Signals You Should Know When Riding E-Bikes

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Riding regular bikes is relatively easy, most of us had started riding when we were little. But riding an increasingly popular ebike is usually recommended to adults. Whether you ride a standard bike or an electric bike, whether you ride an electric bike alone or with friends in a group, there are a lot of rules to follow. This article would help you review signals you should know when riding ebikes on the road.

A series of signals are made to warn those behind us of obstacles on the road since, in most cases, it is tough to find out, if we are behind people, what we are going to find. That is why cyclists have a kind of unwritten code to inform about it.

Unwritten rules

Anyone who starts riding electric bike will begin to see gestures in other people that will initially surprise them and perhaps not understand why. Still, over time, certain gestures have emerged with other cyclists that somehow belong to the idiosyncrasy cyclist. We tell you:

It does not cost anything to greet when you cross a cyclist or overtake him, and it is simply polite. No cyclist is superior to another.

It is crucial that if we are riding electric bike and find another cyclist stopped on the road, at least ask if he needs help, since the next day, we could be the ones who need it.

It is important to help all your companions when cycling in a group. If a fellow rider has a problem, always help them, whether a puncture or any other breakdown.

If we have a problem when we ride electric bike in a group, it is essential to let them know and not stay behind, so they will help us and wait for us, and will not have to come back to look for us if they have not noticed.

We must never throw garbage on the ground. We must be civic-minded and if we take a gel or a bar, always keep the wrapper in our pocket.

If you meet a cyclist who overtakes you, let them know that you are on their wheel to avoid possible conflicts in case that cyclist, for whatever reason, does not want you to be on their wheel.

When you ride electric bike with someone and train with someone else, adapt to the training and ride the same as your partner, without being on the wheel all the time because, in the end, it will be uncomfortable when it comes to training well. Finish the test ride before ride e bikes.

When giving relays, we must maintain the speed that we carry, since indeed our partner in front will go with more tired legs, and if we change the pace and increase the speed, we can make a harsh whip that may not be pleasant.

Traffic signals

We must not forget that while riding electric bike, we are just another vehicle, there're many other public transport on the road. Consequently , there are some traffic rules and hand signals that you must know when riding an electric bike:

Slow down

Especially when riding electric bike in a group, to warn other cyclists that you will slow down, you should extend your arm with the palm of your hand facing downwards and make short up and down movements with your hand.

This is especially important when intersections, traffic lights, or other problems in front of us make us slow down.

This movement should be done in advance so that other colleagues have time to react and can slow down without any problem.

Stopping/stopping

When cycling in a group, it is very important to let the other e bike riders behind us know that we will stop to avoid a collision.

This signalling must be done in advance so that the cyclists behind you have time to react and can stop correctly.

It would be best to raise your left or right hand above your head with the palm facing forward to make this signal. It may be appropriate to make small hand movements to increase visibility.

Turn left or right

This is one of the most important hand signals to know.

When we signal a turn to stay safe, we will allow any riders or drivers on the road to know where we will continue our way.

To signal that you will turn left, you should extend your left arm, while extending your right arm represents a turn to the right.

Whenever possible, it is advisable to make upward and downward movements with your arm to be seen better.

Getting up on the electric bike

When we stand up on the electric bike when pedalling, it is important to signal it by extending the elbows of our arms and moving them simultaneously in a flapping motion.

This way, we will warn our partner that we are going to get up and that our speed may be reduced for a minimum moment just at the moment we get up, avoiding that if someone is on the wheel has a mishap because he touches his front wheel with our rear wheel, makes that famous "sharpener" and can go to the ground due to the imbalance. However, many electric bikes have several choices for pedal assistance level, which is different from regular bike, you can choose a high assistance level to pay less effort to climb the ramp without getting up on the e bikes.

Presence of potholes

Most intercity roads are full of potholes. For this reason, you must be very attentive when you enter the city and alert your companions of the presence of one of these potholes that can cause a scare or a fall.

To ensure that the group can avoid the pothole or cushion it correctly, you should extend your arm and make a repeated upward movement with your hand.

Presence of obstacles on the roadway

It is challenging to see what is on the road when riding electric bike in a group. For this reason, it is very important that the cyclists at the front of the peloton or group warn of any obstacle or damage to the road.

The warning should be communicated to all the other cyclists in the group in a "domino effect".

To warn of the presence of something on the road that hinders the passage, what you should do is to extend your arm and point to where the object is and at the same time move a little away from the object to facilitate the passage (and not collide or bump into it of course...).

Dirt, sand or oil spills on the road can sometimes cause loss of traction on your electric bike. We must extend the arm with the palm down and make lateral movements.

If the obstacle we encounter is large, i.e., a car, another cyclist who is riding slower, and we must overtake, we should wave our arm behind our back and indicate the direction in which we will overtake.

Make it easier for vehicles to overtake

When we are on the electric bike and have a car behind us, it is likely to have visibility problems or doubt at what point to overtake us.

We should make it as easy as possible for other drivers to overtake our electric bikes, and we should get as close as possible to the shoulder.

When there is no vehicle in front of us, we should extend our left arm and move forward and backwards.

Thanks to this, we will avoid possible incidents and traffic jams behind us to stay safe.

Conclusion

Always keep these signals in mind when riding an electric bike in bike lane, because electric bike always runs at higher speeds than normal bike, you should pay more attention on it to avoid accidents. If you buy a new electric bike online or from local bike shop, then you should have a test ride before start riding an e bike.