Do E Bikes Require A Lot of Maintenance? The Truth About Owning an Electric Bicycle

Do e-bikes require a lot of maintenance? Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry. Today we're going to answer the question, do e-bikes require a lot of maintenance? All right, you're thinking about getting an electric bike and you're just wondering about the upkeep and the maintenance. Fair question. There's probably a lot of fear around, will it cost me a lot of money? Will I have to do the work myself? Not only that, a lot of people wonder if I buy it online, will a local bike shop work on my e-bike? All right, I have had e-bikes now for over five years. And the reality of e-bikes is that maintenance, in reality, is no different than the maintenance on a regular bicycle. You can see all the e-bikes I have behind me here, which by the way are linked in the description below if you wanna check those out. The componentry and the overall bicycle elements are similar if not the same on e-bikes as regular bikes. So when we talk about maintenance, we talk about the same kind of maintenance that would go on on a bicycle. Things like lubing the chain, adjusting gears, adjusting brakes, and replacing tires. Now, a couple of things, depending on how much or how little you ride your e-bike, more maintenance may or may not be required, which is true of a regular bike. Now what I find is because people tend to ride their e-bikes more, things like tires do need to be replaced more frequently, and the treads can get worn down if you're logging thousands of miles on your e-bike.

In addition to that, one of the most important maintenance things on an e-bike is the brake pads inside your disc brake calipers. So, again, if you're logging a lot of miles, those will need to be replaced more frequently. Now, just like on a regular bike, if you're not riding very frequently and you're not wearing down the tire tread or the brake pads, then you won't need to replace those. So, in actuality, the maintenance is the same as a regular bike, just depends on how many miles you're putting on your e-bike, and what I find is more people ride more miles on their e-bikes than they rode on their regular bikes. Now, in terms of the electrical components and the battery, there's no real maintenance that needs to go on. They should just work. I mean, they should just work. They will work for very long periods. Now, the battery, over time, the more you drain and use it, you will need to replace the battery. There's no maintenance, really, other than charging it appropriately, not leaving it on the charger, and not leaving it in extreme or extreme cold temperatures. But again, there's no real maintenance and there's no real maintenance with the motor either. It's all internally contained in the hub. Now, not to say a couple of years down the road, you have some issues. If you buy from a reputable brand or manufacturer, they should be able to sell you components to replace your e-bike and get it working back to where it needs to be. Now, another concern a lot of times is if you buy an e-bike online, will bike shops that you didn't buy it from work on it? So the answer is yes, you have to find a shop that will. Now in terms of the components that are non-electrical, nearly all bike shops will work on them in terms of the brakes and the gears and adjusting them, things like that. Also, a lot of mobile mechanics exist now and they will work on any e-bike that is out there. In terms of doing repairs regarding the electrical components, this is where you'll have to find a specific shop or a good mobile mechanic.

Now, like I said, actually doing repairs to the electrical end of an e-bike is going to be very rare. So replacing wires, and things like that, not gonna be a common practice with an e-bike. So, there's some maintenance required. Generally speaking though, it's gonna be fairly minimal. Find a good bike shop or mobile mechanic you trust, and check in with them as needed. There are also a lot of great tutorial videos on YouTube about how to change tires and do things like that. If you can learn some of the basic elements, you can save yourself a lot of money. Again, not talking about getting into the electronics, but changing tires, and things like that. A lot of those things can easily be done at home with your average tool kit you can buy at a hardware store. So if you have any other questions about the maintenance on an e-bike, please reach out to us at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at 310-982-2877. We offer a 30-day test ride on your e-bike policy. If you don't love your e-bike in the first 30 days, send it back, no questions asked, no money out of your pocket. And lastly, we offer a one-year warranty. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we take care of its parts and labor. Also, join our Facebook group called sixthreezero Pedalers. There are thousands of members in the group. Join the group before you purchase. Talk to existing riders so you can get comfortable before you make your purchase. Then when you have yours, post in the group, make friends, and then download our app to track your rides and compete on the leaderboard. It's a lot of fun. So thanks for sticking around, and don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.