Goplus Folding Electric Sport Bicycle Review

Good for short range rides where you don’t want to break speed records, the Goplus Folding Electric Bicycle Lightweight Portable Sport Bike is a very lightweight machine that can be easily folded away and carried.

Though a little difficult to put together on delivery, you will find this is a nice little runabout that can be used for commutes involving spells where there is no public transport for certain sections thanks to its relatively low overall weight.

The range is around 19 miles, allowing you to cover a reasonable distance on your daily ride.

From empty, the battery charges in around four hours, perhaps allowing you to charge it while at work.

Goplus Folding Electric Bicycle Lightweight Portable Sport Bike – Review

Too light?

One of the sacrifices that is made for the light weight construction is that the Goplus electric bike has a relatively low powered motor – even the 180W motor is 25% less powerful than the smallest standard 250W motor used on most e-bikes.

Though this is good as far as carrying the machine around is concerned (perhaps upstairs to a condo or around a rail station concourse) it does mean that firstly you don’t hit high speeds of more than 12mph, and secondly it struggles on hills.

Ultimately you want an e-bike that gets you up those hills and at least to a comfortable speed on the roads which is why we give the Goplus folding electric bike a 4/5 rating.

A few hundred more grams for a more powerful, say 250W motor would make all the difference, especially on a machine that is otherwise very lightweight in design.

You would however pay for the added power with a heavier battery (several hundred grams more) for a similar range, which combined with the added motor mass would take away from the core design feature of the Goplus folding electric bike – its overall weight and carry-ability.

What is it good for?

For all that, the Goplus folding electric bike is definitely a good introduction to the world of e-bike riding and should be considered as a cheaper long-term alternative to a taxi for a commuting run.

The best example would be a commute in from Long Island to an office in New York City that would otherwise be a 20 minute walk from mass transit.

The city is relatively flat (don’t consider this for Portland OR or San Francisco!) so you would be comfortable jumping off the train and after carrying the Goplus folding electric bike through the concourse to the street, you can hop on and cycle the final mile or so to your office.

It’s small enough folded to go in your car trunk so you will have a three-mode commute and save considerably on yellow cab fares.

If you are heading in from Long Island, which is also relatively flat, you could leave your car at home altogether!

Specs

• BODY POSITION: Upright
• SUGGESTED USE: Neighborhood, Commuting
• ELECTRIC BIKE CLASS: Folding electric bike
• TOTAL WEIGHT: N/A
• BATTERY WEIGHT: N/A
• FRAME MATERIAL: Aluminium Alloy
• FRAME SIZES: One standard size
• FOLDED MEASUREMENTS: 35.8” x 8.7” x 32.5”.
• GEARING DETAILS: Two speed electronic transmission system
• STEM: Adjustable 39” to 41”
• BRAKE DETAILS: Vee
• WHEEL SIZES: 14” front, 16” rear

The Goplus folding electric bike has some great strengths but some drawbacks. Let’s look into a few of these now.

Pros And Cons

Pros

• Lightweight construction
• Small folded away size
• Ease of folding and unfolding
• Easy to carry about when folded
• Long seat adjustment, allowing for taller and shorter people to ride alike
• Handlebar height has also a great adjustment range
• Good range for what you need
• Quick charging
• Perfect for riding on paved roads
• Upright, comfortable riding position
• Can carry someone of up to 165lbs

Cons

• Doesn’t like unpaved surfaces
• Only comes in a pedal assist (PAS) version – no throttle
• Not wonderful at climbing bigger hills

Buying advice

A lot of people these days have commutes involving the car and train and then a longer walk to the office from the train station.

If you’re one of these you should consider getting the Goplus Folding Electric Bicycle Lightweight Portable Sport Bike. Why?

With its small folded size and light overall weight, you will find this is a machine easily carried.

The low weight and size means that you can put it into the trunk of your car and then move it around public transit networks much as you would a larger briefcase.

As such that means where a longer walk or cab ride might be necessary, this Goplus folding electric bike could save you time and hassle on your daily commute.

Over a year it could pay for itself in cab fares – now that’s a thought!

For those living in condos and apartments…

Another group of people who go for folding electric bikes are those who live in smaller homes such as apartments and condominiums.

You lack the outdoor space that others may keep their bikes in and need the machine to take as small a space as possible when folded down.

As such with its low overall weight, the Goplus electric bike can be carried upstairs without breaking too much of a sweat.

The drawback to this use is that there are many more powerful folding electric bikes that are more of a sweat to carry but you won’t be carrying it much as part of daily use.

That’s why we suggest the Goplus folding electric bike as primarily a commuter machine rather than as an electric bike that folds away purely for less space use. 

Pedal assist

The riding experience is good too.

Many here in the US and Canada prefer a throttle option (we don’t always like pedalling!) but that said, the response of the torque sensors to you putting pressure on the pedal is near instant.

This gives you the feeling of an invisible hand pushing you as you go.

Many of the Goplus folding electric bike rivals have throttles. The components and extra cabling adds weight to a machine whose design brief puts weight before many of its other facets.

Acceleration is something that you need to experience firsthand too!

Though in reality you won’t get much above 12mph, you will find this quick to pull away.

A good initial acceleration is important where there are other road users like cars, buses and trucks that might cause you problems and you need to get ahead of them at the outset.   

One of the drawbacks to this acceleration is down to the size of the wheels – another weight saving design feature.

They are smaller by virtue of the machine being compact, and as power is applied this can mean the bike tips up unless you put your weight over the handlebars as you pull away.

Remembering to lean forward as you push with your pedal is an easily learned technique that you should manage rapidly.

A good machine for those new to e-bikes

The Goplus Folding Lightweight Portable Sport Bike is a decent first electric bike for those who want to know what these machines are about yet don’t want to spend too much money in the first instance.

You can spend $3,000 plus on a top end Brompton folding electric bike.

At just over a tenth of the price of those British machines you will still have an electric bike that will get you where you need to go, albeit not at the height of luxury as you do a machine that costs as much as a used car!

It makes sense for those who have never ridden an e-bike before to spend a little less money to see what these are about.

You could get a half decent used car for $3000 while a car-replacement or car-addition like the Goplus Folding Electric Bicycle Lightweight Portable Sport Bike, at around $400 makes more financial sense where you don’t know much about the experience of riding an e-bike.

Low weight with some sacrifices

One of the strengths of this machine is that it is very light.

You will find that a great asset carrying it about, but this is due to certain sacrifices being made to achieve this goal.

The Goplus folding electric bike has a choice of two electric motors – 120W and 180W thanks to the makers designing a bike that is lightweight and compact.

This is a lower-mass motor that also requires less electricity per mile to power, and therefore a smaller and lighter battery to power it.

This has some drawbacks in that it doesn’t pack as much power as rival machines with higher powered motors.

You will go more slowly than a more powerful machine and it isn’t so happy getting you up-hill.

This is why we suggest you don’t buy the bike for a hilly city but rather one where hills aren’t that much of an issue.

Those rival machines however are a lot heavier with bigger motors and bigger batteries to power them.

This gives you the niche in which the Goplus folding e-bike sits – one where carrying the machine about is as important factor as it carrying you about!

The first thing you will notice is the speed on the flat – it struggles to get above 12mph.

On hills it doesn’t push you as hard as more powerful machines as well, so you will find yourself pedalling almost as hard as you would a traditional bike.

The overall payload recommendation is 165 lbs. That means that this machine isn’t good for a heavier-built man but more a woman or a leaner man.

The heavier you are the more power that is required to get you up to a given speed but, being pedal-assist much of that power will come from your legs, potentially helping you get towards the target weight for this machine from the exertion in using it over time!

That you don’t burn much energy using an e-bike is a myth, especially those machines that only have pedal-assist systems.

A final drawback is that the size of the wheels means that it is only good for riding on hard road and pavements – you can’t take off-road shortcuts on your route that you may have on foot.

Conclusion

If carrying a folding bike is an important part of using it, the Goplus folding electric bike is the one for you.

That puts it squarely in the commuter’s niche as opposed to other folding electric bikes that can be a lot heavier yet deliver more power.

The price point means that this is not going to take the trade-offs between power and weight very well.

It has a smaller motor and battery to power it. If you aren’t too bothered about the speed of the traffic and are riding it in a flat area, then this will serve you well.

Other folding bikes are heavier and more powerful.

You might break a sweat carrying them around – that won’t apply to this otherwise well built, comfortable to ride machine.

Where it comes to power-to-weight ratios this machine knocks it out of the park!