There is no better electric bike than Gocycle GX – here's a T3 Award to prove it

last updated 21 August 2020

The T3 Awards 2019 is in full swing, and we're already exhausted. Time to chill out while still going forwards at speed, with the year's finest electric bike.

Last year this was won by the electric version of the world's most famous folding bike, the Brompton. This year, we flip the script entirely and opt for a folding version of the world's most famous electric bike: the all-new Gocycle GX.

It was extremely difficult choosing between this and the E-Brompton but ultimately we figured that as Brompton won last year, we would give the gong to the challenger. There are a number of variables to consider here but in essence, if you want the best folding mechanism in the world, go for the Brompton; but if you want am e-bike that's great to ride and will also fold up pretty well, the GX is your huckleberry.

Gocycle is one of the few brands to get the styling of its bikes spot on. The GX, like its very similar-riding stablemates the G3 and GS, doesn't look like a normal bike; it's way more futuristic. However, it also doesn't look like a really bad, child's drawing of a bike, as many electrics over the years have done.

It's easy to ride straight out of the box, with 3 gears, all of them useful – a lot of electric bikes, by contrast, seem to be geared purely for the elderly and infirm. However, you can also pair up your phone via Bluetooth and set how quickly and to what extent you want the electric assistance to kick in. Thus, you can go for all the power, all the time, or have it start once you've provided a certain amount of pedal power – so you get your exercise – or even have it start fast, to pull away from traffic lights, then tail off. The battery lasts for up to 40 miles, depending on what assistance mode you use.

The best thing about the Gocycle is that it's a joy to ride; so nippy. While the wheels are smaller than the norm in diameter, they are quite thick, so riding on potholed roads feels less scary than on a Brompton.

Folding can be done quickly and easily – unlike its predecessor the GX, which was more akin to dismantling a bike than folding it – and while the folded result is hardly as neat as a Brompton, it is sufficient to get you on to public transport with the minimum of tut-tutting.

It's the best electric bike you can buy, in short.

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years.

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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