Arthritis & EBikes: How Will Arthritis in Your Hands Affect Braking on Your Electric Bike?

How will arthritis in your hands affect using the brakes on an e-bike or e-trike? Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry, and today we're going to answer the question, how will arthritis in your hands and fingers affect using the brakes on an e-bike? All right, I've got our Simple Glide Fat Tire E-Trike and our EVRYjourney Women's E-Bike here.If you ever want to come by for a test ride, we are at 1046 Calle Recoto, Unit K, San Clemente, California, and we ship nationwide. All right, I have done lots and lots of test rides with adults and seniors who have arthritis in their fingers and hands, and a lot of times, they just don't have the dexterity and the strength that they once had. Now, in terms of an e-bike, you have controls. You can operate with your hands, if you don't want to, while you're riding, you don't. Don't need to use your hands for the electronics, but you will need to pull the brakes. Now, all e-bikes out there are going to have levers on them for the brakes.

So you're typically going to have your right-hand brake, which is going to be your rear brake, and your left-hand brake, which will be your front brake. So to brake on an e-bike, you will need to be able to get your fingers onto the lever and pull down. Now, of course, for many of you, you might have arthritis in your fingers, and it's more difficult. Now, some bikes have coaster brakes. I've never seen an e-bike that has that, where you pedal backwards to stop. Now, with that said, with the levers, I've seen many different cases of arthritis. I've seen severe rheumatoid arthritis, and I've seen, you know, just maybe carpal tunnel, and you've lost a little bit of dexterity in your fingers. Now, there are ways around the brakes, or there are tips I can give you in terms of how to make it a little bit easier on the braking.

 Now, if you're somebody who is traveling primarily on flat ground and you're not going at high speeds, you can very easily, what I would say, soften up the brakes, which will make the pulling of the lever. Much easier by loosening the cable, bringing the pads a little bit farther away from the rotor, and it'll make the pulling of the lever easier. Now the stopping, the stopping reaction time of the stopping will be less, but it'll make it a softer pull. You can also loosen the cables up here again to make it a softer pull. Also, there are different types of levers out there. So if you have an e-bike or an e-trike and maybe you're not completely happy with the lever it comes with, just so you know, there are, you can easily, well, a bike shop or a mechanic could replace the lever, and some of the levers do indeed pull more easily than other levers, and it's hard to say specifically which ones, but if you were to get your e-bike.

And that would be your main issue. My suggestion would be not to give up because there are options. If you love everything except maybe the brake lever, you could go out and find a different brake lever. Now, the other option is hydraulic brakes. So I have had riders where the only type of braking they could use is hydraulic because it's a softer pull for them. Now, hydraulic brakes will add cost, they can be added to any e-bike or e-trike that's out there, probably costing in the neighborhood of $200 to $400 to add hydraulic brakes to an e-bike or a trike or you can find an e-trike or e-bike out there that comes standard with hydraulic disc brakes. These are mechanical pulls. We do have options with hydraulics, our EVRYjourney comes with hydraulic disc brakes, as does our four-wheel e-bike as well. The difference is that the mechanical is a cable inside that, when you pull that, the cable pulls the brake pads closed. Hydraulics have fluid in the line, and when you pull, the fluid pushes on the brake pads to close on the rotor.

Hydraulic disc brakes are more expensive. They do tend to require less pressure from the fingers for the person to pull the brake. So if you do have really bad arthritis and bad dexterity in your fingers, hydraulic brakes may be something you want to consider. But again, like on our e-bikes, our e-trikes right now on this model doesn't come standard with hydraulic brakes, but if you love everything else about it, that upgrade is something that could be available and we could also help coordinate that hydraulic disc upgrade for any of our e-bikes or e-trikes as well. So again, if you get your e-bike or you test ride e-bikes and you find an e-bike or e-trike out there that you love, and the only thing is the hydraulic disc brakes. I would say think about what the most important features are to you, and if comfort may be number one, then don't give up on the one where the brakes don't feel right. Because, again, you could upgrade to hydraulic or change the lever, you might be able to dial it in perfectly for something that will work for your finger strength and dexterity.

Now, if you have any other comments or thoughts on the topic, please reach out to us at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at 310-982-2877. Also, like I said, come join us for a test ride at 1046 Calle Rocoto Unit K in San Clemente, California. We also ship nationwide and offer a 30-day test ride on your e-bike or e-trike. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back, no questions asked, no money out of your pocket. In addition to that, we're going to warranty everything for one year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we take care of it, parts and labor. And lastly, be a part of our community. Join our Facebook group called Sixthreezero Pedalers. There are thousands of members in the group. Join before you purchase to talk to existing riders to ensure you're making the right choice. Then, when you have yours, post in the group, make friends. And finally, 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.