PASELEC GS9 Review 2022 | Electric Bike Report

Powering the PASELEC GS9 is a 48V, 13Ah (624Wh) Panasonic battery. A decent battery size given the 500W motor on the bike.

The battery is integrated into the bike’s frame. Interestingly enough, you can remove the battery (which we’re used to seeing) by sliding it out of the bottom end of the downtube (which we’re not used to seeing).

Having a removable battery will always remain a plus in our eyes on any e-bike we review, but this is one of the stranger setups we’ve seen for removing the battery. Typically you can pull a battery straight out of the frame, or by sliding off an external battery pack. But given the design of the GS9, the battery can only be removed if you lay down the bike and then slide it out (or by suspending the bike very, very high in the air). It’s a bit of a strange setup that isn’t a deal-breaker, but it’s definitely odd compared to the norm.

Odd setup choices aside, the battery performs quite well on the GS9 as evidenced by the results of our graph above. Twenty five miles on the high PAS end and 48 miles on the low PAS end is an impressive result — even more so when you consider that the team for this battery review was two of the bigger and taller EBR test riders.

No matter your intended use for the bike, be it on the dirt trails, paths or roads, the GS9 should give you plenty of battery to ride around with.

While I’ve touched on the speed of the motor, that’s only one important benefit of having motor-equipped bikes. Arguably the bigger draw is how it helps on hills.

The 500W rear hub motor on the PASELEC GS9 holds up well in pedal assist. While conducting our hill test, I didn’t even hear the motor very much as it was just plugging away (I did hear plenty of squeak from the rear shock though). It gave me steady assistance and didn’t add much vibration to the ride. It didn’t match any record times for me personally up the hill as it did on the circuit test, but finishing the test is an accomplishment in itself.

To further validate my previous statement, the throttle test failed to deliver me to the top of the hill, and it stopped well short of summiting the first pitch despite the running start I gave it. This isn’t to point out that I think it’s a bad motor on a bad bike, but it does illustrate why I think the bike is better served for light-duty trail riding as opposed to full-boar eMTB riding. It’s a motor that’s quicker on flatter riding areas and will help you out okay on hills but it won’t be doing all the work for you.

The GS9 is equipped with Zoom hydraulic disc brakes with 180mm rotors — a reliable performer we’ve seen on numerous bikes we’ve tested. They have consistently been near or better than our average total stopping distance from all the bikes we put through our brake test.

I was able to come to an average stopping distance of 16’10” on the PASELEC GS9, which is one foot more than our current average. That result is quite good when you consider some important context about our braking test. The braking test is the one part of the EBR group effort that I least frequently conduct; that’s largely left up to my EBR colleague Sam Gross. I’ve comfortably got about 50 lbs more on my frame than they have on either of theirs. When we’ve tested bikes head-to-head in braking tests in the past it wasn’t uncommon for bikes to take another foot or two to stop my larger build.

So considering the GS9 was tasked with stopping a larger rider than we typically have to conduct our braking test, I’d say it performed quite well.

The most concise way I could sum up the handling of the PASELEC GS9 would be this: It’s mostly comfortable, yet a little bouncy.

The front fork does okay at absorbing the bumps of any uneven terrain. Since the geometry of the GS9 keeps you a little more forward on the handlebars, it’s nice that the fork can remove some of the impact that your arms would otherwise feel from the road.

The 40mm rear suspension does an okay job too, but it is the springiest part of the ride for sure. There’s a noticeable bounce as you hit bumps in the road, which is better than relying on your body alone to soak up the force, but adjusting to the pogo stick sensation took a little getting used to.

That’s somewhat to be expected from budget-priced componentry. The reason high-end mountain bikes cost as much as they do is the engineering that goes into them, and a huge chunk of that engineering is devoted to solving full-suspension performance, comfort and longevity. The HLT-100 SHOCK of the PASELEC GS9 is an off-the-shelf cheap offering that doesn’t match the performance of pricier components, so you’ll need to keep an eye on how it’s holding up with the understanding that you’ll have to replace it one day.

As far as shifting goes the L-Twoo A5 9-speed shifter got the job done. It shifted reliably in my time on the bike as long as I wasn’t asking it to shift under a heavy load, and it felt like an adequate gear range if you stick to the light-duty trails as I’ve mentioned.

The faux leather grips are ergonomically designed and they don’t twist at all – I ended up liking how they felt on my longer trips and appreciated that they didn’t twist around at all. The handlebar overall was a bit narrow for my broad shoulders and gave the bike some slightly twitchy handling — which for sticking to paved trails or lighter dirt I didn’t mind in the slightest.

The saddle is a bit firmer than you’d expect at first glance, but it isn’t a bad stock option. There will definitely be two camps on the spiderweb design of it though (you can find me in the camp against it).

I’ll conclude this PASELEC GS9 review with the same advice I gave at the start of it: setting your expectations about what this e-bike is will be the key to whether or not you end up enjoying it.

While it is a full-suspension e-bike with mountain bike styling, I’m not sure it’s fully equipped to handle the rigors of true eMTB-ing. Its handling and performance are not top-tier by any means, with my biggest question mark being on the longevity of the rear suspension, but for what you’re paying they certainly aren’t bad either (you don’t find Ferraris for Toyota Camry prices after all).

But can the GS9 be enjoyable on light-duty trails or paved paths? Absolutely.

One of the questions our audience asks us the most about across the comments section and social channels are about an e-bike’s battery life. The GS9 uses its battery very effectively for a bike that is capable of hitting class 3 speeds. A lot of that is thanks to a good 500W motor and 624Wh battery pairing, and having the bike rolling on some surprisingly efficient 27.5” Kenda tires.

When you toss in the effective brakes, good looks and an affordable price, you can find plenty here worth smiling about.

PASELEC sells the GS9 directly from their website to your front door from their website. You can check current pricing at the link here.

‘Happy Riding, make sure to let us know if you have any questions down in our comments section or if you think we left anything out in this review of the PASELEC GS9