Touring-Style E-Bike Basics: Where To Find Power and Maintain High Speeds

Riding an electric touring-style bicycle can be a great way to sustain higher speeds on smoother roads and reach a better pace when traversing off-road terrains and steeper hills–but if you’re new to e-bike touring, learning the functionality of your bike to find the power to keep up high speeds and go further is a must.

What is the best e-bike for touring? Much depends on your experience, the touring routes you select, and the level of pedal and throttle assistance you’d like. Your e-bike must have the frame, weight, and speed you require. Our Turris model is a popular choice for riders of all different needs, with precision-designed multi-terrain tires, lightweight alloy frame material, and a powerful 750-watt motor.

Today, we’ll explore gearing, assistance levels, and throttle usage on a touring-style e-bike to explain how it all works, so that you know exactly how to adjust the power of the motor at any time, even when riding at higher speeds or in challenging conditions.

How to Change Gears on a Touring-Style E-Bike

If you’ve ever wondered why your electric bike is not working properly, the chances are that you either need to spend a little time familiarizing yourself with the features and settings or that you need to consult one of the Ride1Up e-bike experts just to make sure everything is as it should be!

Shifting gears is something that often comes naturally, and a geared motor works in much the same way as a conventional gear shifter. On the Turris touring-style e-bike, you’ll find the gear shifter mounted on the right handlebar. Simply sliding the shifter on the handlebars with your thumb means the gear ratio will increase. Conversely, clicking the shifter button will decrease the gearing ratio. To reduce wear on the components, always shift through one gear at a time.

On the left, as with many of our high-performance e-bikes, you can increase or decrease the assist levels to your needs, and even customize the exact power settings applied to the pedal assist levels through the dual-tone LCD screen.

Another important feature to understand is the integrated PAS cadence sensor, which activates the motor when you start to pedal, and vice versa, helping you control your speed and the motor power dynamically throughout your ride.

Using a Touring-Style E-Bike Throttle

The throttle on an e-bike works similarly to that on a motorbike, in this case, mounted as a thumb throttle on the handlebar–you can push the throttle button to engage the motor increasing power and speed, and release it when you want to slow down.

While some e-bike models feature pedal assist without a throttle, this feature can be very handy when touring because it provides power on demand, rather than needing to pedal harder to increase the pedal assist provided. On a touring-style electric bike, you might choose to engage the throttle when you want to:

• Building speed before climbing a steep gradient

• Maneuver quickly and around obstacles or diversions

• Get a boost to catch up to another rider or give your legs a rest

The throttle is great if you’re beginning to feel fatigued and makes touring far easier for those who might otherwise find a route too long, challenging, or hilly. Of course, there is no need to use the throttle if you don’t wish to, so if you’re an avid touring bike rider, you can get some exercise and rely on the motor, increasing or decreasing the assistance level when required.

Why Is Battery Size Important on a Touring-Style E-Bike?

The larger the battery on your touring-style e-bike, the more range you’ll get, which allows you to cover longer distances or ride for an extended duration before the battery needs to be recharged. That said, finding a bike that balances the need for a lightweight frame and packing a battery big enough to give you a respectable range is exactly what the Turris performs expertly. A bigger, heavier battery is not ideal for touring-style excursions where you need both a decent range and a frame built light enough for off-road, mountain roads, or other challenging conditions.

E-bike batteries come in countless sizes, ranges, and capacities, but on the Turris, as our touring-style e-bike, the 48V, 12.8Ah battery provides a range of up to forty-five miles, depending on the level of assistance you use, the terrain, the steepness of the incline, and your combined weight with baggage and equipment.

If you’re used to riding a lighter, leaner urban commuting e-bike, you’ll find the multi-terrain capabilities of a robust touring-style model a different experience, with twenty-eight-MPH pedal assist and twenty-MPH throttle power, with frame geometry that can support longer rides and heavier cargo without sacrificing comfort.