These Are The Accessories You Actually Need For Your E-Bike

So you just got your shiny new e-bike. First of all, congratulations! You’ve taken a fantastic step into eco-friendly transportation, and I — a lowly manual bike rider — commend you. You’re benefiting your health (by getting your heart rate up), my health (by cutting back on greenhouse emissions), and the health of your local community (by showing there are alternatives to cars). In fact, you’re about to do a little bit more of that than you prepared for, because that bicycle isn’t the last thing you need to purchase. No, you’ll be headed to your local bike shop soon enough to pick up a few accessories. 

Luckily, there isn’t much you really need to start using an e-bike as daily transportation. Your big expense is out of the way already, I promise, and the last few things you need to buy won’t nearly add up to the cost you’ve already spent on your bicycle. In fact, I’ve narrowed your list down to just five essentials (plus one honorable mention) that’ll get you all set to ditch your car entirely. Let’s take a look. 

You should always wear a good helmet out on a bike. Depending on your jurisdiction, an e-bike might actually require you to wear one. But don’t just stumble blindly into your nearest Target and buy the first helmet you see. First, girl the boycott; second, there are a few features you really want to look for in a new helmet — features that are actually worth spending more than the absolute minimum price. 

The top thing you’ll want to look for is Mips, a “multi-directional impact protection system” — essentially, a sliding plastic layer inside the helmet that saves your brain from rotational impact. It’s meant to help lower the risk of concussion, especially in the sort of tumbling falls that two-wheeled commuters tend to see. If you’re in a hot climate, you’ll also want to look for a helmet with good ventilation. Technology like Koroyd, which replaces the helmet’s standard EPS foam with an air-flowing crush layer, can really help here, but it’s not always necessary. There’s a reason the Smith Persist, with both Mips and Koroyd tech, is traditionally a top-selling helmet. 

Your e-bike may well have come with front and rear lights — you may even have some fancy functionality like brake lights built in — but not all e-bikes do. If yours doesn’t have lighting (or even if the lighting it has simply isn’t sufficient) grab yourself a set of front and rear lights. You may not intend to go out riding in the dead of night, but maybe you end up there anyway — or you get caught in rain, fog, or any other kind of low-visibility situation. 

Lights are as much about being seen as they are about seeing, so look for a set with a rear light that can flash in addition to just being a solid red color (most lights you’ll find will give you the option). Some options you’ll find are battery powered, while others can be powered directly from the movement of your wheels by installing a dynamo. Personally, I like the simplicity of something I can plug in — my bike lives in my bedroom anyway, right next to an outlet — but if that’s not convenient for you, the dynamo options are also a good bet. You may also see people claiming that adding a bit of blue to a rear light can make it more visible, but I’ve never seen any data to prove it. Plus, cops aren’t generally a fan of non-cops running blue lights anywhere. 

With any luck, you’ll never need most of the functions of a good bicycle multi-tool. I’ve never needed to use the chain breaker on mine, and I hope I’m never in a situation where I need my chain swapped out fast and I’m lacking any more substantial hardware with which to change it — but, if I do find myself in such a snafu, I’ll be very happy for my little multitool. 

Some parts of that tool, though, you will absolutely use. Humans come in all shapes and sizes, which means bicycles are designed with a wide range of fitments to account for all of us — but it also means you have to adjust your bike to dial it in. You can get a professional bike fit from your local bike shop, sure, but dialing in a bike’s ergonomics is a good skill to have. You can adjust your seat height, your bar rotation, the angle of your brake levers, all with the few tools contained in this little Crankbrothers set. You can find these from other companies, too, but I have this exact multitool (in this exact color) and it’s served me well for multiple years and multiple bikes. 

If you’re going to ride your bike anywhere worth riding to, it’ll probably be a place that’s populated enough to be worth locking up your bike. Don’t bother with cable locks that can have their combinations sussed out in seconds, or even seemingly sturdier cables that can simply be cut. Get yourself a nice U-lock, and — depending on the cost of your bike, and how much you love it — maybe invest in the latest leaps in anti-theft engineering. 

I carry a full five pounds of Kryptonite New York Lock Diamond Standard on my Orbea, because it’s one of the only locks on the market I trust to keep my bike secure no matter what a thief throws at it. Battery-operated angle grinders are all too common an attack vector for nice bikes now — especially e-bikes — and the Diamond Standard earns its name through an actual diamond coating over the metal. If it takes a hardwired angle grinder over six minutes of cutting to get through, it’s solid enough for any thief to give up and move on to something easier. 

When I first got my Orbea, I set out on a beautiful summer day to go read “Chainsaw Man” in Prospect Park. I made it a few blocks of uphill biking in black skinny jeans before veering off my intended path and making a beeline for my local bike shop, in order to pick up a water bottle cage to then stuff with a water bottle from the deli across the street. Electronic assist or no, biking is work. You’re going to want water for it, and you’ll want it to be readily accessible — it’s nice to take a swig at red lights on those hot days. 

Bottle cages are largely interchangeable, so just find one in a color you like. The only reason you’d want to go more specific than that is if you want a side-entry cage, which can help keep bottles accessible when you’ve got your frame decked out in all sorts of other farkles. That can mean your big bulky U-lock from before, or our list’s honorable mention. 

Storage is an honorable mention only because so much of it is up to your preference and your bike’s frame. Handlebar bags work on just about every bike, but they’re usually small and can throw your center of gravity forward if you really load them up. Frame bags are bigger and keep your cargo more centralized, but they aren’t really an option on step-through frames — plus, you’ll have to do some digging to find one that fits your bike’s frame well. 

Cargo racks can be a good universal option, but some people don’t want the weight penalty of lugging all that extra metal around. If weight’s really a concern, though, you may not need anything on the bike at all — surely you’ve got a Jansport around somewhere that could haul your necessities from point A to point B. Backpacks, frame bags, top tube bags, pannier racks, this one’s up to you. Sort out a means of carrying cargo that works for your bike and your use case.