GocycleConnect 4+

Why essential? The bike itself stores the current odometer reading, and battery state only.

The app tracks all the interesting stuff including trip miles, pedal vs battery power used, average speed and cadence. And it shows history for today, week, and all time. But... that info is good only if the app is running every time you ride.

Why essential #2... You need the app to change power profiles and see which one is active. The built-in profiles are a good start. Editing, naming and saving custom profiles is not hard. At 200 miles and a month owned, I’m testing profiles for decreased battery draw at medium speeds: good for exercise and battery life. App critical for that.

There’s one BIG frustration. The app won’t work reliably in the background. When choosing bike routes with Google Maps, I must rely on voice prompts and can’t look at the map after I launch Gocycle app and connect to the bike. If I leave the app, I must re-connect on return. That often starts a new trip and related stats. No doubt programming to run in the background is hard but it must be done for the app to be its best.

I can’t change riding modes, turn off the lights, or see the battery charge level. I don’t really care about the dashboard. I just want that basic functionality back.

Gocycle does say they are not done with this new version of the app and that is an understatement. While the dashboard of the previous version was not perfect at least it was there. This version has no dashboard. There are so many errors in this version they cannot be counted. Linking the app to your account and the bike the first time will require at least 3 reboots of the app. It freezes up. What is in the app provides so little value when it comes to actually riding the bike. The app will allow you to change the riding mode but the battery status indication does not update while you ride. The app does not keep your phone from turning off like previous versions. That not a big deal as the app now gives you no meaningful information while you ride. You will need a fitness watch or some other means to track your speed and distance in real time. Nothing like buying a product with a set of features and then getting a forced “upgrade” with a third of the features you had before. Maybe this is acceptable in the UK?

May 5, 2024
Version 9.2 is out and yes it has a dashboard. The app still does not work anywhere near as well as the one this new 9.X version replaced. I would not buy a new Gocycle until the app is fixed. It is buggy, incomplete and seems to be rich in features you really don’t need to ride the bike (like how to unpack the box).