COMMON MISTAKES

Putting too much power into the ground leads to wheelspin. Controlling this is a combination of choosing the right power mode and also learning to be very delicate and smooth when you’re cranking. Putting the bike into Turbo or Boost mode is an easy pitfall to make as it’s tempting to think you want all the power you can muster to surge up a tricky section. In reality, deliberately staying slightly on the underside of the power is a better option – use your legs more and you’ll better sense what’s going on with your traction and can therefore fine control the power more accurately.

Too much kick from the motor can put excess torque through the cranks and any slip at the rear tyre will blast you forwards with the motor, effectively stopping your heavy bike dead. An e-bike spinning out at high revs effectively cuts the power completely, as the torque sensor reacts, so you’re stuck on a machine that weighs double that of a normal bike. Worse, it’s impossible to get going again without dabbing and physically moving the rear tyre to a place with more traction, which might not be an option in tricky terrain.