Your new eBike

Congratulations on your new ebike! We’re excited for you to discover a whole new world aboard it. Ebikes open up a world of possibilities and free you to travel further, faster, and easier than ever before via bike. Whether you’re exploring the cycle trails of New Zealand, commuting, or even replacing your car, you have plenty to look forward to courtesy of your new bike.

We can’t wait to hear about the adventures it takes you on.

Setup

First off, your bike has been assembled and checked over by our qualified mechanics, and we have also done a basic setup based off your height and weight. We’re confident that we’ve gotten your saddle height and suspension set in the right ballpark, but this might be something that needs to be changed. If you have a shock pump at home, we have a basic guide on suspension setup here. It’s worth noting that many of our commuter and rail trail ebikes don’t have adjustable suspension so if you’re unsure on if your bike does or not, get in touch with our team.

To set saddle position, as a rule of thumb, your knee should have a slight bend in it when you reach the bottom of the pedal stroke. If you think your saddle is too high or too low, an easy test is to put your pedal at the lowest position (6 o’clock) and place the pedal under your heel. In this position, your leg should be fully extended, and should have a slight kink by the time you return your foot to your usual pedalling position with the pedal under the ball of your foot. If you heel can’t reach the pedal, your saddle is too high. If your leg is bent with your heel on the pedal, your saddle is too low. Use the adjuster bolt, or quick release adjuster to make any changes, just make note of the torque setting if your seat clamp uses a bolt and be sure not to over tighten your saddle.

Your First Ride

Before heading on your first ride, we suggest familiarising yourself with your drive system. You can find manuals for all of the drive systems we sell below:

Bosch General Owner’s Manual
Bosch Active Line / Active Line Plus / Performance Line User Manual 
Bosch Cargo Line / Performance Line Speed / Performance Line CX User Manual 
Full list of Bosch Documentation 

Shimano Steps EP8 User Manual 
Shimano Steps EP7 User Manual 
Shimano Steps EP6 User Manual 
Shimano Steps EP5 User Manual 
Full list of Shimano Documentation

Spend some time pedalling around your driveway before embarking on your first ride. Get yourself familiar with the bikes controls. Your bike’s front brake will be on the left, rear brake on the right, and if it features a dropper post, remote lock out, or both you will find controls for these, too, along with controls for your drive system. Get a feel for how hard you can pull the brake levers before the tyres skid or the rear wheel lifts, and cycle through the different assist settings to get a feel for how much assistance they offer.

We suggest carrying a range of spares with you on the to ensure you don’t get stuck. At minimum, we recommend carrying a spare tube, a pump or CO2 inflator, a spare chain link, a multi tool, and tyre levers. You can find our range of tubes here, pumps and inflators here, tools here, and tyre levers here. Alternatively, get in touch with our team and we can put together a package for you.

Maintenance

As far as home maintenance goes, components are so reliable nowadays that so long as you keep everything clean and your chain lubed, there’s not a whole lot that you should need to do between services. We’ve got a guide on chain lube here. Our guide also features instructions on how to clean your drivetrain. For the rest of your bike, we suggest using Muc Off Nano Wash. Simply spray over your bike, scrub it with a gentle brush, then rinse and dry with a microfibre towel. We also suggest checking over your bolts once every two to three rides to ensure nothing is loose.

We suggest getting a service once every 1,000kms or once every six months, whichever comes first. This allows us to catch things like component wear before it can do damage to other parts of your bike – a worn chain speeding up cassette wear for example. It also means we can keep bearings greased, prolonging their life, and saving you money in the long run.

We can’t wait to hear all about where your ebike takes you. It goes without saying, but if you have any questions we would love to help so contact us on the details below or reach out via social media. Here’s hoping level 2 comes soon and we can ride together!

Pitcrew North Shore
albany@pitcrew.nz
09 600 3095

Pitcrew Pukekohe 
pukekohe@pitcrew.nz
09 239 2453