E-Bike Hand Positioning 101: Where to Put Your Hands on an E-Bike & E-Trike While Riding

How to position your hands on your e-bike handlebars.

Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry. Today, I'm going to show you how to properly place your hands when gripping the handlebars of your e-bike. All right, right here, I've got the Relaxed Body e-bike, let's get into how to grip your handlebars, I bring this up because there are a lot of riders who are getting into e-biking and haven't been on a bike in years, and oftentimes they don't remember the brake levers up here, or maybe you grew up on a bike with coaster brakes where you pedaled backwards to stop. And I see a lot of riders get on for the first time, and they often need to pull the brake, and they've got their hands right here, and they don't know how to pull the levers. I'm gonna show you what I do to be prepared for breaking, and I think it's a great way to be ready at all times.

So if you wanna come in for a little closer look, here. So you're gonna have two brake levers on both handlebars, and your left lever is gonna activate your front brake and your right is going to be your rear brake. Now, the problem I often see is when people ride for the first time, they immediately get up and go, they get up and ride, and they're grabbing the handlebars like this, right? Now, that's fine but I see many times then they might have a reason to pull the brakes real quick or they're veering off a direction and I'm saying brake, brake and they don't know how to brake and they try to like move their hands and they don't know where the brake is, okay? So, I only grip the handlebars like this if I'm out on an open trail path where I'm cruising unobstructed, there's nobody there, and I don't have to worry about pulling my brakes.

Otherwise, if I'm getting up and riding and I'm in close quarters or there's a lot of people around and I'm worried about having to be ready for the break, I hold my grips like this. So I wrap my thumb around the grip, and I rest my palm on the grip, and I've got my fingers up here. Now I'm not pulling the lever, I'm simply resting my fingers up here. In this break, I can get about three fingers, and in this one, I can get all four fingers. So this gives me the ability to pull these levers very quickly if I need to, right? So anytime, again, I'm in close range, I've got my fingers here. As I start my ride, I've got my fingers here. I don't want to quickly transition to a grip right when I start because you may need those brakes, right? Then, as I also come to stoplights, things like that. I transition my fingers up here, and then I start to ease into my brakes.

So now this may seem intuitive for a lot of you, but again, for a lot of riders who grew up with bikes that only have coaster brakes and haven't been on a bike in years, or honestly never had a bright bike with brake levers like this, it's really important, right? It's kind of like when you're in traffic in your car and you know, you're going to have to be using the brakes. You want to kind of keep your foot right, like hovering over that brake or a little bit engaged. The same thing is true here, right? Keep your fingers up here, keep them ready. It's going to allow you to pull the lever for the brakes as quickly as you may need. So it's a big safety precaution. And I see it as something that affects a lot of first-time riders who need to pull the brakes, and they can't, and the key thing on e-bikes is that pulling the brakes will cut the motor. And eliminate the assistance. So that's important to remember. If in a worst-case scenario, you lose control, pull the brakes, the motor turns off, and you can come to a safe stop, so nobody gets hurt. So that's where you want to put your hands on the handlebars of an e-bike.

If you have any other questions at all, please reach out to us at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at 310-982-2877. In addition to that, we offer a 30-day test ride on your e-bike policy. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back. No questions asked. The money is out of your pocket. Also, we're going to warranty everything for one year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of it, parts and labor. And if you want to come out for a test ride, we're here in San Clemente, California at 1046 Calle Rocoto, Unit K. Come test ride any of our e-bikes before you purchase to ensure you're making the right choice. And join our community. We have a Facebook group called Sixthreezero Pedalers. There's thousands of members in the group. Join before you purchase to talk to existing riders to, again, ensure you're making the right choice. Then when you have yours, post to the group, make friends, and finally download the app to track your rides and compete on the leaderboard. So thanks for sticking around, and don't forget, it's your journey or experience. Enjoy the ride.