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Making Electric Bikes Faster – Can You Do It & Should You?

Electric bikes are a quick way to travel in densely-populated cities. You can reach your destination quickly with a light and compact electric bike.

The speed of most vehicles depends on their configuration and specifications. However, the government and state authorities in America have kept a particular speed limit for driving e-bikes. The maximum speed of an electric bike in most states is 20 mph.

Most electric bikes are restricted from exceeding this speed limit. A speed controller or limiter is used to limit their speed. However, you can make your electric bike go quicker by making some adjustments in your bike. We will talk about these adjustments in the article below.

Electric Bike Tuning

Many bike riders and enthusiasts use e-bikes for off-roading, motocross, mountain biking, adventure sports, and other things that do not require the bike to be street legal.

However, most of these bikes are expensive. In regular street legal bikes, the power supply is cut off when you reach the top speed. The motor shuts off automatically and stops assisting your pedaling so that you come down to legal speed range.

You can adjust your bike to stop this action. To do this tuning effectively, you will require an excellent electric bike tuning kit.

These kits have all the tools you would require to bypass the motor’s speed sensors and prevent it from shutting down. And once you want to go back to being street legal, you can always do that.

You should keep in your mind two essential things while purchasing a tuning kit for your electric bike. These things are:

  • Remember to check the type and configuration of your motor.
  • Only purchase the tools which are compatible with your motor configuration.

Popular E-Bike Tuning Kits

Some well known and universally compatible tuning kits that you can use:

SpeedBox 1

Compatible with Brose, Impulse, Shimano, and Bafang motors. It can increase your bike speed up to ~30mph.

SpeedBox 2

Compatible with Yamaha, Bosch Active Line, Yamaha PW-X, and Yamaha Giant motors. It can increase your bike speed up to ~30mph.

Volspeed V3

Compatible with most Bosch motors. Can take your bike up to 61mph.

Some Simple Tips To Naturally Improve Your Speed

You can also bring a considerable amount of increase in the speed of your electric bike without requiring to tune it. These are some straightforward steps which you can follow to make your bike faster, such as

Drive Your Bike Fully Charged

The amount of charge in the battery plays a vital role in determining the speed of the bike. An electric bike with a less charged battery will not be able to reach its top speed. In comparison, a fully charged battery will be able to reach its top speed quickly.

It is always recommended that you should drive your electric bike only when the charge indicator is green. Driving on less battery than that is also harmful to its longevity.

Use A Higher Voltage Battery

The high amount of charge equals high voltage, and higher voltage equals higher speeds. You can replace your battery with a bigger and better one to travel faster. For instance, most electric bikes have a 36-volt battery that you can swap out for a 48-volt version. You must keep in mind and never forget to check whether your bike, motor, and the controller would be able to handle a higher voltage battery or not.

Swapping out the battery without checking may fry the controller and the internal circuits.

Replace Your Motor

You can improve the speed of your electric bike by swapping your existing motor with an improved one. This step is almost similar to the previous step of swapping or replacing the battery.

Changing the motor will give you the extra power or watts that would boost your speed. For instance, higher voltages provide faster speeds. You can replace a 48 V motor with a top speed of 20 miles per hour with a motor that has a top speed of 28-30 miles per hour.

Change Your Tires

You should change the type of tires on your electric bike depending on the type of terrain you operate on. Smooth tires are highly recommended for running on roads, bicycle lanes, and concrete.

These tires produce less friction between the tire’s surface and the ground, allowing you to move faster. For irregular terrain, you can use knobby and tires that have a grippy surface.

Maintain High Air Pressure In The Tires

Maintaining a high pressure in the tire prevents them from having a flathead. Tires with a flatter head have high rolling resistance, and this resistance slows down your speed.

High-pressure tires have less friction and rolling resistance. They help to increase the speed of the electric bike. There is a little bit of downside to having maximum air pressure in the tires, and that is your ride becomes bumpier and less comfortable.

Tune Your Brakes

If you regularly tune or take care of your brakes by oiling them, the speed of your electric bike will improve. Poorly tuned brakes and gears have germs and dust particles.

These dust particles increase the friction between the brakes and the gears, due to which you experience loss of speed. You can curb this problem by regularly servicing your bike.

If you regularly use your electric bike, then you must service it once a week by yourself and once a month by professionals for optimal functioning.

Add A Windshield

Adding a front windshield and a back fender to your electric bike will also affect its speed. The windshield will reduce the air pressure and air drag acting on the bike. This air pressure does contribute to reducing the speed of the bike while running on a smooth surface.

Conclusion

You can considerably increase your electric bike’s speed by opting for a tuning kit or replacing and taking care of the parts of your bike. There are some added risks with increased speed.

Electric bike riders are more likely to suffer crashes and accidents due to higher speed. Therefore, before increasing your bike’s speed, you should always invest in the right safety gear and practices.

Written by Lee Hill

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