and the orbea Katu E-20 (cute, but heavy, not very fast and pitiful lights), oh and of course I tried the GoCycle G3, which felt very "premium" - the GS feels similar with less nice contact points (seat, handlebars, pedals) and slightly less perfect, but still great.

Yes or I'll sneak it onto the train. Even if one thing on your bike folds you can take it on the train as a "folding" bike, but I wouldn't do it if it was really busy. Just commuted to work - really good fun, I did 15 miles (round trip) in "city" mode and it says the battery is at 50% so the range is more than adequate for my commute - that's with the lights on constantly and carrying my front pannier bag. It struggled up the last hill (about 12% gradient i reckon), the motor isn't really very torquey but you can build up speed pretty fast on the flat. Just wore a shirt, wool jumper and trousers, didn't get sweaty or dirty at all, beat the train by about 20 mins. The gocycle (optional extra) lights are very good - i tried a Orbea Katu and the rear light was pitiful, I think the LED on my kettle is brighter.

I got one on the 19th October for commuting, my ride home from work (7.5 miles through South London) was really fast and comfortable, and I passed 90% of the other cyclists without breaking a sweat wearing a pair of trousers and a jumper. I agree that the front pannier is a fantastic piece of equipment, clipping on and off to a little bump in the stem, The whole package is really elegant and much more discreet in grey than "look at me" G3 - I don't really want to be stared at and I didn't feel like I was. As for "thoughtful details" though - there are a lot, but not all of those have London in mind. For example the wheels and seatpost can be removed quickly without tools, and the shop said that anti-theft bolts were an optional extra... This is a benefit in some situations but not when you want to leave the bike outside a London supermarket on the way home. Also the manual says: "We do not recommend riding in heavy rain or standing water... If your Gocycle gets wet, clean and dry it within 15 minutes of heavy wet weather riding". And water getting into the battery would be ... the end, so why is the battery charge port right behind and facing the rear wheel? Mudguards that would provide some protection against catastrophic water damage to the battery are also an optional extra. Still I bought it so I am rooting for it.