G-Force T42

I bought the G-Force T42 as a commuter bicycle.  It had just been discounted to $1199, with a $300 coupon when I first saw it during October 2022.  It came out to $986.65 with tax.  That was $700 cheaper than any previous 750 Watt motor e-bike I had seen so far..  It was also less than half the cost of what they were usually going for.  The county was also offering $150 rebates for buying e-bikes, so I basically paid around $840 for it after taxes. 

A year and a half later, they're selling a newer version for $1099 with a 20Ah battery instead of a 10.4Ah battery, but I would have had to wait and I would have had to drive.  The 10.4Ah battery is just enough going each way, so I have to bring the charger along.

My trip usually takes me 12-14 miles, depending on the exact route and I use about $4.50 - $5 in gas each day I drive.  I ride to work 2 days a week.  I've ridden 2300 miles, so far, on the e-bike and that's save me about $370-$411, so I'm already ahead.  I should be able to make back the rest of my total cost in another 1.5 years.

Google Maps showed that It would take 77 minutes to bicycle to work that's more than double what it would take to drive.   The e-bike allows me to make that trip in 41-45 minutes.  It also allows me to arrive at work without being all sweaty, but I can go all out when I head home and shower after I get sweaty.

The 750 Watt e-bike appears to be the maximum legal limit for a class 3 e-bike.  All the ones I found that were more powerful were mainly allowed off road.  The first day I rode it, I took it easy because I didn't know how much battery I had.  It took at least 55 minutes, and I got there with 4 out of 5 bars left on the bicycle.  I recharged it and rode home a bit faster, about 50 minutes, and I had 2 bars left.   Once I got a feel for the battery capacity, I started going faster.  During the first year, I was arriving with 2 bars left on the battery indicator.  It's been a year and a half and I now only have a single bar left when I arrive.

I have a hill on each end and this was what I expected when I got the e-bike.  The 30-40 mile range would only be possible if you rode "gently" and on the flats.  Going all out, meant that I would only have made 20-24 miles on a fresh battery, but now, it looks like that's dropped to 16-19 miles.  I have not yet drained the battery all the way to know how many miles I actually have.  I expect that I'll have to buy a new battery in a year or 2, if I want to be able to power thorugh my entire route.

The online pictures makes the bicycle look smaller than it is.  I have an old 20" folding bicycle that I bought around 2003 or 2004 for around $115 online from a Dallas Walmart for commuting and it's tiny in comparison to the T42.  My 26" mountain bike also looks small in comparison.  The 4" fat tires on a 20" wheel makes it seem like a 25" tire, but it still looks far bigger than a mountain bike's  26" wheel.  This really looks like a moped.  They seem to only have 750W motors on these fat tire bikes.  It's probably for a bit of stability for the casual rider.  It seems like you have to build your own, if you want any 750W or above motor on a "normal" looking bicycle.

On the flats, the 750 W motor works really well.  I can easily get to 31mph on the spedometer, but since they don't have a setting for whatever the actual tire size might be, this is more likely 29mph.  I've been able to burst the speeds to 34, if I pedal hard, pause, then repeat.  The bicycle's odometer also shows me riding 14 miles, but I've driven the exact same route and my car's odometer showed 13 miles.  Driving the same route, it took me 39-40 minutes, while the ebike takes 41-45 minutes and can take 50 or 55 if I decide to take it easy.

I do have a hill at both ends, which is why I can't go as fast as my car.  Heading into work, the slight hill drops my top speed to around 20mph and 25 if I pedal hard.  Heading home, I can only go 9mph and up to 12 mph if I pedal, and up to 14 mph if I get off my seat and use my weight.  All of my times on my bicycle include me stopping at every stop sign and red light, as I normally would when I drive.  (I'm one of the very few that have always obeyed traffic rules on a bicycle.   I bicycle commuted, since the 9th grade, on wide 40mph roads and if you didn't pay attention and followed the laws, you'd be dead.)

All these e-bikes appear to be made for casual riders.  They're generally arranged in the "comfort ride" position for you to sit upgright with your arms up ahead of you.  People who actually ride a lot would generally prefer a "sport ride" position where you normally lean forward, so you can actually pedal hard.  The handlebars are too high for anyone that prefers a sports ride, unless you're really tall and raise the seat, while keeping the handlebars at the lowest position..  I'm not that tall and the handle bars are far too high for me.  If I try to lean forward, my elbows are bent too much and my knees com up too close to my chest.  The ride geometry is wrong for me and anyone wanting to lean forward for a sport ride.

The fat tires also make the seat and pedal higher off the ground.  You have to lower the seat a little to be able to touch the ground comfortably with your foot extended, but this makes the seat too low for good pedaling posture unless you're more fully upright.  It's almost as if they're expecting more casual riders to just press the throttle instead of pedaling.

The original tires are quite soft and quite noisy.  I've already replace the rear tire at 900 miles on the odometer because the pink wear indicators were already fully showing.  The tire basically had a very visible pink stripe along the center.  At around 1900 miles, the front tire's wear indicator has already started to show in some thinner patches, but you only see it if you stop.  The new tire I got were street tires and harder and haven't shown as much wear.  I expect it to last at least another 2000-3000 miles.  I've gotten 2 punctures on the original rear tire, one from a staple and one from a thin wire.  After my 2nd puncture, I filled the tires with slime.  If you buy this, you really should get puncture shields or slime, or just get new tires.  These tires are just far too soft.  Right now, my rear tire is quiet, but the front tire is still quite noisy.  I'll be buying a replacement soon and I'll see much quieter it will be and maybe smoother my ride will be.

Changing the tire was supposed to be easy, but the torque turned the nuts and wedged the wheel in place.  I had to get help from my son to hold the frame while I pulled the tire and used a mallet to hammer it out.  Once it was realligned correctly, it came out quite easily.  They should have added an arm that would attach to the frame to prevent some of that torque rotation.

This is also the first bike I ever got that had a shock absorber.  I originaly locked it but found that this heavy bike lets you feel every single bump very harshly.  I unlocked it immediately on my 2nd ride.  I think it's because I filled the tires to the maximum pressure so I can go faster.  I've always filled my tires to the maximum pressure, because I'm not going off road.  I'm always on the road.  It makes sense for rolling resistance.

The bicycle has 7 gears on the rear cassette.  There's a single front sprocket for 7 total gear changes.  The shimano shifter is a click shifter.  I understand it's good for beginners, but I would like to be able to sprint from low to high in one motion and just get going rather than needing multiple clicks.  I learned how to shift gears properly during high school, so I don't need the click assist.  Having lots of gears is a scam.  I personally need just 3, high, medium and low.  I would prefer the high gear to be higher, so I can pedal the e-bike to 35mph without needing to spin the pedals so fast.  I might change the front sprocket to something larger and change out the cassette to have a larger sprocket for the lowest gear so that I have a wider range of gear ratios.  When I had my 45 lb., all steel, Huffy 26" mountain bike, I was mainly going from lowest to highest gears and back and not needing most of the gears in between.

Overall, I'm satisfied with this e-bike.  The price was right, much better than the ChargerBike that I got nearly 2 decades before.  I get to work in about the same time as a car on the same route.  I've saved money on gas already.  I get exercise, since I don't just rely on the throttle.  I'm always pedaling.  I only wish that the motor was more powerful for the hills, but those e-bikes cost at least double and aren't street legal.