Your new e-bike is built, your battery is charged, and you’re wanting to hit the road. Not so fast, there’s a bit of tuning required to make sure this e-bike is going to be safe to ride. As mentioned previously, having a bike stand or a way to get the bike off the ground will help getting your brakes and derailleurs tuned. So, in just 3 simple steps, you’ll be safely on your way to e-bike bliss!
- Let’s start with the brakes. Disc or rim, mechanical or hydraulic, make sure your brakes and brake cables are adjusted so a) the brake pads aren’t dragging on the discs or rims, AND that the cables are adjusted so the brake lever travel is correct and doesn’t bottom out on the handlebar.
- Next are the derailleurs. I adjust rear first, and I adjust it with the front derailleur in the center chain ring. Make sure the rear derailleur shifter travels from high to low settings cleanly and that the derailleur stops are adjusted so the chain doesn’t go past the highest and lowest gear. Once the rear derailleur adjustments are done, we’re going to check chain travel, then adjust the front derailleur. Move the rear derailleur to the smallest cog in the rear (highest gear) and the smallest gear in the front (lowest gear). What you’re looking for is tension on the rear derailleur without the chain touching the rear derailleur mechanism. If there is interference, then links must be removed from the chain. If not, then proceed with front derailleur adjustment. As with the rear derailleur, your looking for clean shifting from low to high chain rings, stop settings that keep the chain from going past the lowest and highest chain rings, and no drag between the front derailleur and the chain in each setting. I usually put the rear derailleur in the middle gear on the rear cluster when tuning the front derailleur. Once all is complete, test the full range on both front and rear an tweak as needed…
- Test your electronics. First, depending on which kit you purchased, there is usually a way to customize the controller settings. Familiarize yourself with this and dial your settings in as appropriate (here’s a video for the SW900 display used with the Voilamart controller – video). Next, a quick test will determine if you’re actually getting power from the battery to your rear wheel. With the rear wheel elevated, power on the battery and the display. Check you throttle function and if the rear wheel turns in the correct direction, then you have functioning e-bike.
This is time for celebration! Congratulations… you did it!