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How often should an electric bike be serviced?

If used properly, your e-bike becomes durable. E-bikes are factotums helping the riders to drive miles and miles with fun. However, proper care and maintenance are also part and parcel of e-bikes. The components of the e-bike, like tires and brake pads, can wear out because of their use over time. These parts need lubrication and sometimes a replacement also. If you service your e-bike, it will function properly for a long time. Before that, having an idea about how often you should do this is very important.

According to calculations, the average frequency you need to service your e-bike is every six months. Or else, after every 1000 miles ride. These calculations are just average. So, it mainly depends on how frequently you ride your e-bike.

When you go to a qualified service station, the tune-up at such a place will include the following things.

Derailleurs
Chain
Hubs
Wheels
Rims
Tires
All brakes
Spokes
Gears
Drivetrain
Motor
Battery

The service shop might take steps to remove highly worn-out parts and replace them. That will cost a bit. But, what is essential at the end of the day is the excellent condition of your e-bike. Otherwise, you will have to replace the complete e-bike at an expensive cost. I hope you don’t need that to happen. Keep reading to know more about the intervals you need to bring your e-bike for a service.

You can get an overhaul done, which is affordable. Getting an overhaul done can be prudent if you cannot bring your e-bike to a service center for an extended period. Following are the illustrations of how often a rider should get an e-bike serviced. They include personalized repair intervals as well.

Intense Rider

This section addresses the riders who use their e-bikes intensively. For example, the riders who drive the e-bike daily to work or to run errands. When you ride your bike that often on steep hills hauling cargo and through rain and other weather conditions, the components of the e-bike deplete. Particularly the brakes.

You might think that the e-bike can handle all these challenges. Yes, it can. But, with intense usage, these components wear off quickly, even before you can imagine. The following ranges might help you to take your e-bike for a service at particular intervals.

After every 1000 miles, do a complete overhaul.
After every 300 miles, take the bike for a tune-up.
After every 100 miles, inspect parts of the e-bike.

Regular Rider

You might not be a daily rider, but still, you might ride your e-bike regularly, carrying some cargo with a medium pedal assist. Perhaps, you might have some weekend rides that are intense as well. So, when you ride the e-bike inevitably come into contact with dirt, rain, and mud. But relatively less than an intense rider’s e-bike.

However, you also need regular maintenance on your e-bike, but less often than an intense rider. The following ranges might help you to take your e-bike for a service at particular intervals.

After every 1200 miles, take your e-bike for a complete overhaul.
After every 300 miles, do a tune-up.
After every 100 miles, inspect the parts of your e-bike.

Light Rider

If you take the e-bike out for occasional rides and your e-bike does not come into contact with weather conditions so severely, you don’t need to go for a service as often as an intense or regular rider. If you are a light rider, there might not be much pedal assist. However, that does not mean that you can get away with maintenance. The following are the maintenance intervals you need to follow.

After every 1500 miles, take your e-bike for a complete overhaul.
After every 300 miles, do a tune-up.
After every 200 miles, inspect the parts of your e-bike.

Why does an e-bike need a service?

Like all other vehicles, e-bikes experience depreciation with time. Further, an e-bike needs more care than a regular motorcycle because e-bikes have motors and other parts. With time, the tires of the e-bike might wear off. Consequently, they lose air pressure and pace. If you encounter a shortage of adequate air pressure in your e-bike, it can lead to nothing but accidents. Chains and spokes also can go through wearing off. Both of those components are paramount for safe and smooth e-bike riding.

In addition, you need to ensure that your gearbox is in good condition. The other thing is brake pads. If brake pads are not taken care of well, the performance of the brakes might go to an unsatisfactory level. With time, the motor of an e-bike also needs a replacement.

There are more. Storing your e-bike correctly is also an excellent service for an e-bike. The incorrect storing methods can harm your e-bike, mainly when you keep it with dampness in the garage. If your e-bike has depreciated because of exposure to natural conditions, a professional e-bike service team can restore your e-bike to a good condition.

How Often Should An E-bike Be Serviced?

The above section elaborates on this question based on the types of e-bike riders. Let us dive deep into the question now.

When it comes to professional service for your e-bike, you can know the frequency of service by looking at the owner’s manual. If you don’t have the owner’s manual, check their website for this information. The owner’s manual might suggest you take your e-bike for a service after a specified number of miles. However, this number can differ according to the model of your e-bike.

If you don’t take your e-bike out often for a ride but use it just for weekend fun, a service once a year is enough. However, you need to have stored your e-bike correctly.

What is to Expect From A Professional E-bike Service Provider?

When you take your e-bike to a professional technician, he will first perform a thorough inspection of the bike. Nonetheless, ensure that this technician has good knowledge of the type of e-bike you use. If you are taking your e-bike for the first time to a technician, he will endorse scheduling the service process with different levels of examination. For instance, they might ask you to bring the e-bike to them for a rapid examination and tune-up after a few months. And, after that, he might ask you to bring the e-bike for a deep examination and thorough cleaning twice a year.

Sometimes you may leave your bike in the shop for a couple of hours or overnight. It depends on the type of service you are receiving. The technician needs time to inspect the parts, clean them, and replace the depreciated parts.

The Price to Pay For a Maintenance of an E-bike

The amount sum that you need to pay can vary according to the inspection carried out by the technician. A quick inspection might cost about $75. And a more advanced inspection might cost an amount of $150. This amount can differ according to the technicians’ experience level and the period they have been in the business.

Remember that this cost will increase if your e-bike needs a replacement of specific components. For instance, the extra fee you need to pay to replace a tire is $30.

Some e-bike dealers provide the e-bike service themselves. You can check whether your dealer is also carrying out such a service. Most of these dealers have agreements to provide an e-bike service for a few months after you purchase the bike from them. And some will offer a low price for the first few examinations. Does not that sound good to your pocket?

Maintenance at Home

Doing some maintenance stuff at home can be easy for you because it helps you put off service station maintenance further. We will show you some convenient repair tips you can do at home without much effort and trouble. Don’t misunderstand! Home maintenance cannot take care of your e-bike as a service station’s maintenance. Home maintenance is just to put off the qualified maintenance process further. At some point, you may need to go to a service center to get your e-bike repaired by professionals.

Cleaning

When dirt gets piled up on your e-bike, it debilitates the moving ability of some components of the e-bike, including the derailleur and the drive chain. In addition, it accelerates the rusting process. You might need to invest some time If you clean the bike regularly. However, this maintenance process can protect your e-bike from grave damage. In addition, it holds over the need for a qualified maintenance process for longer.

And also, the more you engage in doing a cleaning process to your bike, the less effort you will have to put into subsequent cleaning processes. You can find a lot of cleaning products in the market. But, some liquid dish soap, a discarded toothbrush, and a hose are more than enough.

Be sure that you clean the chain and derailleur regardfully before lubricating it. It can protect your e-bike from collecting harmful pulps of chemicals that have the potential to increase the wearing-off process. In addition to all these, there are products that you need to utilize after the cleaning process. That is to maintain the shine of your e-bike and protect the e-bike from rust and dirt. It makes the subsequent cleaning efforts easy.

Inspecting Tire Pressure

Inspecting tire pressure is good if you practice this before and after every ride. It will help you to get rid of flat tires and an exhausting walk to return home at an instance when you don’t have an extra tube or other tools. But we advise you to go with spare components. Inspecting tire pressure is also suitable for the other components of the bike. Besides, it makes the pedaling process more accessible as well.

Use a tire measuring instrument and check whether the pressure level matches the specified standards. You will be able to see this information printed on tires. However, if you don’t have a tire measuring instrument or are busy so that you don’t have enough time, simply squeeze the tire using your thumbs. By doing this, you can check whether the tire is firm or not. But this method won’t be sufficient for a long time. So, remember to check the tire’s pressure at least once a week.

Cleaning of Drive Chain

It is better if you can do this regularly. Most riders whose e-bikes are in good condition perform this regularly. The benefits of following this cleaning method are as follows. One is is when you keep the drive chain free from dirt and pulps of dirt; it helps the e-bike steer gears smoothly. Another benefit is it prevents the speed of wearing off your e-bike’s derailleur and bike chain.

You need to clean these parts entirely and wash them out. If you have an old toothbrush or something equivalent, use it for this cleaning process. A toothbrush suits better when you need to rub the spaces between chains. After that, use a lubricant. Using a lubricant helps the chain and its parts to resist dirt. There are lubricants specially designed for e-bikes. In addition to the assistance in keeping dirt away, these lubricants also enhance the proper movements of the e-bike as well.

Check the Brakes

When you detect something wrong with the brakes of the e-bike, take action to solve the issue at the very first stage. It is crucial. It is good to inspect both front and rear gears after every month. You need to ensure that there are no signs of overuse of the brakes. Just squeeze the brake levers to ensure they won’t be in trouble while you are riding. Brake levers have to function smoothly, and the grip has to be proper.

If you notice any defect that might signal you a wear-off of the brakes, you must be careful, mainly when you are a regular rider. What you need to do after that is take the e-bike to a service shop and get it checked. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on this. Brake repair is usually affordable. So, you can replace the worn-out brakes with new ones. It assures sure safety.

Final Thoughts

To conclude, it is your responsibility as the owner of an e-bike to take great care of the bike. It is better if you can do maintenance and repair daily. Clean it, inspect the chains, check the tire pressure, and check the breaks and the e-bike’s battery. As we told you previously, you can’t entirely rely on a home maintenance process. So, bring the e-bike to professionals every 1000 miles. If you notice any depreciation of parts of your e-bike, get those parts fixed or replaced. It will help you to keep the e-bike in good condition. Consequently, the e-bike’s condition will increase. And it will be in good condition for selling as well.

You can get updated information from the internet and your friends who love e-bikes. In addition, please read your owner’s manual too. Keep in mind that you need to go through all this information based on the model of your e-bike. The mode of service, the frequency of service, and the cost might vary according to your e-bike’s model.