EBikes for Heavier People: Why the Step Over Height of an E Bike is Important for Heavy People

Why is the stepover height of an e-bike so important for heavier people? Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry, and today we're gonna answer the question is why is the stepover height so important for heavier people when choosing an electric bike? All right, before I get into it, I've got three e-bikes here that are great for heavier people.You can find out more about each of them. All right, so I've done a lot of test rides, and you can check out our YouTube channel. We bring in real riders of all different types of body shapes, body sizes, and ages, to see how they fit and feel on different electric bikes. And we've done some rides with heavier riders, and when we say heavier riders, we're saying 250 pounds and over, up to 400 pounds. If you wanna see those videos, check out our YouTube channel, they are on there. Now, in my mind, I think two things are obviously important. One of the most important things on any e-bike is the motor size and the battery size, especially if you're a bigger rider who's heavier. Now, in addition to that, I also believe the step-over height of an e-bike is paramount to heavier riders.

Now, I'm a bigger guy myself, I'm 230 pounds, and I've witnessed a lot of riders, like I said, firsthand, and one thing I see almost always when we're doing videos or rides with a person who's 250 pounds and over, is there some amount of struggle getting on and off of e-bikes? Now, you don't struggle with these e-bikes, because they have lower step-throughs, but a lot of the e-bikes out there don't really consider the step-over height, and they're not designed for overweight people, and also senior riders. And in my experience, the step-over height is one of the number one most important elements for both of those types of riders, and the reason is safety. Number one, not only is it easier to get on and off, but secondly, if you have to put your feet down or get off the bike quickly, it's much easier when you have a very low step over height. Also, how motivated will you be if every time you get on and off, and this is what I see, and again, not on these e-bikes, on other ones that we've tested, is their foot gets caught here, they can't slide it through, and then it's just a struggle to even get your leg through, your toe is caught, and it takes so much energy and effort that it takes away the motivation to even go on a ride.

I've seen it firsthand. Now we've done on our Simple step through here, we also have a 20 inch version of the same e-bike, and you can see Nine times out of 10 when we put riders on this and they can step through right here and slide on, the seat's a little too high for me, it just makes them so much happier and relieved that they either don't have to try to swing their leg around like this, or really stretch and slide their leg through. Now, this is still a low step through right here on the Relaxed body, not as low as the Simple step through. And the Zip and fold has a nice wide open space as well. I think that's also important is having enough space to get through very compact e-bikes is going to be more important. The Relaxed body has plenty of space here for a bigger rider to get on and off. So, it's definitely just something to consider. I do believe it is one of the most important elements, like I said, because of two things. One, a lot of, well, also, let me add, a lot of the accidents I see occurring on e-bikes happen at the beginning or the end of a ride.

And actually, I've seen numerous times someone trying to get on and they can't get their foot over, and then it gets caught and the bike starts going, and when the bike starts tipping and they're sort of on it, there's no stopping the momentum of it. And I've seen riders fall down with the e-bike. Stopping is another thing, and getting off is another thing. If you ride for many miles and then you're at the end of a ride and you're exhausted and your legs are tired, and then you try to have to lift your leg and get off, I've seen this as well where the e-bike tips over and they go with the e-bike. So, I think for maximum enjoyment, if you're somebody that's A, getting back into exercise or B, or you've lost mobility in your legs or the extra weight makes it difficult for you to lift your legs, something with a low step through is gonna make the e-biking experience just more enjoyable and less stressful at Sixthreezero, we have varying degrees of step through and also shapes, and sizes that can accommodate heavier riders that will suit their body and needs.

So if you have any other questions or thoughts, please reach out to us at theteam@sixthreezero.com, or call us at 310-982-2877. We also have a body fit quiz on our website. You can take the quiz and we'll recommend the perfect e-bike for you. We also offer a 30-day test ride on your e-bike policy. If you don't love your e-bike in the first 30 days, send it back, no questions asked, no money out of your pocket. We're also gonna warranty everything for one year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of it, parts and labor. Lastly, we have a Facebook group called Sixthreezero Pedalers. There are thousands of members in there. You can jump in, join the group, and ask existing riders how they like their Sixthreezero e-bike before you choose yours to ensure you're making the right decision. Then when you have yours, post in the group, and make friends. It's a lot of fun, and then you can download our app to track our rides and compete on the leaderboard. That is a lot of fun as well. So thanks for sticking around, and don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.