Never Run Out of Battery Life on a Bike Ride Again with These Tips
With bike components increasingly going electronic, it’s never been more important to perfect your battery life game. Extend the charge of your computer, shifters, light, and e-bike so you’re never stranded in the dark—or in one gear—ever again.
Cycling Computers and GPS Units
The biggest battery life-related problems cyclists encounter tend to involve cycling computers. Keeping gadgets charged is hugely important to Evan McNeely, a pro cyclist racing for Norco. Luckily, he also studies mechanical engineering at Carleton University in Ontario, and has spent a bit of time pondering the technology involved in extending a bike computer’s battery life.
"Any device, let's say a Garmin, operates at a certain voltage,” he explains. "The battery life then depends on how much current is drawn by the system. The more current required to run the Garmin, the less battery life you get. Vice versa, battery chargers with high current ratings charge things faster. The best way I could think of doing this with a Garmin is to change the data sampling rate to its slowest setting. So instead of storing data at one second intervals, switch it to five second intervals.”
For non-rechargeable appliances like a PowerTap hub, keep note in your calendar of when you replaced the battery last, and pay attention to when it dies again; if you know you need to replace it roughly every 6 months, you also know when to start keeping a spare battery in your saddlebag.
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Smartphones
The best way to avoid draining your battery power? Get away from using your phone for Strava or apps like MapMyRide. If you really love recording your ride, there are plenty of fairly inexpensive cycling computers and fitness trackers out there, like the Microsoft Band, which can track your movements via GPS and upload to Strava.
In the winter, keep your phone as close to your body as possible: Body heat will keep the battery lasting a bit longer; keep it tucked in your innermost pocket instead of closest to the elements. Messenger extraordinaire Austin Horse recommends keeping small hand warmers in the same pocket as your phone to keep its temperature up .
Most phones have a "power saver mode,” McNeely adds, which turns off data fetching and any applications running in the background. "Turning those off reduces the current draw and increases battery life,” he says. For an iPhone, that may mean keeping phone data turned off—or even keeping Airplane Mode on—except when absolutely necessary.
Lights
When you’re riding in fading light, it’s tempting to go to the highest setting on a bike light and stay there. But if you’re in a heavily lit area, or it’s not too dark, stick to one of the dimmer settings. Be aware that strobe functions also drain battery faster, so only use them when cycling in traffic. Additionally, carrying an ultra-tiny light like the Knog Frog 1-LED Bicycle Light as a backup stashed in your saddlebag is a smart safety measure.
Electronic Shifting
Electronic shifting can be tricky. At the Paris to Ancaster Classic in Ontario this past April, I passed not just one but four men forced to singlespeed almost the entire course because they’d left their Shimano Di2 batteries uncharged all winter and were nearly out of juice when the race began. Needless to say, these guys weren’t too psyched about muscling through the rest of the up-and-down race in one gear. Admittedly, electronic shifters don’t need charging too often—only a few times a year—but making a note to charge your shifting to full power the first of every month is a smart way to ensure your race doesn’t end in a hill hike because your expensive setup failed you.
E-bikes
Most e-bikes use less power while they’re being pedaled, so the advice here is simple: Pedal more, especially on flat or slightly downhill terrain. That way, when you need the boost on the tough hills, you’ll have enough juice to make it all the way up. Most e-bikes have levels of power, so if you opt for the lower-power boost, you’ll extend your ride time compared to using the full-steam-ahead setting.
Arguably the most useful tip we’ve found for all of these, though, is pretty simple. Set up a charging station wherever you park your bike—in your garage, in your apartment—with all the cords you need attached to one power strip. When you get in from a ride, immediately plug everything in so they’re all powered up for your next adventure.
Bonus: If you use a power strip for all of your plugs, it’s easier to pull out and pack when you head out on a cycling vacation and need to bring all of your gear.
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