10 Things you should never do with your Ebike
Ebikes are an expensive investment and should be looked after accordingly. Here are our Top 10 things you should never do with your electric bike.
#1 Don’t clean or work on your Ebike upside down.
Ebikes are not designed to be upside down. Manufacturers understand bikes will get wet and muddy. They build exhaust holes into the bike to allow any water ingress to drain away. Washing your bike with water upside down is a bad idea. It is just going to load it up with moisture in electrical areas where you don’t want it to be. It risks faults or errors. You also risk unnecessarily scratching your bike’s grips, bars, display unit and saddle. If you are out on the trail and have to turn it over to work on it, use rocks or logs to raise the bars and saddle off the ground. At home, a work stand is a sound investment.
#2 Don’t work on Ebikes switched on
If you need to do any work on your bike, make sure your ebike system is turned off. Better still, remove the battery. Trying to work around sharp chain ring teeth, sprockets and a chain is a risk. If it kicks into life it could be mean chewed up fingers, blood and pain. Always double check.
#3 Don’t contaminate your discs
The weight of you and your electric bike requires some hefty stopping power. Be careful not to contaminate your discs. Don’t touch them or be overzealous spraying lube or polish. Contaminated discs and pads can seriously compromise braking power. They can make an awful, annoying screech too and we don’t want that scaring the wildlife do we? If your discs and pads do get contaminated, read our article here on how to clean them.
#4 Don’t ignore error codes
If your ebike displays an error code get it checked out as soon as you can. Don’t just reset the system and carry on. It could be a sign of something more serious and you may be left stranded when you need the assistance the most. A qualified Ebike mechanic, including all of our stores, have diagnostic capabilities to find out what the cause of the error was. They will be able to diagnose and resolve it for you for trouble-free miles in the future.
#5 Don’t leave your battery flat or very low after a ride
When you get back from a ride, check your battery level. If it’s very low or almost empty it’s important to charge it back up for your next ride. You don’t you will compromise the lifespan of it. If you plan to store your Ebike and not use it for a number of weeks just charge it to 60-70%. It’s the most expensive component on your bike, look after it.
#6 Don’t overcharge your battery or leave it on charge overnight
If your Ebike doesn’t have a battery management system, overcharging your battery is a fire risk as we have seen reported so vividly in the news recently. Thankfully, mainstream ebike manufacturers and ALL bikes sold by The Electric Bike Shop have these in place on bikes, but you should still not leave your bike on charge any longer than it needs to be. If you need to charge you bike overnight or unattended it’s a really good idea to use a cheap electrical plug timer so after a few hours the charge will be automatically turned off.
#7 Don’t depend on tubeless
As good as tubeless tyres and sealant are at preventing punctures, they are definitely not puncture proof. If you use tubeless or not, make sure you take a spare tube or tubeless plugs with you in case the tyre cut is too big for your sealant to seal it. It does happen, so be prepared.
#8 Don’t forget to share your route for solo rides and charge your mobile
If you are heading out on a solo ride, always share your route with someone with an ETA on when you will be home. You may be an experienced cyclist and never had a problem, but it only takes one unfortunate event or incident caused by you or something else that could leave you stranded or worse, injured somewhere off the beaten track and nobody would know where you are. Be sensible, share your route. It’s just common sense.
#9 Don’t forget to set privacy zone on your apps
If you use apps like Strava or Komoot to share your rides and routes, make sure you have a privacy zone set for a distance around your home. This means where you live is hidden from any potential thief tracking your route to see where you started and finished from. GPS is quite accurate these days, so without a privacy zone set, anyone can reasonably find out where you live.
#10 Don’t start off in Turbo mode
It’s tempting to do but starting off in your highest mode is unnecessary and will quickly eat into your battery charge level and range. Ebikes are powerful and lower levels off assistance are often more than enough to get you going from a standing start, even on a hill. Constant use of the highest mode will also make modes like Eco feel like you have no assistance so be frugal and use your modes appropriately. When climbing use your lower gears first, then your assistance. You’ll achieve more range with assistance so you will be able to cycle further.
