- Your e-mountain bike should be near silent
when out and about on the trails.
You might hear a little whir coming from the motor,
you might hear somebody shouting "Cheat!" at you.
But those noises are nothing to worry about.
There are a few noises that could mean something
a little bit more ominous going on with your e-bike.
Today, we're taking a look at some of the main offenders
and how you can rectify them.
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One of the most annoying noises on your e-bike,
particularly when you're tackling tech terrain
is chain slap.
Now this is where the chain slaps up and down
and can hit the chainstay,
echoing all the way through the main frame of the bike.
Now, a common mistake, particularly if you've been
working on your bike and removing the rear wheel,
is to leave the clutch off.
So the clutch needs to be switched on,
therefore that's going to stop the mech moving forward
and creating that chain slap.
If you leave it off the chain is quite free to move forward
and you can get that horrible chain slap
on every single descent.
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Another common noise coming from the rear mech area
is where your gears aren't indexed properly.
Now, indexing means that when you click the shifter
the derailleur moves up one cog either up or down.
Now, if this indexing isn't quite correct
you're going to get the chain, the cassette,
and it's going to be trying to jump between gears
either up or down.
Now, this amplified with the motor
can mean you're going to get a load of noise
coming from that rear mech.
So you need to get on the barrel adjuster on the shifter
and just increase or decrease that tension.
Just make sure every time you click that button
it's going to denote one gear shift up or down the cassette.
The chain on your e-mountain bike
is one of the main offenders when it comes to noise.
Now, the chain is responsible for taking all that power
from the motor and delivering it to the back wheel.
If your chain's rusty or it's not lubed
with the correct lube,
you're going to get a lot of noise coming from that.
Particularly if it's rusty it's going to sound
like a budgerigar going down the trail.
It's really important to lube your chain
in the correct way with the correct lube as well.
So if you're riding in the dry
make sure you're running dry-condition lubes,
if you're riding in the rain and the wet
make sure you're putting a wet lube on there.
It's really important to keep that chain lubed
'cause it can make an absolute racket if it's running dry.
The brakes on your e-mountain bike
can be responsible for a lot of noise too.
One of the main ones is brake rub.
Now, this comes from, maybe, a bent rotor
when you've been transporting your bike.
It's quite common to get that rotor bent,
or even in a crash or hitting something on a trail
can cause those rotors to bend.
Now, you're going to need a rotor truing tool
to pull that rotor nicely back into true.
It is quite tricky, you can get the correct tools,
but maybe take it down to your bike shop
to make sure that rotor's nice and true.
Another noise that is really nasty,
that comes from your e-bike,
can be contaminated discs.
Now, this is pretty common if you've been lubing your chain,
you can get a bit of overspray drift onto that rotor.
Meaning that the rotor's going to get covered in oil.
Every time you press the brake
it sounds like a squealing banshee
coming from the back of the bike.
You're not going to have a lot of power,
but you're going to have a lot of noise.
Now the only option to get rid of that noise
is to put some fresh brake pads in,
clean that rotor off,
and that braking should sound all good again.
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The next nasty noise is creaks.
Now, this can come from the front end of the bike,
the bar and stem,
it can come from your saddle and your seat post,
or maybe even from your bottom bracket,
your cranks and your peddles.
Now, creaks can absolutely do your head in.
Now, the only way to remedy this
is to go for the creak elimination process.
So you need to know if that creak's coming
when you're pedaling or is it when you're free wheeling.
Is it when you're in the saddle or out the saddle?
Is it when you're cranking hard?
It is quite hard to find out
where those creaks are coming from.
But once you've found that creak
it's time to take apart that component,
give it a good clean,
give it a bit of a lube up,
and just make sure it's cranked back up
to that manufacturer's specifications.
The cassette on your e-mountain bike
can be quite a high-wear item.
Now, a noise that does develop when the cassette is worn
is that chain jumping and skipping around under load,
particularly in these smaller cogs on the cassette.
It's quite common if you're commuting on your e-bike
to wear these smaller cogs out.
The noise is pretty nasty,
it's going to be popping and skipping,
and you're not going to get any power to that back wheel.
Now, the only way to remedy this
is to replace the chain and the cassette at the same time
and you should be able to get rid of that horrible noise
coming from the back wheel.
So that's it, I hope that's helped you guys out
on some of those noises that're coming
from your e-mountain bikes.
But let us know down in the comments
about any ways and little hacks that you've got
for removing those noises.
Check out the video that's also playing
that Doddy's done about how to look after
your e-mountain bike.
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