E-bike maintenance: your complete guide

Date:
Mon, 27 Dec 2021 07:00:39 +0000

Description:
Julian Thrasher, head of training at Shimano, shares his expert advice on keeping your e-bike rolling.

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Maintaining even the best electric bikes isn't difficult, but there are some important things to know if you're going to keep it in top condition and get the best performance every time you head out on a ride. Your e-bike really needs insurance here's why Electric bike conversion kits: your complete
guide

To find out exactly what you need to know to keep your e-bike in perfect shape, TechRadar spoke to Julian Thrasher, Head of Training at Shimano. Buy your Shimano products and support local bike shops at www.freewheel.co.uk . What checks should you do before riding?

Before heading out on your electric bike, a few quick checks will help make sure you're getting the best, safest ride possible.

"Mechanical and electrical checks are the key thing," says Thrasher, "so from a mechanical point of view, tire pressures and if youve got any mountain bike suspension settings as well. Mainly because if youre riding an e-bike with deflated tires then you may not get the range out of the bike that you want."

You'd normally notice if you're riding a bike with deflated tires or worn gears you'll have to work harder than usual but an e-bike will compensate, effectively masking the problem and draining the battery faster than necessary,

"Its also really important that your brakes are working properly because the e-bikes are slightly heavier," says Thrasher. "Id have a check of the brakes and gears before you go on a ride. Just a spin around the car park or just down the side of your house, just to make sure everythings operating mechanically as it should. Before you head out, check your tire pressure; the motor can mask the effect of deflated tires, but the battery will drain
faster as a result (Image credit: Shutterstock)

"From an electrical point of view, making sure that the batterys got a full state of charge," he says. "Youd ideally do this with enough time to make
sure that you can put charge into it. Theres nothing worse than rocking up to a ride and finding that youve got one bar of battery. Itll either be a very difficult ride, or the ride wont happen.

"And a quick check of the cables as well. Speaking from a Shimano Steps point of view, the cables are quite delicate and they carry all the data through
the system, so if theyre slightly damaged or youve managed to hook it on a
car when youre taking the bike off a rack, they can get damaged and that can cause an error to occur. So its definitely worthwhile checking."

You should also check that the cables are correctly plugged in. Shimano has a special wire tool (catchily named the TL-EW02), which makes sure that you're pushing on the correct part of the wire and not damaging it.

Also take a look at the magnet for the speed sensor. "Its a bit like the old school cycle computers that you had where the magnet went round and it told you how fast you were going," Thrasher explains. "The e-bike has a drive unit that knows how much pressure youre putting through the pedals theres an in-built power meter but it also has a speed sensor to work out how fast youre going. With those two metrics it can work out the right amount of power delivery, but if the magnet gets knocked then it cant see that, and then the drive unit wont work."

It's quite common for that magnet to get knocked out of place, either in transit or being out on the trails. Just make sure that the magnet is in line with the sensor, with the correct distance between it." Make sure your electric bike's battery is secure in its mounting before heading out (Image credit: Shutterstock)

If your bike has a Shimano Steps drive system, also watch out for an error code called WA13. Thrasher explains that this is a torque sensor error, and
is easily fixed.

"This happens when someone hops on the bike, they start pedalling it off down the road or down the trail, and then they think Oh no, I havent turned it on! So they turn it on, and then the system sees that theres pressure going through it, which it doesnt expect. What it then does is say Well, that must be a problem. So then it beeps and comes up with a WA13 error code.

"The easiest way to clear this is to stop the bike, get off the bike, turn
the battery off, ideally if its a downtube-mounted battery remove it that clears everything from the system put the battery back in, turn the system
on again without any pressure on the pedals. Nine times out of 10, that
clears the WA13 error code."

Finally, make sure that the battery is secure in its mounting. That's not
easy to do for an internal battery, but for an external one, make sure that there's no play between the battery and its mount. Any movement can cause intermittent faults. How can you make the battery last longer?

There are lots of ways to eke greater mileage out of your e-bike's battery, some of which are more obvious than others. "We always think about marginal gains in cycling, but theyre all things you can do to improve the life of the battery, and certainly the range of the battery," says Thrasher.

"We spoke before about the tires being correctly inflated and things like
your brakes rubbing. You notice all these if youre a human being pedalling a bicycle, but with an e-bike theyre quite good at masking those little
things." Taking your bike for a blast on its top power setting means you
won't go nearly as far, but it's a lot of run (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Also think about which of your bike's modes you're going to be using. Most e-bikes have a set of different options that give varying degrees of assistance. "On Steps we have three modes we have Eco, Trail and Boost modes
and there are two factory preset modes for these of Dynamic and Explore, but you can also customize it, Thrasher explains. "We have an app on the phone called E-Tube, and through this E-Tube app you can customize Eco, Trail and Boost from a low, medium and high setting.

"So if you went out on your bike and you wanted the best life out of the battery then youd ride it in Eco with Eco set to low, because youre just
going to receive a small amount of power through the system. So youre not going to go as fast as going up a hill in Boost, but you are going to get a lot of life out of the battery, or range out of the battery." Your e-bike's app may allow you to customize its power settings so you can tailor its power output to suit your ride (Image credit: Shutterstock)

There's really no substitute for knowing your route. If you're planning a whole day out with lots of good hills, don't hit them all in Boost mode or you'll end up riding without any assistance at the end.

If you just want to go for a blast in Boost mode, you won't be able to go nearly as far, but it'll be a lot of fun.

"The last thing Id add to that is that lithium-ion batteries do like to be charged, so dont let your battery run all the way out and then leave it run out," Thrasher says. "The battery can enter a sort of hibernation mode, and then it can be very difficult to wake that battery. What we recommend is that even if youve just used a bar of battery, put it on charge. It likes that. Youll increase the life of it if you charge it often. What if your bike has
an electrical fault?

If your bike has an electrical fault, never try to disassemble your bike's battery or drive system. You might void your warranty, cause more damage, or even give yourself a bad electric shock.

"The first thing Id say is visit a professional bike shop, or we prefer a Shimano Service Center," says Thrasher. "Theyve got a tool called an
SM-PCE02, and this is a linkage device that checks the electrical internals
of each component thats on the bike. So the motor, the display and so on, and thats something thats very difficult to do at home." A bike shop or service center can look at error codes on your e-bike's display and work out the solution (Image credit: Shutterstock)

You might occasionally see error codes on your e-bike's display, which an expert at a bike shop or service center can interpret into a solution. "So to give you an example, well have an E010 error code, which will appear on the display in combination with an E013, says Thrasher.

"What the first error code means is a general system error code. The second error code is a torque sensor error code. So from a bike shops point of view, you look at both of those and you go Im pretty sure I know where that problem is.

"And they also need to look at well, has that been caused through a
mechanical issue, and theyre much better equipped to do that. They look at your bike as a whole and then offer you a solution, whereas when youre at home, you can really only make the problem worse." Are there any other things you shouldn't do?

"Definitely dont disassemble the battery or the drive unit because youll give yourself a big shock," Thrasher says. "The other thing is dont poke things into the terminals of the battery, because that could also give you a huge shock."

Poking and prodding is a bad idea, but you should make sure that the male terminals on the battery are nice and clean. "Those are fine once youve got the battery out and off the bike its not going to hurt you, so you can clean the other parts."

Thrasher gives the example of one of Shimano's sponsored riders who was
having an error code in his bike. It turned out the problem was down to the dust he'd been riding in; once he cleaned out the dusk, the error code went away. Take care not to get lubricant in your bike's wire ports (Image credit: Shutterstock)

"Dont spray any lubricant into the wire ports thats really a no-no and
treat the cables with care," Thrasher adds. "If at any point you dont think its going in, dont use more force because that generally ends up with something breaking. Dont force them into the components, and if you can, do use the wire tool that I spoke about.

"Dont try to get into the motor or the battery, but you should ensure that
the bolts that are mounted to the frame are tight, and theres generally only six bolts that do that, and therell generally be a torque setting from the manufacturer. Thats really good because that can lead to creaks coming from the bike, but theyre quite easy to solve. Do make sure those bolts are tight.

"If youre cleaning the e-bike, dont point a high-pressure hose directly at
the electrical components they dont really like that but do keep it clean. We say use a clean cloth and then a clean T-shirt afterwards just to dry it down." How should you store your e-bike after a ride?

When storing your electric bike, the most important thing is to keep it
clean, dry, and fully charged. "Really the best way is to make sure the e-bikes ready for the next ride," says Thrasher. "Make sure its ready when
you get back from the last ride. Keep it clean, inspect it for damage.

"These are all things that are really stressful when youre about to go out
for a ride, but actually if you spend five minutes just looking over the bike when you get back, its nice to know that youve put that bike away in a state that you can just pick it up, turn it on and go for a blast on it on the next ride. It relieves some of the stress." Take care of your bike after each ride and you won't need to worry next time you want to head out (Image credit: Shutterstock)

You don't have to take the battery off the bike when you're storing it, Thrasher explains. "A lot of people to take the battery off the bike to
charge it, which is fine, you can do that, but some e-bikes have remote on switches on the top tube, and they also have a cell inside them that needs a little bit of the power of the battery to make them operable. So we say every four times, just put the battery into the bike to charge it on the bike. They do benefit from that."

Storing your e-bike somewhere damp or humid might cause corrosion of the electrical parts, which can cause issues down the line,

"Dont hang your oily rags over the charger or the battery because they get warm and that can lead to fire," Thrasher adds. "Definitely dont cover anything up dont cover the charger up, dont cover the battery up. Make sure youve got lots of free space around where youre charging the bike."

Finally, don't let the battery run out of charge completely and leave it that way. How often does your e-bike need servicing?

Getting an ordinary bike serviced once or twice a year helps nip any
potential problems in the bud and keep it running smoothly. It's very similar for an electric bike, and provided you care for it properly, as described above, taking to the professionals every six to 12 months is fine.

"A lot of the things you need to consider are like a regular bike," says Julian Thrasher. "Were lucky in that Shimano Steps is a pretty robust e-bike system, so if you do take care of the bike in terms of keeping the chain oiled, keeping the pads replaced, the need to take it in for a professional service isnt all that often."

Your bike will be thoroughly examined for mechanical issues, but for an
e-bike it's also your opportunity to get any new firmware updates. Thrasher explains that i's very much like updating your phone, but can only be done professionally. Getting your e-bike serviced once or twice a year can help
nip potential problems in the bud (Image credit: Shutterstock)

"This is something that you would need to visit a professional bike shop or a Shimano service centre for," he says. "They ensure that any bugs in the
system that [the developers] have found are taken out, that all the
components speak effectively together, and sometimes there can be little upgrades. "Basically therell be features that come out that the new firmware accommodates. So its a really good virtual upgrade."

"People dont need to be scared that you need to be taking the bike in every five days to be looked at," he says. "Theyre pretty robust, so the main thing is the firmware, to take it in and to just get it checked over to make sure theres nothing that you may not have seen that a professional bike shop could see." Fix Your Bike scheme

If you live in the UK, you can apply for a 50 voucher towards maintaining
your e-bike through the government's new Fix Your Bike scheme. Vouchers cover essential repairs and services, and are available through retailer including Halfords and Evans Cycles , plus smaller bike shops.

This article is part of TechRadar's Get Fit in 2022 series a collection of ideas and guides to help get your new year's health goals off to the right start, whatever your current level of fitness.



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