Electric Bike Brake Adjustments

When you receive your Tower Electric Bike and ride it for the first few times, you will probably hear some rubbing coming from the brake calipers. This is completely normal as new brakes need to be broken in over about 30 miles until they need to be adjusted for the first time.

For your first adjustment, your brakes might be a little tight. An easy fix for this can be done by simply turning the adjustment knob on the brake lever on the handlebars. Bare in mind that the left handlebar applies the front brake and the right applies the rear, mixing these up could be dangerous if you end up continuously twisting blindly. Turning these knobs clockwise will loosen the brake caliper and counter-clockwise to tighten it.

If you are unable to tighten the adjustment knob any more and are still experiencing issues, you may need to adjust the brake pad itself. To do this you will need to look through the wheel from the right side of the bike so you can see the silver disc below. The disc has arrows pointing in the direction that the disc should twist to tighten or loosen the pads. We suggest rotating the disc in sets of 3, so you can remember how many twists you have completed. If you feel/hear a clicking noise when twisting the disc, don't worry.

If you are still having issues with your brakes after performing the above, your brake caliper may be off center and may be twisting the disc brake rotor. In order to reset the brake caliper, loosen the bolts which hold the caliper onto the frame (shown in photo below). When the caliper is loose and is freely moving around, go and apply the brakes at the handlebars. While there is pressure on the lever, tighten each screw by only a 1/4 twist at a time before switching to the other bolt, this will ensure that they are equally tightened and will bring the brake caliper back to center.

If the issues with your brakes persist after trying all of the above steps, we recommend taking your ebike to a maintenance professional to take a look.

See more on eBike brake maintenance