Best Electric Bike Accessories: Look Good and Stay Safe


Shopping Guide / Monday, February 19th, 2018

To complete that electric bike, you’re going to need the best electric bike accessories.

Need some useful extras to take your electric bike to the next level, or to finish off the perfect build? We have you covered.

Here we have 10 of the most useful accessories you’ll need for your electric bike.

1. Bike Tool Kit

Bike Tools On Rack

There comes a time in every bike owners life where they’re going to need to repair their bike.

The chain will break. Bottom bracket mounts might get loose. Rear shifter may not shift so well anymore!

Don’t be caught out with no tools for the job.

Get yourself the Complete Bike Repair Kit from Bikehand.

It’s unbelievably helpful to have all the tools you need at your disposal without having to ask your local bike mechanic or friend.

When I was building my own ebike, I didn’t have a full tool kit.

Man I regretted it.

Trying to do something with the wrong tool (such as using a hammer and chisel to try and remove my cranks…)

When I actually got the right tools, everything happened so much easier and better!

I could remove my cranks with an actual crank puller, and remove my bottom bracket easily.

Don’t be a fool like me. Get yourself a tool kit!

This also leads us to the next incredibly useful (and related to this) ebike accessory!

2. Multi Tool

Best Electric Bike Accessories: Bike Multi Tool

The humble multi-tool has been a staple of every self respecting DIYer’s pocket since the Leatherman paved the way.

Now immersed in the ebike world, you’re going to find yourself in situations where you’re not near your bike tool kit.

Stuck on a trail high in the mountain ranges, or even 10 miles from your home. You’ll find a bike multi tool indispensable for when disaster strikes while out riding.

Enter the Crankbrothers Multi Tool!

It has everything from spoke wrenches, to a chain tool. Hex wrenches, screw drivers, torx and open wrenches.

Oh yeah. It also has a lifetime warranty to boot!

If you read this and don’t get a multi tool, your disc brakes are going to come loose. And you won’t have a multi tool to fix it while you’re away.

(I’m not going to personally loosen your disc brakes… It’s just Murphy’s Law)

So do your future self a favour and get a multi tool while you can. Future you will be thanking past you!

3. Helmet

Man wearing bicycle helmet

This is more of a courtesy accessory.

If you don’t already have a helmet, stop reading and get one right now.

You have such a wide range to choose from.

From expensive helmets such as the Bell Super 3 or the Smith Optics Overtake.

All the way down to the ‘El Cheapo helmets like the Schwinn Thrasher and Kingbike Helmet.

These will do the job, but keep in mind that the more expensive they are, the better quality they are. Which translates to how well it protects your noodle in a fall!

(Up to a point the more expensive ones are better. After a certain price range you’re just paying for fanciness, like a Custom Predator Helmet)

Search around to find a helmet that you both enjoy looking at, and that fits well.

It’s important to also consider getting a safety rated motorcycle helmet if you plan on going fast on the road.

Helmets like this Fuel Helmets HH Series are more rugged than a bike helmet and are held to the Department of Transport standards. These are good for more safety, but without a full face motorcycle helmet.

If you’re after more safety, you could consider getting a full face helmet like the ILM Motorcycle Helmet.

4. Tube Repair Kit

If you’ve got tube tires, you’re going to get a flat. It’s inevitable.

Nothing is worse in our world of ebikes than a flat tire. Especially when you’re a long while from home!

Walking all the way back is not fun, and even less fun if you’re on a trail far far away.

Tube repair kits consist of usually just a few items.

  • Rubber glue/cement
  • Rubber patches
  • A piece of rough metal

Kits such as these Slime repair kits contain plenty of patches and glue to fix your tube over and over again.

You’ll also need a small handheld air pump. This Lezyne Tech Drive or Topeak Mini G will get you back on the road again, no sweat!

(Actually that’s a lie. You don’t needsmall handheld air pump. You could bring your big floor pump with you if you want. I don’t mind! I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you really want to, go for it!)

You’ll be able to throw your small kit and air pump into your bag wherever you go and never worry about running out of air again!

5. Lights

Bicycle Rear Light

If you’ve ever driven a car past a bike riding at night with no lights, you’ll know why you need lights.

Ebikes are invisible at night time. You’ll be hit in a matter of minutes if you go riding at night.

Unless of course, you get yourself some awesome lights to make you glow!

Depending on your country or state, you may need to have active or passive lights on your ebike.

Passive lights are also known as reflectors. These are mostly installed when the bike is manufactured.

Often reflectors are built into pedals too. So if you buy new pedals you’ll still have passive lights.

Active bike lighting is what you would normally think of when someone says bike lighting.

It’s best to have a white light on the front, and red flashing lights on the back.

The front light allows you to be easily seen when you’re coming towards other motorists. It helps with assisting your vision also.

You can get rechargeable lights that clip to your handlebars and seat post.

Lights such as this Blitzu Gator Rechargeable Bike Light or this Ticoze Bike Light Set.

However some would argue (myself included!) that it’s much easier (and way, way cooler) to install custom lighting that runs from your main ebike battery.

This means you’ll never run out of juice (assuming you manage your main battery life well) for your lights when you least expect it.

Something like this 20W Motorbike LED would certainly do the trick!

For the back, just get a Rear Red LED and you’re sorted!

Pair those with some cable and a switch for the handlebars, and set it all up together, and bam! Easy light setup. You’re safe, happy and can see the road ahead!

Be careful what voltage your lights are rated for! Many will only work at 12V.

If you have a fully charged 48V battery, it will put out 54.6V.

A fully charged 52V battery will output 58.8V!

So either get yourself some lights that can handle up to 60V, or get a DC-DC converter to take your high battery voltage down to 12V.

Searching for “Golf Cart DC Converter” will get you exactly what you need! Such as this NW DC-DC Converter.

6. Hand Grips, Seats, Pedals

Bicycle Seat

There’s only 3 parts of the ebike you touch at all times.

The hand grips, the seat and the pedals.

So why settle for anything less than absolute luxury?

If you’re going off on long rides you don’t want a sore hand or bottom! Nor do you want your feet getting achy.

The best decision I made for my ebike build with the Bafang BBSHD was to replace the seat and grips. I’m getting around to replacing the pedals as we speak!

Be wise about what you order though.

Please don’t use grips like these. You’ll regret it. Your hands will not forgive you.

Ergonomic grips like these from Makarine are way better!

Or even some nice BMX grips.

Next you’ll want a nice place to sit down on. There’s two ways about this.

You can upgrade your seatpost or your saddle. Or both!

Upgrading your seatpost to include suspension will soften the ride immensely. This will make it feel as if you’re gliding through the air!

The Suntour SP12-NCX or the Cane Creek 3G Thudbuster are the upper end of seatposts. These will feel silky smooth.

If you just want to experience seatpost suspension, you could opt for something slightly cheaper such as this Diamondback Suspension Seatpost. No frills, but should give you a good intro to world of suspension seatposts!

Lastly you can replace your saddle! The actual bit that you sit on.

If you want high end, you can get the Ergon SME3 or a Seatylock!

But you could just as easily get a reasonably priced, comfortable looking seat such as the Daway (or this Daway or Cloud-9. Slapping on a nice soft gel cover and being on your merry way!

Keep in mind though, if you go high end saddle, you’ll never go back! They’re just so darn good.

7. Mud Guards

Story time.

I took my ebike to work one day, and it was a gorgeous day. I neglected to check the weather forecast.

It poured after lunch.

Upon biking home, it was merely a drizzle!

I thought “awesome I won’t get too wet.” But how wrong I was.

Because my ebike does not have mud guards, all of the water on the road flicked up my back and onto my front. Making me as soaked as if it was pouring down on my way home.

Don’t be like me.

Get some mud guards. They’re also great if you want to take your ebike offroad too! Stones in your face are not fun.

You can go cheap, which will do the job. But not very stylishly.

Or you can go nice with these FJQXZ Mudguards.

Really anything will do, and it’s just down to personal taste!

Get crazy, or stay super stealth.

I prefer stealthy mud guards!

8. Mirrors

Bicycle Mirror

If you’re going to be commuting with your ebike, there’s nothing better than having eyes in the back of your head.

But you don’t need to have another set of eyes, you can simply get a mirror!

Handlebar mirrors are fantastic to put on your ebike to keep an eye on the traffic behind you.

Are they sneaking up behind you? Drifting into your lane? Or not paying attention at all?

You can see all this and more with a bike mirror.

You can get them as convex bar mirrors or even larger motorcycle-ish mirrors.

Alternatively, you can have bar-end mirrors like this.

Or even crazy mirrors that attach to your eyeglasses?!?

If you have a mirror, you’re infinitely better off than the other biker on the road that does not.

Do yourself a favour and grab one while you can!

9. Bell

Bicycle Bell

Being courteous is a big part of being an ebiker.

You’re faster than most cyclists and certainly faster than pedestrians. So you’ll need to warn them of your looming, speeding presence. So they can act accordingly.

Nothing says “Hi buddy, I see you’re ahead of me and I don’t want to run you down so could you please move out of my way so I can pass by and we can carry on our days just as great, if not better than, before” better than a short ring of a friendly bell.

Screaming and yelling “GET OUT OF MY WAY” isn’t quite as nice. So I generally don’t do it.

Bells are inexpensive and another great way to add some personal touches to your ebike.

From classic bells to nice looking bells, all the way to oddly designed bells, super load electronic bells and weird bells, you really have a huge selection.

Get one to suit you and your ebike.

From a pedestrian and biker, thanks for getting a bell instead of yelling at me!

10. Bike Locks

Bike wheel left attached to anchor

You need ebike security.

You’ve just created or bought a masterpiece of engineering. Worth a few thousand, and now you need to secure it.

Luckily for you I have an entire article dedicated to bike locks and how to secure your bike properly.

Check out my article about ebike security. You’ll find recommendations and best practices to secure your baby!

Bonus: Digital Multimeter

Digital Multimeter

As a bonus, the last in our best electric bike accessories series is the digital multimeter.

Not always a first thought of an accessory for your ebike, but I can assure you it’s worth it.

If you’re troubleshooting your build or creating a fancy lighting circuit for your ebike, a digital multimeter will be invaluable.

It can help you check your voltages or check continuity of cables to test if they’re broken.

There’s nothing worse than frying your electronics because you thought the cable you were using was 12V instead of 48V.

Even if you don’t buy it for yourself, someone else will love receiving it as a gift!

From your basic digital multimeter to ones that also measure current, or even temperature, frequency and capacitance there’s a digital multimeter to suit you and your needs.

The more expensive it is, the more features it will have. And you never know when you’ll need those features!

The Best Electric Bike Accessories: Summary

Clearly there are plenty of accessories for your ebike.

Whether you’ve recently built your own ebike, or bought one from a store. There’s the ability to truly customise it to make it your own. To increase it’s usefulness, functionality and safety!

Along with it’s stylishness too.

So what are you waiting for?

Go get stuck in with your ebike, grab some accessories and dazzle me with your creative designs.

I’d love to see your ebike with all it’s accessories and glory.

Send me photos in the comments or contact me!

Go ahead – accessorise!

Spread the word about ebikes:

2 Replies to “Best Electric Bike Accessories: Look Good and Stay Safe”

  1. I am a proud biker here! Thanks for sharing this information on the best electric bike accessories. What I really like it here is the Multi-Tool. It is a great help whenever and wherever you bring it with you. As a matter of fact, I have just bought my second device online.

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