Okay, before anyone starts hyperventilating, let’s be clear that we’re not advocating that readers learn how to work on their e-bike. That said, there’s a difference between being able to do all the maintenance on an e-bike and understanding an e-bike well enough to take care of it, which includes knowing a few basics, as well as being able to judge when the e-bike needs to see the e-bike doctor, er, mechanic.
There are a few items that are handy to keep in the garage in order to give an e-bike the basic day-to-day care it needs. And while we’ve called out tools, a few of the items we recommend keeping on hand aren’t actually tools, but items better described as supplies.
So just what should an e-bike owner be able to take care of on their own? Here are our suggestions:
- Keeping tires inflated to proper pressure
- Lubricating the chain when needed
- Fixing flat tires
- Making adjustments to the fit of the e-bike
Items to keep on-hand
Floor pump. The average innertube loses a bit of air each day. After three or four days, the tires on most e-bikes will need to be pumped up. The proper pressure for any given tire will vary according to wheel size, tire width, rider weight and terrain, so there’s no one answer on what the appropriate pressure is. That said, tires will have a recommended pressure range. If we divide that range into thirds, the bottom third is for people who weigh less than 150 lbs. The middle third is for people who weigh from 150-190 lbs. The top third is for people who weigh more than 190 lbs. Also, because most of the rider’s weight is supported by the rear wheel, it’s a good idea to run about 10 percent more pressure in the rear tire than the front.
Crescent wrench or metric box wrenches. All of the nuts and bolts on e-bikes are metric sizes, so American box wrenches and Allen wrenches will be of no use. That’ll be a disappointment to many car enthusiasts, but a good crescent wrench will handle the two nuts a rider will most likely need to loosen and tighten will be the front and rear axle nuts. Why? Well, flat tires happen. On most e-bikes the front axle nuts are 17mm and the rear nuts are 19mm. Good-quality box wrenches are best, but a crescent wrench will also work fine.
Tire levers. Fixing a flat isn’t hard with the right tools, but it’s pretty well impossible without them. Two tire levers are often necessary to lift the bead of the tire over the edge of the rim.
Allen wrenches. Most of the bolts on an e-bike will feature Allen heads. To adjust the stem, handlebar or seat, the rider will need a set of Allen wrenches. Most of these bolts accept either 4, 5 or 6mm Allen wrenches (some water bottle bosses where a bottle cage can be mounted use Allen bolts with 3mm heads). Some higher-end e-bikes use what are called “thru-axles” instead of axle nuts and those are usually tightened with a 6mm Allen wrench.
Innertubes. Not all flats happen out on the road. Often, a small piece of glass or wire will cause a slow leak that may not be discovered until walking out to the garage to get on the e-bike, and there it is, the wheel sitting on the rim. Having two or three innertubes in the garage means the flat can be fixed immediately.
Tires. It’s a good idea to keep one or two tires in the garage as well. First, tires wear out and once the tread on a tire is worn away, it’s a good idea to replace the tire. Also, tires can be cut by debris, so having a replacement handy is efficient. Some e-bikes use wheel sizes that are uncommon; anyone with an e-bike with 16, 18, 22 or 24-in. wheels should keep at least two tires in their garage as those tires can be hard to find.
Chain lube. A bicycle chain doesn’t need to be lubed all that often—maybe only every month or two. What will change that is riding in the rain or in a dusty environment. Lubricants in squeeze bottles are preferable to those in spray bottles because sprays get lubricant on things that shouldn’t be coated in chain lube, such as the brake rotor. Also, aerosol chain lubes allow chemicals to enter the body that don’t belong there. Triflow may smell nice, but the smell means nasty stuff has entered the lungs.
Keeping it simple
The idea here is to have just enough items handy to be able to take care of the basics. Being an e-bike mechanic is a whole job and not many people want to learn what’s involved in adjusting shifting systems or bleeding hydraulic disc brakes for the simple reason that it takes a while to learn how to do those things well.
We’ve included the things that anyone with some basic mechanical ability and common sense can take care of. Put another way, knowing these things will save someone from having to visit a bike shop for every little thing. The more someone knows about their e-bike, the better their sense will be for when they do need to visit the bike shop for help.
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