This Retro-BMX Inspired Ebike Is Perfect for Commuting and Cruising
The Takeaway: The Power Performer is a super fun, retro-BMX inspired ebike for commuting and cruising that will put a smile on your face.
Aluminum frame styled after classic GT BMX freestyle bikes
Bafang 350 Watt rear hub drive motor
418 Watt hour battery
29" x 2.5" slick tires
1 x 9-speed Microshift drivetrain
Price: $2,225
Weight: 51 lb.
Growing up as a BMX freestyle-obsessed kid in the mid-to-late 1980s, I lusted after the GT freestyle bikes that I saw in the pages of magazines and in movies. Specifically, it was the pastel pink and blue Performers, Pro Performers, and Pro Freestyle Tour bikes which I would day dream about in class and sketch doodles in the back pages of my Trapper Keeper binders.
Jumping onto the all-new GT Power Performer, racing down the block out of Bicycling's front door, and getting like 4-inches of air off of the first curb cut I saw instantly transported me back to those simpler days of my youth. Just like the BMX bikes many of us had as kids, the Power Performer is a bike that inspires you to go have fun, do skids in puddles, stay out well after the streetlights come on, and maybe look cool all at the same time. This is not just a bike, it's a time machine to good times.
The GT Power Performer is a bike that doesn't completely make sense until you take it for a ride; then you hit the little thumb paddle for the throttle and suddenly it all clicks. I mean, let's pause for a moment and look at this on paper. This is a BMX bike, but it has fenders...and an aluminum frame...and 29-inch wheels...and a 9-speed drivetrain...AND A FRIGGIN' MOTOR! These are a whole bunch of great tastes that aren't supposed to go together. But somehow, GT Product Manager Ben Ward combined all these disparate ideas to make a really special bike.
Surely, this isn't the first time someone has thought to mix big wheels, a small motor, and BMX parts together to make a fun bike to zip around town. I can recall seeing garage-creations of suburban dads in my town growing up, and a couple brands offer BMX-inspired ebikes of sorts (I was even inspired enough the bolt-up a Superpedestrian Copenhagen ebike wheel onto a 29" GT Performer a few years ago), but the Power Performer is the most practical, clean, and well thought-out one brought to the market.
—GT Power Performer Build Details—
Frame: GT Power Performer eBike, 6061 Aluminum
Fork: GT Power Performer, Aluminum Legs and Crown with 1-1/8" Steel Steerer
Motor: Bafang Rear Hub Motor 350W, Torque= 45Nm
Battery: Removeable, 418Wh with 1.5amp USB Charging Port
Rear Derailleur: microSHIFT, Advent, 1 x 9 with Clutch
Crank: GT Power Series with 38T Narrow Wide ring
Cassette: Sunrace, 11-36T, 9-speed
Brake Calipers: Tektro Hydraulic Disc, 160mm (front & rear) Rotors
Wheels: Alloy Double Wall 36h with Stainless Steel Spokes
Tires: GT Smoothie Session 29" x 2.5" with Reflective Sidewall
Handlebar: GT Power Performer 4pc. Cromoly
Stem: GT NBS Front Load 40mm
Saddle: GT Comfy Code Railed
Grips: GT Super Soft Flangeless
Extras: Sporty Fenders, Kickstand, 1-Piece TT Pad
GT Life+Style Collection:
The Power Performer we tested—along with the new similarly styled, but strictly human powered, Street Performer—make up GT's new "Life+Style" collection. These models combine heavy doses of BMX styling and Bikelife culture with practical features useful for commuting for blasting around town—such as 9-speed drivetrains, lightweight aluminum frames, and fenders—to make for a bike that blurs the line between a few different types of riding categories.
The base Street Performer model comes in a $1,120 and is pretty much an analog version of the bike we tested. It also has an aluminum frame and fork, 9-speed Microshift drivetrain, disc brakes, and fenders. It is available in two color options; black with coral or satin black with purple. While the Street Performer doesn't have a motor, it has one thing that the Power Performer lacks: pegs!
The Power Performer takes the styling and fun of the Street Performer and adds on a 350 Watt Bafang rear hub motor paired with a 418 Watt hour battery. Five power control modes, along with a throttle assist, provide smooth control of those Watts up to 20mph. The addition of the battery, motor, and Tektro hydraulic disc brakes brings the Power Performer price to $2,225—just shy of double the price of its Street Performer sibling—but it also adds a whole lot of fun. The Power Performer is available in two colors; a military green with fighter plane-esque graphics or a battleship grey with black (as tested).
Ride Impressions:
I used the Power Performer almost daily for 3-weeks of commuting to the office, running errands around town, getting ice cream, goofing off, etc. In my time on the bike, I probably got more friendly waves and "hey, nice bike" comments about the Power Performer than any other ebike I have ridden lately. Everyone who sees the bike seems to give you a smile, a wave, or the courtesy nod. From the local big wheel BMX riders, to Gen-X'ers mowing their lawns, to bike folks on high-end road bikes, this bike has universal appeal.
The Power Performer comes with a 418 WH battery; which should get you through a long afternoon of riding around town, or a couple days of commuting to-and-from work, without needing a full charge. Of the five available power settings, I usually defaulted to using power modes 2 and 3, so that I would not drain the battery too quickly. These modes generally felt pretty comfortable for all but the steepest hills around town. I did not totally tap-out the battery charge, but after riding it around for a couple hours one afternoon in 90°+ summer temps, I gather I got pretty close to it.
The Bafang hub motor is tuned with a rather natural feeling torque curve. It doesn't aggressively spit you off the line, like the motors of some bikes on the market, but rather provides a nice-little boost from a full stop at an intersection or stop light. It gets you up to 20mph quick enough; depending on the terrain, boost mode, and gear you're in. The hub motor is not as quiet as mid-drive units—such as Bosch or Shimano—but hub systems are more economical and allow for more flexibility in frame design by manufacturers.
At 51 lb. the Power Performer is not a super lightweight bike, but for an ebike in this price range and usage category, it is surprisingly competitive in weight. By being just 5 or 10 lb. lighter than some other urban use ebikes we have recently tested makes the Power Performer easier to control when riding, but additionally makes it easier to carry the bike up or down a flight of stairs, or move it around your house or apartment.
The high volume, 29"x2.5" tires on the Power Performer provided ample comfort and bump absorption over broken pavement, occasional sections of dirt path, and cobblestones. I preferred the feel of the high volume tires and rigid aluminum fork over the heavy, undamped suspension forks often found on city and hybrid category ebikes. The slick tread rolled fast and the rubber compound was sufficiently grippy on damp pavement.
Microshift's Advent drivetrain isn't a quite a household name in cycling circles—like Shimano or SRAM—but it is coming standard now on several name-brand bikes. It works quite well and I didn't experience any issues with the shifting quality. I added a couple turns to the cable tension barrel adjuster after the cable stretched in, but that was it. The shifter was comfortable and the rear derailleur shifted well even when I got caught-out panic-shifting across the range of the cassette. The stuff plain works.
BMX style flat pedals provided great support while pedaling and standing on the bike. Unsurprisingly for a BMX-syle pedal, they felt great when wearing Van's but the wide platform also made them suitable when I opted to wear Doc Marten's for a ride to the bar. The grips were comfy in my hands too, only becoming slippery when I got stuck in an absolutely crazy thunderstorm. Lastly, the kickstand is a handy touch when parking the bike outside of the coffeeshop or in the garage.
The ability to charge a phone on the go is a cool little perk of the Power Performer. It is found on some other ebikes, but GT's little "Charge and Barge" decal specifically reminded me that it was there. It's a good feature to have it you're busy 'gramming or on Tik-Tok.
From the time I spent with the Power Performer, the couple negative points I found with it were relatively minor. I didn't get on all too well with the saddle when seated for any prolonged amount of time. It is a BMX seat though—not something designed for couple hour road rides—so that should be expected.
Also, I found that I needed to tighten down the front wheel's bolt-on axle a couple times. I did appreciate the theft deterrence of a bolt-on wheel, though I would have preferred to see a standard nutted hub, something which would have been fine given the bike's BMX styling and roots.
The Power Performer is a great bike for you if you are looking for a well-rounded city and urban ebike that has personality, flair, and stands out in a sea of ebikes in the market that look the same and are hard to tell apart from one another. The potential users for this bike are quite varied for a bike drawing heavily on nostalgia. The Power Performer should fit well for those who want to relive the BMX glory days of their youth, to those who simply want a unique, practical, and stylist bike for riding around town.
The Power Performer carries a price premium versus some of the consumer direct ebike brands on the market, but it is built solidly, well spec'd, and also has dealer service through Cycling Sports Group's (GT and Cannondale) large North American dealer network. These factors are important on any bike, but especially for ebikes where the technology changes fast and parts wear out sooner than on non-power assist bikes.
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