How to Get Your E Bike Moving from a Complete Stop: The Secret to Safely Starting Your Electric Bike

How to get an e-bike moving from a dead stop.

Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry, and today I'm going to show you how to get an e-bike moving from a dead stop. Right here, I've got the Simple Step-Thru e-bike which is a 500-watt, really easy mounting, dismounting e-bike.

All right. So maybe you've got an e-bike or you have an e-bike and you're struggling with getting it moving from a dead stop. Now this is not uncommon for a lot of riders. I've got a few solutions for you and tips and tricks and things we can walk through today to get your e-bike moving from a completely dead stop. So with an e-bike, you've got two options, well, two, if your e-bike has a throttle that gives you one option. If it doesn't have a throttle, then we can talk about just using the pedals and the pedal-assist to get you moving as well.

Let's start with the throttle, just because that's going to be the easiest in a lot of scenarios and doesn't require anything really to do with your pedaling whatsoever. Now if you want to come in here for a closeup, we'll go ahead and show everyone. Okay. Now, first thing I want to make sure I'm on my bike before I turn it on. So I have what's here is a thumb throttle. Okay? Now throttles on e-bikes work just like a gas pedal on a car. The harder you push it, the more power you get. Some of you could have a twist throttle which the more you twist, the more power you get as well. That also exists.

So the key to getting your e-bike or any bike going is you want to build the momentum of the bike to keep it balanced on two wheels, at which point you're going to pick your feet up and trust the bike. So if you want to use a throttle, there are a couple of things you can do. One, you can see, I can just get used to that. So I'm just moving a little bit. Okay? So this is a way to get comfortable with the throttle, and I can actually push it just a little bit and still pick my feet up. Right? The other option you have is to push it just a little bit and not pick your feet up. So I can just go like this and just get used to what that feels like. Right? Okay, now I can come back again.

All right. So you can do that over and over until you're comfortable with the balance. At that point then what I like to do is get my pedals positioned, how I feel like my feet will be comfortable for using the pedals. I like them at about midway like this, so even on both sides if I'm using the throttle. If I'm using the throttle, it's a good position, and comfortable for me to leave my feet during the ride. So at this point, I like to have one foot right here. Okay? I have my hands here. And for using the throttle, you don't need to push off. You don't need to create any momentum at all. It's not necessary. I can just go ahead and push my throttle a little bit at which point the bike starts to move. Now you could see my pedals turned. So I did a rotation, got my feet where I wanted them, and I'm up and moving.

I don't have my helmet on right now. I normally do wear it, but we're doing some very slow, confined riding right now. Okay, so let's try this one more time. I'm going to pull up here. Okay? All right. So if you can see, I've got my thumb, I'm going to get my feet in position here. Okay? Now, the other thing, so I can do this a couple of different ways. I can push it fast and go for it, I'll show you that right now, or you can ease yourself into it, totally up to you and what you're comfortable with. Okay? We're just going to let him pull out. Okay? All right. So I'm experienced enough where I can accelerate this and go for it. Okay? So I'm going to push, take off, pick my foot up. Okay?

All right. Now the other option is you can go a little slower and you can ease yourself into it. I like to just go because the more you get the wheels turning, the easier it is to balance. Okay? So now here's more of a slow approach. Just going to ease it, all right, and now we're good, and as you get more familiar with your thumb throttle and how much to give it or not give it, you'll get used to that.

Okay. Now let's talk about getting an e-bike going from a dead stop using the pedals or the pedal assist. So you can always put your pedal assist in level zero if you don't want it. It's nice to have a level... If you're not used to the pedal assist, then I recommend starting without the motor on at all because it may come as a surprise to you to feel the pedal assist, but that's totally up to you.

So what I like to do is start my knee with a little bit of a slight bend and the position of the pedal with this pedal up a little bit, slightly bend down so I can get force on my foot to get the momentum of the bike. Now I'm a right-foot, right-handed dominant person, so I like my right foot, but you can always switch over here if you're a left-handed person. Again, get in a position with your leg just a little bit below parallel. That was maybe right at parallel. Oops, missed that one. Okay, a little bit higher, right there. Now from here, I can get that downward thrust to keep the bike moving or to get the bike moving. I'm going to switch back over here to my right foot though.

Okay. So we're going to first go through starting from a dead stop with no pedal assist. In this case, I need to build the momentum myself because the bike's not going to provide me with any power. So when we do that, we want to make sure this initial forward pedal creates enough momentum on the bike that I can pick my feet up and start to balance. Okay? So grab your handlebars, I'm in level assist zero so nothing's going to assist me, and from here, I'm also going to utilize my left foot a little bit as well. Okay? So I'm going to push my left foot off the ground while simultaneously pushing down with my right foot. So let me show you what this looks like without using my right foot. You can see my left foot planted here. I'm just going to push like this. Okay?

Now when I do that in conjunction with pushing down with my right foot, I'll show you just pushing with my right foot. Okay? So I still built the momentum necessary, but doing those together in conjunction is going to create even more momentum which is going to make it easier. Okay? So now I'm pushing down and forward with my left, and down, sorry, down and back with my left and down and forward with my right. Let me try to show you what it's going to be like. Like this, okay? All right. So let me show you. Ready? I'm going to push forward with my right foot, back, and down with my left like this. Now I get the bike rolling. I can pick my feet up and start pedaling. Now from there, you can either take over with the throttle or you can let the pedal assist kick in, totally up to you, but that at least gets you up and going from a complete dead stop.

Okay. Now let's do that same thing, but let's do it with the pedal assist on. The difference is going to be as soon as I make about a rotation and a half on the pedals, the motor's going to kick in and I'm going to accelerate much faster than I did. So again, it depends on your circumstances. If you have a slight uphill ahead of you, you may want to leave it in the pedal assist as you do a dead stop. If you're on flat ground, maybe just get going without the pedal assist, then when you get up to a little bit of speed, turn the pedal assist on. Okay. So now in this case, it's still helpful to push off with both feet because you want to create that momentum to keep the bike rolling, make your first pedal rotation, and the assistance will kick in. Okay? So got my leg, just a slight downward bend here. I'm going to push down with my right foot, back with my left foot, and then you'll see the pedal assist come on. Here we go. Pushing, making my one and a half and there goes the assistance and I'm up and rolling.

Now from a dead stop to getting going on an e-bike, I don't recommend more than, in absolute situations, maybe three. If you're a rider over 250 pounds, then you can explore the 3, 4, and 5 levels to help get you going. I would say a lot of people are going to be good in levels 1, 2, and 3. Also depends if you're on flat ground or a slight incline and whether you need more assistance. So as you get comfortable with your bike, you'll start to know what assistance levels you need. But basic, flat ground, first gear, or first level of assistance should be fine for most people.

All right? So I'm just going to show you one more time. Now I had that in level one. Let me crank it up to five and show you what it looks like. So get my feet in the correct position, slightly down, push off, and now make my rotation and my assistance kicks in. There we go. Now I'm flying. Keeping the assistance level in a 1, 2, or 3 is going to make your acceleration a little more gradual than a 5 which sometimes can shoot you out there.

All right. So that explains how to get going on an e-bike from a dead stop. If you have any other questions at all, please email us, at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at (310) 982-2877. In addition take our proprietary body fit quiz on our website, answer a few questions about your body and your life, and our proprietary algorithm will recommend the perfect e-bike for you. In addition to that, we have a 30-day test ride with your e-bike policy. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back, no questions asked, no money out of your pocket, and we're going to warranty everything for the first year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of everything, parts, and labor, to ensure you can keep riding.

Lastly, we have a Facebook group called sixthreezero Pedalers. There are thousands of members there. Pop in there, ask questions and see how others like their bike before you jump into getting an e-bike. Then once you have yours, post in the group, and make friends. It's tons of fun. And then you can download our app in the app store, iOS or Play, and 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 or experience. Enjoy the ride.