Electric bike wheels are parts that may help you increase the speed of the electric bike and improve performance in general, because it is of
great importance to the electric bicycle.
In this post, we will answer a basic question, which is Can you change wheel size on an ebike? Also, what is meant by the change here, is it changing the wheels themselves or changing the settings of the wheels in the bike controller?!
Can You Change Wheel Size On An Ebike?
What are the challenges of changing the ebike wheel to a bigger size?
1-Bike Front
The first challenge for you is the front of the ebike itself. Will you be able to fit a larger wheel size into your bike? In most cases, installing 29-inch wheels into a 27.5 frame is very difficult because the remaining space will be very narrow.
But as for upgrading the wheel from 26 inches to 27.5 inches, it can happen in some frames and the reason for this is that the 27.5 inches (650B) wheel is a 26-inch size, but with slightly larger dimensions.
Note: The 27.5-inch wheel was originally called 26*1.5 this means that this size originally existed but with a different name which means that the possibility to have a 26inch ebike frame support the 26*1.5 inch or the 27.5 inches is possible.
2-Axel Sizes.
The second point that you should think about and make sure of before changing the size of the bike wheels to a larger size is the axel size in both the front and rear of the bike, because if the axel is different, it will be complicated and you will need an adapter, which will make things more complicated
3-Suspension system.
If you have a suspension system in the bike, especially a rear suspension system, it will need some modifications from you
Because when you put a larger wheel size on an electric bike, the rear suspension system can collide with the seat tubes
You can tell if the rear suspension is proportional or not by letting the air out and sitting on the bike. If you find contact between the rear
suspension and the seat tube, the rear suspension will be a problem for you
4-Tire Size.
What are the challenges of changing the ebike wheel to a smaller size?
1- Ebike height.
When you use a wheel size that is smaller than the one designated for an electric bike frame, the height of the bike is significantly reduced, which will affect your riding style as well as your body posture.
2-Bottom Bracket Area.
The height of the boot area from the ground is calculated in millimeters, and any change in the size of the bicycle wheel will affect the way you use the pedal, and sometimes it is possible for the pedal to hit the ground during use if you use a very small size
For example, if you have a 26-inch bike and ride a 20-inch wheel (the example is for illustration only, size 20 is considered a kids size)
Changing the wheel Size on the Ebike screen.
The second part of the topic of changing the wheels on electric bikes is to change the wheel settings in the electric bike controller via the screen
What is meant by the change here is to increase the size of the calf on the controller, but what will happen when you change these settings?! The short answer is faster speed.
What will happen if I increased the wheel size on the ebike Display?
When you change the wheels settings on the screen, the speed sensor on the rear wheel will give signals to the controller that the ebike is
going faster (contrary to the truth), which will force the motor to bring out its maximum speed and you will feel a relative increase in the
speed of the bike and overall performance.
Is there any disadvantage of changing the wheel setting on the Ebike Display?
Yes, there are some challenges to increasing the wheel size on the electric bike screen.
1- eBike Milage.
The first of these challenges is that the bike mileage readings will be false, which will make the total miles traveled by the ebike greater than the actual mileage.
This will affect you in the event that you decide to sell the electric bike as a used ebike, because the buyer will notice the increase in the
a number of ebike miles significantly, which will make you provide a lot of proof to him in order to convince him of the condition of the ebike, or you will have to reduce its price.
2-Motor stress.
The second drawback that will be encountered when changing the settings of the wheel is that you put more stress on the motor because all
the time you are asking the motor for higher performance, and this will lead to clearly overheating the motor and slowing down the
movement of the electric bike in the long run.
How to change the wheel setting on ebike screen?
power on your ebike press & hold the Up & down button to go to the setting, use the power button to go to the wheel setting, then increase \ decrease the wheel settings, turn off the ebike & turn it on again.
To know more about controller parameters check this post
How do I Reset my EBike Controller? (Solved)
Conclusion.
As a general rule, YES. you can change the wheel size on an electric bike through the controller settings using the ebike screen.
On the other hand, the actual size of the ebike wheel can be changed, but taking into account the front of the ebike, the suspension system and the height of the ebike
