Best Tire Choices for Your Electric Bike
When it comes to riding quality and efficiency, you don’t want to overlook the importance of your tire choice to optimize your ride.
Bike tires have a range of designs, so it’s up to you to know how to choose a bike tire that fits your riding style AND one that is ideal for handling the type of terrain you are going to ride on.
Let’s jump into tire choice for electric bikes. Here we will give you tips on how to pick out the best tires for your electric bike.
Why Do I Need E-bike Specific Tires?
A tire is a tire, right? Wrong! Bike tires are now designed to optimize specific riding disciplines (cross-country, enduro, road, downhill, etc.) for many different types of terrain. So as of recently, the bike community realized the need for e-bike specific tires.
E-bikes, with their powerful battery and motor, weigh more than their traditional bike counterparts. Therefore, it’s more likely that you could puncture one of your traditional bike tires.
The solution, though, isn’t to run more PSI; this will change how the bike feels during your ride, and most likely, you’ll find that you have less traction with the ground.
Additionally, e-bikes allow riders to maintain high speeds (50km at max speed) for longer distances than traditional bikes. This naturally leads to tire tread wearing down quickly.
The solution? Bike tire manufacturers designed e-bike specific tires. While tread pattern, tire compound, and casing will vary based on e-bike riding discipline, you’ll find that e-bike tires across the board are optimized for the weight and force that is applied with e-bikes.
Tire Choices for Electric Commuter Bikes
First and foremost, we recommend the 2021 model of the:
BONTRAGER E6 HARD-CASE LITE E-BIKE TIRE
A city/commuter e-bike tire that is designed for smooth-rolling cruises and meets the demands of e-bikes. Get your e-bike up to 50km and be thrilled to find out it keeps up with ease, provides reliable traction even on the smoothest of surfaces, and maintains its quality even with consistent use.
The Bontrager E6 Hard-Case Lite E-Bike tire comes in black, brown, or black with reflective sidewalls to increase visibility for those evening commutes.
Tire Choices for Electric Road Bikes
BONTRAGER R3 HARD-CASE LITE TLR ROAD TIRE
The Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite TLR Road Tire is a bike tire staple with brand new design improvements after feedback from team riders. Looking for a tire that provides fast and efficient rolling paired with strong, but lightweight casing? Look no further. Check it out by clicking on the link above!
BONTRAGER AW3 HARD-CASE LITE ROAD TIRE
Claimed to be the “set it and forget it” tire for road bikers, this fast-rolling tire got an upgrade with durable Hard-Case Lite puncture protection. With proprietary TR-Endure compound supplies your bike with reliable traction in all conditions. Check out the brand new Bontrager AW3 at one of our four Epicenter locations!
Tire Choices for Electric Mountain Bikes
Yes, you could hypothetically slap any mountain bike tires onto your electric mountain bike’s wheels. But let’s think about it for a minute. Your e-bike is not the same as your traditional mountain bike. There are two strong reasons to pause before putting any ol’ tire onto your e-bike:
Your e-bike is heavier (by at least 15-20 lbs) than a regular mountain bike. As you might have guessed, this indicates that you need a more puncture-resistant tire.
You often ride faster, for longer distances, and brake harder on an e-bike which inevitability shortens the longevity of the tire’s tread more so than a regular bike.
So, you’re going to need to know which tires are up to the task of providing you with enough durability and efficiency while you’re ripping down the trail on your e-bike. The last thing you want to be thinking about on an epic ride is how your tires are holding up!
At Epicenter Cycling, we carry only the tried and true when it comes to tires for e-bikes and mountain bikes. We’ve consulted the experts at Trek so we can report back to you on which tires best suit the job:
BONTRAGER SE6 TEAM ISSUE TLR MTB TIRE
Bontrager’s newly released SE6 mountain bike tire is currently the burliest 29” tire on the market with 120 TPI and Core Strength Protection. With an aggressive tread pattern designed to bite into the dirt and construction that holds against the harshest conditions, you get a tire that can handle rough riding and exceed expectations on your e-bike.
BONTRAGER LT4 EXPERT REFLECTIVE E-BIKE TIRE
A tire designed explicitly for e-bikes because Bontrager just knew there would be a need for such a tire. It’s lightweight, grips the ground, is versatile, and handles the demands of e-bike riding with Hard-Case Lite puncture protection. Best part? Go ahead and shred hard! The LT4 is designed precisely for that. Suitable for trail or pavement.
BONTRAGER SE5 TEAM ISSUE TLR MTB TIRE
Comparable to the SE6, the SE5 can handle whatever a rowdy trail dishes out. This versatile trail/enduro tire with 120 TPI casing provides all the traction and braking confidence you need without sacrificing rolling efficiency. Available in 27.5” and 29”.
BONTRAGER XR5 TEAM ISSUE TLR MTB TIRE
The Tubeless Ready XR5 Team Issue tire offers strength, traction, and fast-rolling efficiency in a lightweight trail ready package. XR5 delivers the supple feel of an 120 TPI XC tire and the aggressive traction of an Enduro tire for superior performance in demanding conditions. Choose XR5 to stay light on the climbs with confident grip on even the most harrowing descents.
BONTRAGER XR4 TEAM ISSUE TLR MTB TIRE
The XR4 Team Issue TLR tire offers incredible grip and fast-rolling efficiency in a new and improved tread pattern with 120 TPI casing. Save yourself from punctures with our Inner Strength sub-tread protection while squeezing out every bit of cornering traction with the 61a/50a dual-compound rubber. This tire really is that good.
THE BOTTOM LINE ON BONTRAGER’S NEW TEAM ISSUE MTB TIRES
- All of Bontrager’s new team issue MTB tires are easy for tubeless setup.
- XR tire models are constructed with Inner Strength puncture protection.
- SE tire models are constructed with Core Strength puncture protection.
- All new Bontrager new team issue MTB tires are made with 120 TPI (threads per inch).
- XR1 is available in 29x2.2
- XR5 is available in 29x2.5 and 27.5 x 2.5
- SE5 is available in 29x2.5 and 27.5 x 2.5
- SE6 is available in 29x2.5 and 27.5 x 2.5