I bought this bike at the beginning of Covid and have now put about 400 miles on the bike. I gotta say, this is easily the single best purchase that I've made in the last 5 years. I wish I bought this sooner! Brings tons of joy to me and my boy, and has definitely help to keep our sanity during lockdown. Now that we're going back to normal and my company is requiring me to go back into my office, I'm using the Gigabyke as my daily commuter. Here's what I like:
1. LOVE the single speed belt drive system. The belt drive is a HUGE plus, I was pretty shocked that this bike had it. It's normally only reserved for bikes in the $2000+ range. If you've never ridden a bike with a belt instead of a chain, there's a huge difference. It feels way more solid, energy transfer is 10X better than chain drive. Now that I have a belt drive, when I ride a bike with a standard chain, it just feels sloppy and inefficient. Hard to explain.... I was initially concerned about hill climbing with a single speed, but the gearing is perfect and with the power-assist, I can easily climb even the steepest hills. No need to fumble around with gears, you have the perfect gearing and use the motor to incline/decline as needed.
2. Unlike a lot other bikes in this price range, the Gigabyke has an independent throttle and is both pedal assist OR throttle only. That means on my lazy days, I can just ride the throttle like a motorcycle and on my non-lazy days, I can get some great exercise.
3. I have the smaller 7.5AH battery and that range is spectacular. I don't know if its the aerodynamics or what, but I can easily get more than 30 miles and still have juice. I've taken it out for a 3 hour ride once and I still had juice to spare when I got home.
4. It's a pretty light bike, I take it out to different places and I can easily lift it up and down to load/unload in my car.
Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this bike. It's the perfect bike for joy riding, commuting, city riding and basically anything.