GUIDE TO ELECTRIC BIKE BRAKES

They come in many variations, but the hallmark of an e-bike specific brake (and why they are such an important safety feature) is a simple electronic or mechanical switch mounted on the lever that detects when you apply the brakes, even slightly.

This switch, known as the kill switch, cuts power to the motor immediately when you apply the brakes. This safety feature is particularly important on the ultra-powerful Class 3 e-bikes capable of 28 mph and on Class 2 throttle-controlled e-bikes, where, without a kill switch, a user could inadvertently apply the brakes and throttle at the same time. It’s also a good failsafe should your bike’s controller fail or throttle stick open, where without a killswitch you’re along for the ride until the battery dies or you force the bike to stop and risk burning out the motor.

First and foremost, your bike’s brakes need to be very good at the obvious — slowing you down. The weight, power and top speeds of modern e-bikes make this a taller job than you’d expect, which is why I’d argue the quality of your e-bike’s brakes are paramount to all else. It doesn’t matter how fast you can go if you can’t safely slow down.

Disc brakes, whether they are e-bike specific or not, should be considered mandatory equipment on any sort of e-bike. Full stop. E-bikes are just too heavy and too powerful for more classic bicycle brake designs like rim brakes or cantilevers, so discs are the way to go. The industry has fallen in line with this belief, for the most part, so there’s really no excuse to choose a bike that doesn’t come stock with a disc brake setup.

Many, many e-bikes come with brake setups that you’d find on nearly any type of non-motorized bike (mostly mountain and flat-bar style bikes). This is fine, even if they lack some sort of kill switch mechanism.

Hydraulic disc brakes, as a rule of thumb, are better than the cable-operated mechanical disc brakes, though mechanical brakes are less expensive and will do the job just fine. On hydraulic setups, you can also find brakes that come with four pistons per caliper instead of the standard two, which you’ll typically see on some of the higher-end or heavier e-bikes.