“It does the job but don't expect more.
Had 3 issues with this bike in less than a month of use - one being the rear brake system broken after an emergency braking - which tigger the 99 bikes team to offer the replacement of my bike (thank you and kind team).
I also believe it is a bit expensive (even with the discount) for what the bike provides.”
“Happy so far , good value and comes will all required extras for a commuter, front/rear lights , mudguards etc.
Sizing isnt very accurate, had to swap twice , so try to test frame size first. Thankfully 99bikes memberships are very generous with swap overs.”
“5 stars based on $1000 price after qld gov rebate. Great entry ebike. Big wheels make it handle well.
You can not stand on the pedals, or even push them hard or the crankset makes a huge cronking sound. Despite the sales blurb, this bike most certainly CAN NOT tackle the steepest hills.”
“The Good:
Overall, the bike is great if you’re using it for commuting or for occasional rides and small shopping trips. I’ve done around 300km on it so far and have had minimal issues. The battery lasts about a full week, depending on the different pedal-assist modes (I ride about 12km daily round trip – 60km weekly for work, plus an extra 15km over the weekend, and I’m usually left with about 5-10km of charge). The battery takes about 4 hours to charge, and you don’t need to remove it from the frame since it locks in with a key.
It comes with built-in lights, and the rear light has a sensor that automatically turns on in the dark. The riding position is quite comfortable. Both the frame and pannier rack seem pretty sturdy. The Bafang motor makes pedaling feel more natural than a hub motor, and the 5 assistance modes are quite decent!
Issues I’ve Encountered:
You need to get used to starting in first gear and not putting too much pressure on the motor. If you start in a high gear at a corner and pedal with weight, you hear a loud "crack." You have to pedal carefully, especially when putting a lot of pressure on the motor.
The bike has a speed limit on the motor, so when you reach 25kph, the motor completely stops assisting, and pedaling becomes harder after that. I understand it’s the law, but a 25kph limit is ridiculously low, as you can reach that speed easily on a regular (non-electric) bike.
The gear shifter is positioned under the brake lever, making it hard to see which gear you’re in. I had to adjust it myself to make the gear position visible (not sure if Velectrix or 99bikes assembles these, but this should be fixed).
After just a few kilometers, the brake discs started making a metallic rubbing sound. They weren’t properly adjusted, so I had to fix that myself, and even then, the brakes are still quite noisy when used.
The seat is too wide and will need replacing soon.
Lastly, the Nexus gears came poorly adjusted, and while it’s not hard to fix, I had to do it myself.”
“This is a *great* commuter rig with the potential to positively impact your quality of life. I've been commuting on this every day I've gone into the office now since the end of Feb '24 except for a couple days when it was in for a service, and I've found it to be largely bombproof. I was a little worried that three speeds might not give me a short enough ratio to help with the steeper hills in my area, but it's been fine. And the guards mean that puddles and standing water on the road really haven't been an issue.
Because it's a torque assisting motor rather than the sort of cadence-sensing setup that returns the requested level of power regardless of how much effort goes into pedalling, it feels vastly more natural to ride. Cadence-sensing bikes absolutely have their use-cases, but this is a matter of preference and need for each rider. Once you're off and riding it's helpful to think of the three speed hub as being like a more conventional bike's front mech, and the mid-drive motor as somewhat analagous to a rear mech. Altering the motor's assitance level doesn't alter your crank RPM for any given road speed, but it does alter the reward you get from the effort you're putting in at any given cadence. The motor assist cutting out at 25km/h isn't an issue; the nature of a commuter bike means being responsible for the effort required to maintain speeds above 25km/h seems more rewarding than getting up to that speed in the first place.
I've changed a few things over time, just as a matter of personal taste; different pedals, slightly longer stem and some swept-back cruiser-style handlebars, and a nicer bell and a different saddle. But none of the standard equipment was *bad* - this was just to make it more *my* bike.
Lots of folks are skeptical about the belt drive, but I'm a convert. No grease on my pants or hands, and it's quieter than even a really well lubricated and adjusted bicycle chain. I cover the rougly 26km round trip to and from work in my normal street clothes, having taken the same amount of time as if I'd taken the bus to work. On those really cold mornings I've just kept the motor assist at maximum and ridden wearing the same winter coat I've have worn on the bus, plus a pair of gloves.
Honestly the only issue I've had with the bike was that the teeth on the Dayco drive belt started to seperate from the belt itself after about 450km of riding. I noticed the bike was starting to 'skip' sometimes, and initially started to think I had to adjust the hub's gear selector, but when I took a closer look noticed the belt seperation issue. This was a little alarming, but both 99bikes and Velectrix immediately declared this to be a warranty job, and Velectrix were super prompt in identifying a materials problem from a bad batch of belts. They quickly provided a newer design of uprated carbon belt, and also seem to have changed to these new belts on the bikes they've delivered since then. I'm totally prepared to call that a fluke event; these are the same belt manufacturers who make serpentine belts and pulley belts for automotive machinery, and I'm very confident that the Dayco timing belt on our family car deals with greater stresses than the belt on my bike will ever face. I've put another 800km+ on it since and it's been utterly faultless.
The Brunswick mightn't be 'the one bike that can do everything' but it isn't designed to be. It's a tough, honest, and reliable workhorse commuter solution rather than an aspirational racing bike or downhill rig that you'll never really use as marketed. Because those bikes are great at doing those jobs, but are flawed commuter bikes. If you're paying anything more than $8 per day in parking or public transit and have a work commute of less than, say, 15-20km each way? If you get one of these when they're on sale it'll have easily paid for itself in terms of just saved fares in less than two years. And if you drive and pay for parking? The Brunswick becomes a no-brainer from an economic perspective. Even at full price it's less than a year's parking in almost any CBD. Your biggest hassle might be having to buy a trickle charger for your car's battery while you leave it at home. You'll enjoy your commute a whole lot more, it probably won't take any longer to get to and from work, and probably won't feel so guilty about not having as much time as you'd like for exercise!”
