A22
New Member
After months of deliberation I picked this up half price (NZ$5499) and had my first non commuting ride yesterday.
I test rode Merida e160, Focus Jam 6.8, Giant trance, trance elite and reign, Whyte e160, Commencal 160 Factory, and had a few hours on trails with Trek rail 5. My riding is 30% commuting, 50% trail and 20% enduro/ rough trails. Of the bikes I tried the Trance elite and Whyte rode the best. The Whyte was $4000 more than the GT and I wanted more range than the Trance elite without adding piggyback battery. I saw the sale on the GT and checked it had the ep801 and gave a size L a test ride, felt to me almost as good as the Elite and Whyte so I paid and waited for an XL.
At 183cm XL fits perfectly.
Did a 22km ride with 595m ascent, 4 green bars on the battery left when I got home with put any range anxiety to bed. I had been using levels 5-7 most of the ride.
Bike rides great and surprised how good the shock is even though it’s low range. Still need too dial in the Yari fork to get the best out of it.
Over all I’m really happy with it, upgrades on the way are mudguards (pair of SKS mudrockers) and then I’ll get some decent flat shoes and more comfortable hydration pack. Tubeless kit too. Long term I can only think of putting on a 38 fork and better brakes, currently has TRP T4s.
Fantastic bike, thanks to all those who have been helping me out with the random questions.
