E-Bikes & Bikes Customised to You
Dustin Gyger
Updated On: July 17, 2023
Hey everyone. I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry, and I'm going to show you don't mount your e-bike like this. Stick around.
All right, so today I'm going to show you how not to mount your e-bike, but before I do, hit subscribe below. Stay in touch with us here at Sixthreezero, and be the first to know about all the new content we're putting out giveaways, and of course, new product releases.
All right. Now, e-bikes, mounting, and dismounting. It's an important part of the process of being safe on an e-bike, and I've seen a lot of people fall off or get hurt in the mounting and dismounting process. Because once you're up and moving and rolling, you're cruising along, but then when you've got to come to a stop, you've got to safely stop and dismount the bike. And as crazy as it may sound, getting on the e-bike can cause a lot of problems, especially if you are trying to mount it in a way that can be dangerous. So let's go through how not to mount your e-bike.
Now, the traditional way of mounting a bike, right, you're going to want to engage your brakes, is the old leg swing. Now I will say if that is your preferred method and you feel comfortable, you can always continue to do it. I don't like it though because I've done countless test rides with lots of riders, young and old, knee surgeries, hip surgeries, or just general tightness. People, that have restrictive limbs in any sort of way, go to do this, right? And we all think we can do it. And you can see you hit your leg on the seat, something happens and then all of a sudden the bike starts going this way and you go down with the bike. The other thing about an e-bike is it's heavier than a normal bike because you have the battery, you have the motor. So once the momentum of that thing starts going in that direction, going to be much harder to stop it than if you're riding a regular bike or if you're mounting and dismounting a regular bike, right? It's going to be lighter and you can manipulate it much easier.
And I'll say, the other thing is if you have to have your seat higher because you're taller, now you've got to get your leg even higher to get it over that. Or if you're the type of person that likes your seat high when you ride, but you're shorter, I'm kind of an example. I'm 5'10". I like my seat a little higher when I ride. That's just going to make this leg swoop even more difficult to get on. So something to consider and which is why I say don't mount your e-bike like that.
Now, if you can, I'm going to show you two better ways to mount and dismount an e-bike. This is the Simple Step-Thru from Sixthreezero. This has a 10-and-a-half-inch step-through height. So if the mounting and dismounting is something that's challenging for you, this is a great setup. This is how you mount. Just step through, get here, and then slide back onto the seat. Much simpler process. There's not as much risk of the bike tipping over, or something crazy happening. And then when you're getting off as well, and I see this a lot, riders are tired because when you're getting off, you've just gone on a ride. So when you get off, now you've got to do this awkward thing of bringing your leg like this, right? And if you clip that seat, now the bike's coming back this way and you're tipping backward. So in this case, just slide forward and bring your foot through, which makes the mounting and dismounting process so much easier.
Now, there's another way as well, and this could apply even if it doesn't have as low a step-through. Hold your brakes, get your bike here, and then you can kind of sit like this, get your butt up on the seat, and then from there you can just either, depending on how low the frame is, in this case, you just have to kind of turn your leg through. But even if the bar's a little higher, you could at least come here and go like that. So I like that a little bit more because again, you're not swinging your leg over.
And I've seen this many instances as well, riders that have not been on a bike or an e-bike in 10, 15, or 20 years, expect that their hip and their legs should go as high as they once did. And you have this muscle memory and memory of how easy it was to ride a bike whenever you rode that bike 10, 15 years ago. And they come up, boom, they get on, boom, they knee the bike, the bike goes flying. So it is an important thing to consider. So I prefer don't mount your e-bike like that, either step through if the step-through height is low enough, or get your bike on and come over.
Now, there's another method I've seen before too, that I don't like as well. We're going to call it the lean forward. People go like this and they lean the bike down, and then by doing that, you're creating a lower step over. If you have to mount your bike by doing that, it is not the right e-bike for you. Again, there's even more risk at play here, right? So number one, e-bikes are heavier. So now you can also, let me go ahead and put the kickstand up here. You can also do it like this. I see people lean it towards them and then they step over this way. Again, I don't like this. I don't think it's safe. And if that's the way you have to mount and dismount, you've got the wrong e-bike for you. But again, this is heavy. So you've got to hold on to this 50, 60 pounds and you've got to get in and you want to go with the right foot first. Then you've got to bring the bike back up. Now you've got to get on. It just is more things that can go wrong, and more issues that can occur. Don't mount your e-bike like that.
So if you have any other questions at all about mounting, dismounting e-bikes, or anything else, please comment below or shoot us an email at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at (310) 982-2877. And if you're in the market for an e-bike, navigate over to our website sixthreezero.com, and take our body fit quiz. You can answer a few questions about your body, and your life, and we'll recommend the perfect e-bike for you. We also have a test-ride your e-bike policy for 30 days. 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, join our Facebook Pedalers group and download our app. Ask existing riders questions about their e-bike, make friends, and see how many miles people are logging on to the app with a specific e-bike. Then once you have your e-bike log your miles on the app, compete on the leaderboard, and of course, make friends in the Pedalers group. It's tons of fun. So thanks for sticking around and don't forget it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.