Hedonics.com (http://www.hedonics.c... puts out a catalogue regularly... quarterly I guess... of watt they bill as "REALLY REALLY NEAT STUFF"...

I usually think the stuff they promote is mostly really really useless crap, but anyway.

Their "Spring & Summer 2011" just hit the streets. I got a copy as an insert in the Globe and Mail last week.

And watts on the cover this issue but an ebike!

...oh. Wait... it's a Gio...

Thought I might write a long diatribe picking apart all of the missing and inaccurate and misleading bits in the one page ad for the Gios, but Hedonics saved me the trouble:
http://www.hedonics.c...

GIO ebikes REMOVED FROM SALE 2011

Dear customer

As part of our standard Hedonics product evaluation and testing process, wherever possible we receive, evaluate and test all products and services offered through Hedonics.

Unfortunately, in the case of the GIO ebikes, we have recently encountered a number of concerns.

The GIO initially appeared to offer an attractive, great ride and substantial value at an affordable retail price; however, our follow up product evaluation left us with questions. Subsequent communications and dealings with the supplier coupled with insufficient assurances regarding delivered quality and possible customer service issues has made us increasingly uneasy and caused us to reconsider endorsing these ebikes.

Given the above and a lack of assurances, we feel that we have no choice but to discontinue sale of these units.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Lock

Amusing Kijiji ad:
http://ontario.kijiji...

Date Listed 04-Jun-11
Last Edited 04-Jun-11
Price Free
Address Kitchener, ON N2N 1J8, Canada
For Sale By Owner

Hello everyone i just wanted to post this add to suggest to EVERYONE that is looking for an ebike scooter to buy from an authorized dealer (there are only 2 authorized dealers in kitchener that GIO can confirm. They are Lethal Rydez & GIO Mike) I purchased a ebike from a NON authorized dealer here in kitchener, and nothing but problems he does not want to honor the warranty that he states comes with the bike and wants nothing to do with the scooter now. So I highly suggest buying from one of the 2 authorized dealers in town. I do know for a fact that the one is very knowledgeable which would explain why they are so busy all the time. If you would like more info or would like to know which one fixed my scooter so fast please fell free to reply through kijiji

BE AWARE

Watt the poster left unsaid is watt problems they have had w/the bike...
Lock

Hi there.

I am happy to hear you say that your GIO is great :) That is what I am looking for in pink or red colour. Where did you get your GEO from? Also,where would you purchase the 800 w from as well. Would it be the same place you got your other one from?

Thanks.
Michelle

Sorry guys but i did buy a GIO 2 months ago and I love the thing.........NO PROBLEMS at all with it and i have spent a great deal of time comparing it against other Ebike brands in the $790-$1100 range and there are no differences, except this one is $400 less.

I purchased another one for a friend just last night and I am buying a second one for myself come January.

You cant beat the price. The ONLY negative I would suggest about this bike is that if you are a bigger person, 200 pounds + you are going to have a bit of a problem going up hills.

I who am of average weight can get up the Poplar Plains Road hill on mine but my X Hubby who is a big guy can get up it but the last part of it he does have to sort of push it a bit with his feet.
For him, hes really better with the 800w Gio and I think we will buy one come January.

But living in an apartment, the smaller Gio is easy to get in the elevator and into the apartment.
The bigger one, I have seen and i am not sure it will fit. I would likely have to take out a parking spot for it in the garage.

In any event?
I think this bike has a bad rap........I was very nervous buying it but thought at worst I was throwing away only $630 which is what it cost me to my door in Toronto 2 months ago.

Cant beat it.......


It gets me everywhere i need to go and i havent had any problems with it.

Hey! Where's Zack???

No blog post since July last year?
http://giointo.com/...

Last tweet August 23rd?
http://twitter.com/#!...

No more Youtube or Flickr uploads?
http://www.youtube.co...
http://www.flickr.com...

Last post to the Gioebike forums July 6 last year?
http://gioebike.daily...

Well, at least he was honest enought to admit on the GioInTO blog site:

I also want to be transparent here: I’ve been enlisted as a blogger and social media guy by Maverick, a public relations firm that was hired by GIO, the company that makes the scooters.

From his bio:

Social Media Editorial Intern
Maverick Public Relations
Privately Held; Public Relations and Communications industry

May 2010 – August 2010 (4 months)

- Established 
a 
robust, 
multi‐faceted 
social
 media
 campaign 
for 
GIO 
electric
 scooters, 
building
 social 
capital 
through
 social 
media 
outreach 
and 
story‐telling 
as 
“GIO
in
T.O.”

‐ In
 three 
months, 
generated
 over 
2,000 
page 
views, 
won 
top 
Google 
search 
results 
for 
a
 variety
 of
 search 
terms, 
increased 
scooter 
sales 
in
Toronto 
and 
generated 
a 
high 
ROI


Looks like he lost interest in the Gios as soon as he left Maverick...

Interesting experiment in "social media" (social engineering?) promotion of ebikes anyway. I wonder how long Gio will leave the "dead" blog site online...

Lock

http://barrie.kijiji....

Pretty blatant misrepresentation...

Electric Scooter E Bike 800 watts

Date Listed 04-Aug-11
Price $850.00
Address Innisfil, ON, Canada

Make Other
Model Other
For Sale By Owner
Engine Displacement (cc) 800
Year 2011
Kilometers 1
Colour Burgundy

SELLING OFF MY STOCK NEW PRICE $850.00
FREE DELIVERY.
GET IT BEFORE ITS GONE.
Electric Scooter E Bike 800 Watts
NEW STOCK HAS ARRIVE
If you look at this site www.daymak.com they sell these types of scooters for alot more.
Electric Scooter Only One 800 Watt Burgundy/ BLACK $850.00 1 Brand New left. No insurance or license required. .

I will require a deposit to order more scooters,
let me know ASAP

etc...

and:

I only sell the 800W scooters. These scooters ( 800 Watt) are better than 500Watts, because when going up the hills, the motor needs more power, that time is called peak power.
Such advancement will help riders who has many hills in their area, need climb hills on the way to work as well as riders on a heavier side, driver license do not needed and registration is no needed

Just some numbers from the latest auctions:


Over 21.5hrs, seven 500w sold averaging $219.43. Back on July 25th they were selling about one per hour, averaging $218.70 (in March averaging $223.) So price appears about unchanged but volume well down, perhaps to be expected this time of year. EVen at this low volume, it'd be almost 3000 sold a year.

Only three of the 500w+ sold (one/7hrs,) average price $328, down from $357 in July and volume waaay down since July when they were selling one EVery hour and a quarter...

New in the World of Gio, a 180W mountain bike. 24V 12Ah... Only 180W???! Only 288Wh packs???! Surprising to see these selling for more than the 500w (350W-500W peak) scooter-style bikes...

Another Luyuan product evidently:
http://en.luyuan.cn/h...

Lock

Seen on the Gio web site:
http://www.giobikes.c...

Alberta no more retail

by davidedmonton
Sat Dec 24, 2011 9:40 pm

Does that also include non powersport stuff like generators? (Names of these companies suggest only motorsports/scooters)

From news announcements:

Starting from 2012 GIO is closing down auction retail sales for the following areas: Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary and surrounding areas. Users from these cities will no longer be able to buy a GIO product via giobikes.com or any other GIO direct site. If user ends up paying for the order anyway it will be canceled and refunded immediately.

The following are the exclusive GIO dealers in these locations:

Calgary: Toys 4 Boys Motorsport
Red Deer: DT Motorsports LTD
Edmonton: Gateway Power Sports Ltd, ATV Edmonton and Topfuel Toys Canada

For sales, parts and service customers from these locations must contact and deal with an exclusive GIO dealer above.

Moving forward this is going to be the main theme for GIO in 2012 and onwards, where we will start restricting areas for large dedicated dealers thus protecting their respected areas of sales.

davidedmonton

...looks like Gio HQ are distancing themselves from direct sales (and attendant customer support) in favour of their dealer network. Higher prices for 2012 announced also, but this all probably makes sense to reflect more correctly true warranty and support costs.

LocK

Haven't noticed this before...

Pocket Bike Canada, here:
http://www.pocketbike...

...have cloned their pocketbikecanada.ca site as "giovanni-bikes.com", here:
http://www.giovanni-b...

... where they sell the usual Gio product (gas and electric) but sorta downplay the Gio name, labeling the 350 watt Gio as their "Eco-Bike"... and they detail the specs as "350W,(peak 500w)" but also bill it as a "500W BIKE E-BIKE"... I guess the separate URL is better for SEO or Google AdSense etc...

How many novice ebikers shopping for their first ebike will not realize that the convention for the last 130 years or so is to rate motors based on their continuous output and not peak power output, and that we capitalize the W in watts to honour James Watt....

Then they go on to say:

E-Scooter is classified as an electric bicycle (since pedals can be used) but the pedals do not need to be installed and this allows it to operate like an electric moped motorcycle but you do not need to register it or carry a drivers license to operate it.

...with no disclaimer that I can see where pedals DO have to be installed in many jurisdictions (eg Ontario.) Sloppy and misleading ebike promotion, looks like. BTW they don't offer the 500W Gio bike online, only the 350W bike, but for what it is they show a price right now of "$459.45 Taxes Included", and free shipping to the nearest Day & Ross terminal (or plus $50 to your door.) Hard to believe they are making any profit at this price. Incredibly, no warranty info on their site (that I could find...)

Kinda wish Jason would stuck to selling his gas ATVs and dirt bikes etc...

Lock