Stop Faster, Ride Safer: The Ultimate Guide to Disc Brakes on Electric Tricycles

Electric tricycles with disc brakes.

Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry. Today, I'm going to show you and talk to you about electric tricycles with disc brakes. All right, I've got some of the Sixthreezero lineups here. All these e-trikes with disc brakes. Now, if you're looking for an electric tricycle, you may be looking for disc brakes because of the stopping power they provide. There are two types of disc brakes, mechanical discs and hydraulic discs. So, mechanical discs are activated when you pull the lever and which pulls the cable and closes the brake pads onto the rotors that are located on the wheels. Hydraulics have fluid in the brake line. 

When you pull it, it pushes the fluid, which activates the brake pads, which clamp onto the rotor. Now the rotor is like a rotor on your car. It is on the wheel, and that's where the brake pads sit. So caliper brakes sit on the rim of the bike or e-bike, and they clamp down on the rim of the wheel. A rotor sits outside of the wheel the brake pads clamp down onto the rotor. They work better, and the stopping power is better. Also, the brake pads can sometimes leave a residue on the wheel. It's a much cleaner look. Now, there are brake pads inside the calipers that need to be replaced in disc brakes. Depends on how frequently you ride and how much the pads get worn down. Also, with the rotors, there are three rotors, one on the front and two in the rear. We could also do a version where we put one rotor in the middle of the rear, and it stops. Now, the braking power is, in my opinion, the same. But if you're someone who wants the dual rotor in the rear for braking, that option is available as well.

Now, with hydraulics, there are also different levels, something called two-piston, four-piston, six-piston. I would say you're gonna see a two-piston. So that just means how many pistons are inside the calipers on the rotor. And that just is basically how well they clamp down, right? The more pistons, the more actuation you're gonna get. Now, when you talk about what type do you need? Do you need a hydraulic disc? Do you need a mechanical disc? In my opinion, most people will be just fine with mechanical disc brakes. Are hydraulic disc brakes nicer? They do stop a little bit easier. The pulling of the lever is a little easier with a hydraulic disc brake than a mechanical disc brake. Now they are more expensive as well. So that's something to think about. The cost will go up.

The other thing I've noticed is that if you put a cheap hydraulic disc brake in, compared to a good mechanical disc brake, you may not see the difference.The other thing you have to be careful about with the hydraulic disc is that if you get a cheap one, you don't want it to leak. You don't want to have to fill that fluid line. Honestly, getting a leak would be the worst-case scenario. So, just something to think about. The mechanical disc, from an adjustment standpoint, will be easier over time for you to do. If you need to bleed the brake lines and hydraulics, that's something you may wanna trust in a mechanic unless you're handy yourself. But the cool thing about the hydraulics is they're self-adjusting. So as the brake pads wear down, the pads, the fluid will move the pads into the position they need to be in to ensure proper stopping power.

Now, all three of these are mechanical discs, our Rickshaw is hydraulic. The reason for that is because of the heavy loads someone's going to be carrying on here with passengers on the back, the hydraulic brakes just provide that additional stopping power when coming down hills. Also, when you've got a big load moving at 15 miles an hour, you want to be able to stop it easily. Now, all these other ones have mechanical discs. The stopping power is great, and they stop easily and nicely. If you're a heavier rider and you plan to be bombing down hills at 20-plus miles an hour, I would say heavier than 200 pounds. And yeah, you may want to consider hydraulic disc brakes. I would say the biggest difference, in my opinion, is that the hydraulic just grips a little quicker. The mechanical you pull, it's not always as immediate. And like I said, it's a softer pull on the lever with the hydraulic brakes as well. I will say, though, sometimes with the hydraulics on flat ground, you pull it, and man, those things grip quickly. It can be startling at points as well.

We also sell another trike, our EVRYjourney e-trike, that has a front caliper brake and a rear roller brake, and we don't have disc brakes on that model. That is a 250-watt motor that's going to be primarily used for flat ground around town riding. And the caliper brakes provide more than enough power for the speeds at which you can go on that e-trike. The reality is people aren't going any faster on a 250-watt e-trike than many riders are on mountain bikes or even flat road bikes that have regular caliper brakes as well. So that's something to think about. Now, again, if you want the disc brakes, you can have them, but if you're gonna be just doing community-based riding at a slow pace, you could save yourself a couple of bucks and opt for a trike with caliper brakes. There's probably not a lot of them out there anymore, but they do exist. As I said, we have our basic trike like that as well, and non-electric trikes are gonna mostly come with just standard caliper brakes with brake pads also.

So everything, all of our other trikes north of 1500 bucks have disc brakes, mechanical disc brakes, and I would say at this point, 80% of the US market is using disc brakes in some way, shape, or form on their electric trikes, so I'll just run through really quick. This is our Rickshaw hydraulic, this is our Easy Transit 750 watt. This is a mechanical disc; this is our Simple Glides, 750, 500, and this is our Relaxed body. Also, a mechanical disc. Now I'm going to bring you in close for a second, too. And I want to show you the difference between what a hydraulic lever looks like and a mechanical disc lever, just to show you the difference. Okay, so here's your hydraulic. We have a parking brake now. All the mechanical discs have a parking brake as well. I'm going to put that in. This is actually a reservoir here for your brake line fluid. So when you pull this, it's pushing that fluid through the line to then activate. This is actually a rear brake, and here's your front brake to activate the brake. So they're going to look a little bulkier, like I said, they have a little bit of a softer pull right here because you're not pulling. Imagine that on a mechanical disc, you're pulling the lever, and you have to pull the cable. In this case, you're just pushing the fluid through the line. Now, if we come right over here to our other model, you could probably come around the front.

Now, the lever of a mechanical disc is going to look the same as a lever for a cantilever brake or the caliper brakes on the front. There's a cable that connects right in here. You pull it, pull the cable, and close. You can see, if you shoot down here, you can see the cable sticking out of the bottom there. I pull the lever, and it clamps the brake pads down on the caliper. So again, both work great different setups, a little bit of a cost difference. All right. So, that's my spiel on disc brakes on an e-trike. If you have any questions or thoughts, 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-trike policy. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back. No questions asked, no money 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 its parts and labor. And if you want to come out for a test ride, we're here in San Clemente, California, at 1046 Kairokoto Unit K. Test ride all of our e-trikes before you purchase to 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. Don't forget, your journey or experience. Enjoy the ride.