E-Bikes have a couple of government restrictions especially in the UK and as a result, there is a certain legal restriction related to the speed of the bike. These rules only apply when you are about to ride the bike on a public road. The rules suggest that the motor will stop assisting the rider once the speed reaches 15.5 miles per hour. This means the electric motor will take you to the speed of 15.5 miles per hour and you have to pedal your way to further achieve more speed.

This is kind of frustrating especially, when you want more speed and like to travel faster during off-roading. Most of the E-Bikes out there comes with a built-in feature which makes sure that the motor doesn’t go beyond the maximum speed it is required to. It is done by adding a sensor to the bike which cuts off the motor when a certain speed limit is reached.

If you already own an electric bike or going to have one in future then you might be wondering if there’s really any possible way to make the e-bike go faster? Well, today is your lucky day. There are certain ways you can do it and avoid this restriction by making some modifications. Some are pretty simple and cheap such as a display setting trick which is completely free!! while some are a little complex and expensive like changing your motor, controller, and battery.

You don’t need to worry about as we are going to take you through all of them. In this guide, we will tell you how you can make your electric bike go faster. Keep on reading the article and stick to end for a better understanding. Lastly would like to tell you that keep in mind about the laws which differ from place to place and make sure you follow the regulations. You should be fully aware of what you are doing so you don’t find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

How to make your E-Bike go faster (Easy Ways)

Our first choice will obviously be the simple and safe one. These are for those who already own an E-Bike and don’t want to spend more on buying a new faster one or getting one built from scratch.

The E-Bikes which are sold commercially comes fitted with components which are made to work with each other so you simple cannot replace them. You can make these easier changes to your E-bike to get more speed out of it without replacing any parts.

These tricks are either cheaper or are completely free and they also don’t take a lot of your time. So, let’s get started with it.

Fully Charge your Battery

Do you know? A battery will lose its maximum output capacity of voltage as the battery drains or when it becomes old. When the battery is at the higher charge then it is more likely to give high voltage output. E-Bikes come with a DC motor and they are completely dependent on the voltage. Which means if your battery has a higher charge then the e-bike will travel faster.

I recommend you to charge your e-bike’s battery before every ride and it will ensure that the battery will stay healthy and gives you the maximum power output. You should also keep the battery fully charge and keep them in a cool place when they are not in use for a longer period of time. This also helps in the longevity of the battery.

LCD Display Settings

Most E-Bikes comes with a digital display which tells the speed you are going at. The display is fitted with a speedometer which tells the speed and also decides when to cut off the electrical power. How does it work? The speedometer counts the number of times the wheel has turned and the amount of time it took. In this way, it calculates the speed of the bike.

This method works perfectly if you have a bike which is limited at a speed of 15 to 16 Miles per hour, very common in countries like the UK. You can make it go a little bit faster without any trouble. As wheels are changeable in most of the best electric bikes under £1000. Most of the display will easily allow you to change the wheel size in its software. This helps them determine the actual speed of the bike.

So, if your e-bike is limited to say ’15 miles per hour’ and your wheel size is 26″ then you can change the wheel size to 18″ in the software. This fools the e-bike that it is running slower and thus you will get an increased speed limit and a faster e-bike without spending a single buck.

Maintaining your Tyre

Just like any other vehicle like a car or motorcycle, a good tire always helps you to ride smoothly, faster and also keeps the fuel usage down. A good tire means something with good air pressure. The tires are pumped to a certain PSI level which maintains a decent amount of friction with the ground. If the tire has low pressure then it will have more resistance against the ground. On the other hand, a high tire pressure helps to reduce the resistance and boosts your bike speed.

If you have a mountain e-bike the tires are more grippy and are wide. While a smoother tire will not have unnecessary friction. So, it is recommended to use a smoother tire if you need for speed. It also has a con which you might want to know. High tire pressure will not absorb road bumps and you will have a tough ride.

How to make your E-Bike go Faster by tuning its components

This method helps you make your e-bike faster by replacing certain components like the motor, battery and the controller. Now if you have already bought an e-bike then this method is not for you because pre-built e-bikes which are commonly sold in the market don’t come with upgradable parts. If they do then make sure the parts are compatible with each other or they won’t work. If you want a faster e-bike then it is always recommended to build one from scratch and if you feel there isn’t enough speed then you can upgrade the component whenever you want.

Motor

The motor is the most essential part and you can achieve an increased speed by using a motor which has a higher RPM rate according to your voltage. You can check how much power your motor can drive in the wattage. You can do this by multiplying Voltage with Ampere output (Volts x Amps = watt). This is also further classified into peak wattage and nominal wattage. Nominal wattage is what we called as average wattage and peak wattage is the maximum the motor can drive.

Find out the nominal wattage for your bike and see if can handle more amount of power. Make sure to the motor you are upgrading has a higher RPM rate then the motor you are currently using. Hub motors are not as powerful because of their design whereas a Mid-drive motor can provide a lot of power, speed and torque resulting in a faster e-bike.

Battery

As said before, once the battery gets older it loses its capacity and won’t continue to produce the same amount of voltage. As an average, a battery will go through 1000 complete charge cycles and after that, the capacity reduces by half of what it was earlier. By this way, you can find out if your battery is getting older and you should consider replacing it with a new one.

When you are going to have a motor with higher wattage then you must also need a battery which has a higher voltage capacity. This is the best way to quickly increase your e-bike speed. For example, you can upgrade your battery from 35V to 50V and check if the motor and controller can handle the increased voltage. If your controller can only handle up to 52V then don’t even try to give it a battery with more than 52V power.

Controller

Even after upgrading your motor and battery you are not getting enough speed? Guess, the last thing which left to upgrade is the controller. Prebuilt bikes come with a controller which drives the power from the battery and sends the perfect amount of power to the motor and most of the E-bikes has the speed limit already set within the controller. Whereas Some controllers come with a feature to remove the speed limits. While upgrading the controller make sure it has the same amount of voltage range as per your battery.

Breaks

If your brakes become bad after a rough use or are poorly tuned then it will cause unnecessary friction on the tire and make it slow. You should regularly tune your brakes after a while making sure it works properly. Make sure the brake pads stay away from the disc around the tire. Tuning a break is not rocket science and you can easily do it yourself at your home or you can simply visit a bike shop and get it done for you.

Conclusion

So, these were the few possible ways you can increase the speed of your e-bike. What is the best way? Well, I would say it depends on – if you already own a bike or not. If you have a pre-built bike then the speedometer trick is your go-to. If you still feel it isn’t that fast then the only option left for you to sell it and build a new bike.

Before signing off I would like to remind you again that we must be aware of our local laws and of the e-bike speed exceeds the speed limit then it is very difficult to drive it on a public road or private land. You can still ride it off-road but still always put safety head and do modifications only within the limits.

Feel free to drop me an email for some instant help or leave a comment below!

Author

Now an editor with 9Bike, Amelia has lived in the world of lifestyle media for more than a decade. When she isn't wielding her red pen, she's likely canning whatever's in season, listening to anything with a fiddle, or playing Uno with her

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