Fixing E-bikes is harder than it should be

For more than a hundred years, bike parts from handlebars to bike chains were made to be taken apart, tuned up and replaced with ease. In the last few years however, bike companies have managed to frustrate repairs on what once was and should still be one of our most fixable products. It’s time for bike makers to hit the brakes on impeding repairs.

While bike parts used to be highly standardized — ensuring that a bike shop would always have a usable spare part — e-bikes are full of unique, often proprietary, components. As part of our continuing work to protect the Right to Repair, we discussed fixing e-bikes with a number of bike mechanics, who were eager to tell us just how difficult special components and propriety tools can make repairs.

Specialized parts make repair a hassle

According to bike shop owners who we spoke to, each major e-bike brand has their own frames, proprietary motors and batteries, all of which require specialized tools to repair. 

“In vintage bikes pretty much every part is interchangeable,” says Zain Abidin, a bike mechanic at a bicycle co-op in Saskatchewan, Canada. “We are able to take in bikes that people are throwing away and we love to be able to strip them down for parts. But these new bikes have so many specialized parts that it’s almost not worth it.”

Most bike mechanics try to keep a stock of standard parts on hand so that when a new bike enters their shop, they can replace the faulty parts quickly and efficiently. This has become a lot harder to do as bike manufacturers change part shapes and sizes every few years, and once a company stops producing an older part, it can be nearly impossible to find.

Right to Repair can help, but must be enforced 

Finding the correct parts isn’t the only substantial hurdle for mechanics. Many manufacturers also deny mechanics access to instructions and diagrams for electronic parts, including motors and displays, that can be dangerous to replace. Many mechanics report that they have to turn down e-bike repairs when the electronics fail because the information and tools are simply not available to them.

“For the mechanical parts of bikes, there are many resources that are usually free. But e-bikes don’t have this at all,” one mechanic from Maine lamented “E-bikes are definitely going to become more prevalent soon, so we need the resources to make sure we can be safe when we fix them.” 

Eric Blank, a mechanic from Indiana with more than a decade of bike repair experience, said he’s never even considered fixing an e-bike motor because he doesn’t have the information to safely fix many electronic bike components. 

“Each model has a different battery and assembly and it just takes too long to repair,” Blank said. “It’s really hard to find a manual – or maybe it’s not even there.” 

Repair is essential for bicycles because even general wear and tear can take a toll. Bikes get knocked over; ride over bumpy ground, through puddles and over potholes; and get exposed to road salt and sand. 

Bike manufacturers should pledge to make their products more repairable by standardizing parts between brands, and making repair materials accessible to our local mechanics. If bike-makers want to justify charging thousands of dollars on a top of the line e-bike, they need to ensure that it will last for years – not end up in the scrap heap because of specialty parts and unrepairable electronics.