Touring on a G-line – review!

I cycled the Hebridean Way (300km, 3200m ascent) on a G-line and my Dad rode it on my old C-line.

Here are some thoughts on the G-line, with some C-line comparisons thrown in.

I met lots of cyclists doing it on all sorts of bikes. The best bike is the one you have! Easy to forget…

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People often say that for touring the fold is unimportant and all the sacrifices we make for it (weight) are unnecessary. I strongly disagree! This trip required a lot of public transport to make the start/finish logistics work and being able to fold was a huge benefit.

The G-line handles really well. It rides way better than the C-line. Less twitchy, more comfortable, more stable on poor surfaces.

The borough bags we used to carry a week's worth of kit (we didn't camp) worked great. The front carrier block is brilliant and a big advantage over other bikes. We saw countless cyclists with two panniers, a bag above the panniers, and handle bar bags. People fill the space available to them so a space (and weight) constraint is actually very helpful.

The disc brakes are really powerful.

The G-line is geared about right for this sort of trip but only if you don't mind pushing hard. For a more relaxed ride, lower gearing would be better.

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The G-line has ergonomics issues. The handlebars are extremely uncomfortable because they have a sweep that causes your wrist to bend. The grips are good but they don't mitigate that issue. I was very glad to have my SQLab inner bar ends to give an extra hand position. It was manageable discomfort but Brompton should have sorted this out. I found the saddle very uncomfortable but this is perhaps more of a personal preference thing; the C-line saddle was very comfortable!

This trip put the G-One tyres outside of their comfort zone: the rolling resistance was really high and I didn't need the extra grip. The Schwalbe Racers on the C-line performed much better.

See above about gearing: if the G-Ones were in their natural habitat (gravel) the gearing would be much too high, especially with luggage, so it's an odd stock combination of tyres/gears.

The Shimano alfine hub is great when it works, but I had some really frustrating drivetrain issues on this trip. I had to index the gears multiple times per day which was very frustrating but didn't disrupt the trip too much. Unknown cause. Sometimes it worked flawlessly, other times it was a mess.

🤔 Overall reflections

For a gravel ride, the bike needs a smaller front cog.

For a road ride, the continental contact urban tyres would probably be better than the G-Ones.

Either way, the handlebars need changing.

My G-line's mechanical issues have been very frustrating but setting those aside it's a great bike.