EBike Specs & Features: What You Need to Know in 2024 About Electric Bicycles

Specs of the e-bikes. What you need to know in 2024.

Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry. Today we're going to talk about the specs of an e-bike. And what you need to know in 2024. All right, if you're shopping for an e-bike in 2024, you're going to want to know about the specs, know about what are specs that you can expect when buying an e-bike. So I've got five different e-bikes from sixthreezero. And I'm going to run through just some different specs, some different things, and how they correlate to how you would want to choose an e-bike in 2024. So let's start with motor size. Common motor sizes for riders that are going to stick to the pavement are 250, 350, 500, or 750. Here in California, if you want to ride on the streets or stay in the bike lane, your motor cannot be larger than 750 watts. Over that, you can have e-bikes that are north of 750 watts. They would only be used for off-road. And in particular, in government land or parks, you can't have e-bikes larger than 750 watts.

Now, in private land, you can do whatever you want and I can't tell you that wherever you live, the police or whoever would pull you over, but the way that you're, the way the laws are, 750 watts is the max size that would you legally be able to, ride. Now, when you talk about 750 watts, 500 watts, 250 watts, different riders is going to be good for different size motors, good for different riders. 250-watt e-bikes, quite honestly, are good for most, if not all, riders if you're doing primarily flat ground riding even if you're a heavier rider, 300 pounds, 350 pounds or more, 250 watts for flat ground around town, it will be more than enough, as will 350 watts. Now, 500 watts is better if you want to go a little bit faster. And also, you do have hills to contend with. Even if you're only 150, or 200 pounds, having that 500 watts to go up hills is going to help tremendously. Now, in flat ground, like I said, it's not going to be a huge benefit. But if you do have hills that you're going up consistently, having the extra power is going to be great. Now, we talked about 750 watts. If you're doing a lot of hills or you're a rider... over 250 pounds, and you want to be able to hit those top speeds, having 750 watts is going to make hills quite a bit easier, and you'll fly up any size hill with that size goal. Now, even when you get to about 350 pounds, 400 pounds, 750 watts to go up hills, you're still going to have to do the pedal assist and put in a little bit of effort. So something to think about. The other thing is that there are rear hub motors and mid-drive motors. Rear hub motors are going to be less expensive than mid-drive motors. A rear hub motor is good for most use cases when you talk about street riding or recreational riding. Now, if you're going to do a lot of hills all the time, having a mid-drive is a good idea. So if you're heavier and doing a lot of hills, you may want to consider a mid-drive. It's going to cost more money.

But if you want to ensure that you can get up certain hills, think about a mid-drive if you're a heavier rider with a lot of hills. Otherwise, I want to say most recreational pavement riders, a rear hub motor is going to be more than ample and you'll save yourself some cost. When out shopping for an e-bike. Now, there are also things I want to talk about, which are cadence sensors and torque sensors. A cadence sensor activates your pedal assist. When you start pedaling, the motor kicks on to assist you. A torque sensor, as you pedal, engages your pedal, and the motor moves in line with how much you're pedaling. Torque sensors are more expensive. They're going to add anywhere from $50 to $150 cost per e-bike. The Cadence sensor is going to be less expensive. Now, if you are very concerned about the feeling of the pedal assist and you want it to be very in line with your pedaling, a torque sensor is a great option. Cadence sensors, which are what we use on most of our e-bikes, work great as well. It's just more of an on-off. As you pedal, it's on. When you stop, it's off. The torque sensor, it's a little more gradual. So you have to understand or think about the cost and what's beneficial to you. Cadence sensors, as long as you regulate your pedal assist level, keep it in one, two, or three according to the speed you want to go, they work great. Now, they're initially going to give you a boost as you start pedaling, but once you get to your speed and they're running, torque sensors and cadence sensors work about the same. The only benefit is in the upstart of how the torque sensor gauges versus the cadence sensor. So something to think about.

Torque-sensor e-bikes are going to cost a little bit more money. Cadence sensor e-bikes are going to save a little bit. Both function great. In terms of power output and how they perform top speeds, they're both going to be about the same. Now, battery sizes are another thing to consider. The battery size is going to affect the cost or price of your e-bike. Battery sizes can range from six amp hours up to 21 amp hours. There are now also dual battery e-bikes out there or tri-battery e-bikes out there. So, thinking about, again, flat ground riding, you could get away with six eight-amp hour batteries. You have hills, you want to move into the 10 amp hour, 14 amp hour. You're doing lots of hills, working hard. You may want to consider 15 or 21-amp hour batteries to get a lot of juice. Another option is you can also carry extra batteries with you. So something to think about as well. So flat ground riding, 6, 8, 10, totally fine. You have hills to contend with, but not hills. Constantly riding hills, 10 amp hour, 14 amp hour. If you're doing hills just non-stop, you want something probably 14 amp hour and bigger. And again, the battery size goes up the cost of the e-bike is going to move in line with that as well. So something to think about. I've ridden, and our e-bikes have 10.4 amp hour. We also offer an extended range, 14 amp hour. So you just have to think about what is best for you and where you're going to ride and what type of riding you're going to do so you can match up the type of battery that you need. All right, some other features and specs. Most e-bikes nowadays will have disc brakes.

It is hydraulic or mechanical. Mechanical brakes work just fine. The difference between hydraulic and mechanical, hydraulic is going to self-adjust over time as the liquid moves through the lines and keeps the brakes closer. Typically, a hydraulic disc is going to be more expensive than a mechanical disc brake. There also might be a little more maintenance required over time to bleed the lines and things like that. But mechanical disc brakes are the most common type of disc brakes, and they provide more than ample stopping power for most EVOs. Now lastly, moving into tire sizes. You're finding tons of different tire sizes out there. Thick tire, thin tire. It comes down to really how you want to pedal and how much pedaling you want to do. Okay, tires are another thing you want to look at with specs on e-bikes. If you're somebody who wants to pedal a lot more or even pedal without the motor, you'll want to opt for a tire that's sized like a traditional tire on a bike. something like a 2.125 by 26 or a 700C. If you're going to rely on the motor more and the pedal assist or the throttle, then you probably want to look at the 20-inch fat tire or even the small tire because pedaling these is going to be more effort than pedaling like an e-bike that resembles a normal bicycle. Now, not to say that you can't pedal them, but if you have the ambition to get out and ride in a very low pedal assist or without it, you're going to want to bike an e-bike that rides like a traditional bicycle. So something to think about when you're choosing the specs is how you're going to use it. If you're going to use the motor a lot, opt for a fat tire. If you're going to use it a little bit, you can go thinner, small tire. And if you're just going to use the pedal assist to help you, but you still want to pedal, opt for a traditional tire. Now, not to say that you can't go against what I'm saying, but just something that I feel like is the best use case for that particular tire.

Okay, now another big spec or the overarching most important thing I think about with an e-bike is the sitting position and the riding position. Especially if you're someone that's going to do long rides, 15, 20, 30-mile rides. It's all well and good, these different e-bikes that exist now, these dirt bike-looking e-bikes. But think about your use case and what's going to be comfortable for you for long-distance rides. Certain e-bikes are better for just short, zippy little rides, but in terms of being in an absolute comfort position for longer rides, that can impact your body throughout the ride and after the ride. So we've got bikes here that put you in ergonomic riding positions, even our 20-inch. And there's more of this style where you lean forward a little bit, but you've got more control over the steering. And quite honestly, certain riding positions may be more comfortable for certain riders. I tend to think that an upright ride with relaxed arms is the most comfortable riding position. But I think with e-bikes, that's very important to think about. The motor, the battery, all of that's important. Don't get me wrong. But the sitting and riding position, I think, is even more important because you're going to be moving around in it. You're going to be going long distances, like I said, it's like a car, right? The motor and the power and all that is important. But if you're driving 60 miles a day and your seat's not comfortable, you're probably not going to love that motor size too much, even if you can go zero to 60 in three miles an hour. I think e-bikes are very much the same way. There are a lot of people now choosing just for the motor and the battery, but maybe not thinking about, well, how am I sitting? How am I riding? And I know for a lot of senior riders, in particular, riding position is important. But even for me, I want to be comfortable first, then align myself with the battery and specs that are important. So something to think about is that I think a lot of people, when looking at specs and choosing an e-bike, don't put it in the highest priority list in terms of things that they should pay attention to when choosing an electric bike. So that's a summary of some of the specs I think you need to know about in 2024 when choosing an e-bike.

If you have any comments or thoughts, please put them below in the comment section reach out to us at theteam@sixthreezero.com, or call us at 310-982-2877. Also, you can check out all of these e-bikes right here that I've got in the description below and sixthhreezero's e-bikes. We also offer a test ride on your e-bike for 30 days. If you don't love your e-bike for the first 30 days, send it back to the questions asked in addition to that we can warranty everything for a year in parts and labor anything goes wrong in the first year we take care of the questions asked lastly join our Facebook group thousands of members in there talk to existing riders about their e-bikes before you jump in and purchase them when you have yours most of the group make friends so thanks for sticking around don't forget, it's your journey, your experience.