How to Use Pedal Assist on an Electric Bike as a Senior | Easy Guide for Senior Riders

Hi, I'm Diane, and I'm at Sixthreezero in San Clemente, and this is the Relaxed Body e-Trike. And what I want to talk about today is pedal assist. I didn't know what that was when I started test riding e-bikes and e-trikes, but I will tell you pedal assist is one of the best things that have been invented in the world of biking. So what pedal assist does is allow you to go further on rides. It allows you to go up a hill more easily. It allows you to more easily ride into the wind. It basically makes your life a whole lot easier when you're riding a bike. And so there are five different levels of pedal assist on this particular bike. Actually, I think on all the sixthreezero bikes, there are five different levels of pedal assist. And I will walk you through, as I'm riding this trike, which pedal assist level I'm in and why, and show you how to switch the gears.

Also, just so you know, there are seven regular gears on this bike. So using pedal assist in combination with the appropriate gear will help you go on a much longer ride. So let's take this one for a ride and learn all about pedal assist. Okay, so we're about to start our ride. To use Pedal Assist, you have to make sure that when you start, the pedal assist is on at least pedal assist one when you're starting the ride. Otherwise, it won't kick in, it has to be on. So right now I can tell by looking at the display that the bike is in pedal assist one, and I'm in fourth gear. So what pedal assist is going to allow me to do is that, if I weren't in pedal assist, it would be like riding a traditional bike, whether it be a mountain bike or a street bike, which means that when you're starting, it's a little bit tougher to start.

Starting Your Ride & How Pedal Assist Works

With pedal assist, what it allows you to do is that as soon as you start pedaling, you're going to feel the motor engage a little bit. So as you pedal, you'll literally feel that you're being pushed along a little bit, which is great. The higher level of pedal assist you go into, the more power the bike is gonna provide to you, so that your ride is much easier. So let's start, let's go for a ride. So two different options when you're starting are, I'm in pedal assist two right now, which means that as soon as I start pedaling, can you see in here, the pedal assist is kicking in. Or you can use the throttle. But I'm here to talk about pedal assist and how to use that. So let's do that. As you start pedaling, you'll feel the power of the bike pushing in behind you. You also want to make sure you're in the right gear. So I'm going to I'm gonna go up to a higher gear. I'm in sixth gear right now because I'm on flat ground. And I'm in pedal assist two. If I'm like, you know what? This is getting a little hard for me. What I'm going to do is increase to pedal assist three and watch to see if you can tell when it clicks in, because I immediately, I'm still pedaling the same cadence, but I'm going a lot faster. Again, pedal assist will help you go up those tough hills. It'll help you as you are riding into the wind, as I'm doing. But it also, on the flip side, allows you to get the level of exercise in that you want to get in.

Balancing Exercise & Assistance Levels

There's a car behind us. Oh, he's going right. Okay. We're on the left here. Go straight. Oh, you're right. That's right. So let's say that I want to get a little bit more exercise in. I'm going up a little hill right now, and I'm pushing with my muscles to get going. Not a bad thing because sometimes you want to get that exercise in on your bike as well, but it's also really windy out here today. So before I get fatigued, because I still have to ride back to my starting point. What I'm going to do is click very easily with my thumb on pedal assist two and watch to see, with keeping the same cadence, how much faster I go. We're in pedal assist two now. Now I'm going, same cadence, I went from five miles an hour to seven. In pedal assist three, same cadence,

I'm now up to nine miles an hour, not exerting any more energy. This is all the pedal assist function. And I have to watch out for traffic, but I'll put you into pedal assist four and show you what happens. It takes off. 11 miles an hour, same cadence. Again, very windy out here, but that shows you the power of pedal assist. So when you use that in combination with the right gear, it really gives you a lot of power. It makes any path that you may want to go on an easy path. So what I will also tell you is, let's say that you want to start a little slower, kick down the pedal assist to one or two. Otherwise, once you start pedaling, it's going to take you at the pedal assist of four, which, for me, the first time I did it, I was a little startled. I didn't know why I was going so fast all of a sudden. But it's just the capability of the different pedal assists. It's one of the main reasons why I would entertain it and why I'm such a huge proponent of e-bikes. Because there isn't a place I can't go on an e-bike.

I don't have to worry about hills. I don't have to worry about wind and weather. All I have to worry about is making sure that my energy bar stays full so I can get back and conquer any hill. It's really so freeing. It's just a great feeling to know that you can go on any path that you want to go on. No mountain I can't conquer with any bike or any trike. So I hope that this makes sense to you. So I'm in pedal assist two right now. Again, I'll demonstrate using the same cadence, same energy level, what pedal assist three will do. I'm at seven miles an hour, keeping everything the same. I'm now at nine miles an hour. It's just amazing, the power of these e-trikes when you engage pedal assist.

Conclusion & Final Tips

And how easy it is to switch too. Just really the touch of a finger makes all the difference. So hopefully that gave you a good explanation of the functionality of Pedal Assist. It helps with Uphills, downhills, if you've become fatigued, it's really just a way to make the rides a whole lot smoother, a whole lot easier. Come out to Sixthreezero, test different bikes, see which one works best for you. And now you know all about pedal assist. But if you have any questions, if there's a situation I didn't cover, drop a question below and let us know, and we'll get back to you. Have a great afternoon.