Where is the Throttle on ETrikes? Right, Left, Twist & Push...All The Info on ETrike Throttles

Throttles on electric trikes. Why are some on the right and some on the left? Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I'm nearly 20 years experienced in the bike and e-bike industry. Today, we're gonna talk about e-bike throttles and why they're either on the right or the left. All right, I've got two Sixthreezero e-trikes here, the Simple step-through fat tire and the Easy Transit folding e-trike. Both awesome e-trikes. Now, the other thing about these two e-trikes is that one of them is a thumb throttle that you press with your thumb, located right here, and one of them is a twist throttle, which is up here, and you twist it towards you to go. The other interesting fact is that the twist throttle is on the right hand and the thumb throttle is on the left hand. Now, I've had a lot of riders who do, they have preferences between the right and the left. The one thing I will say is that it is possible to switch your throttle from the right to the left. Now, not necessarily going to be an easy task, you'd have to find the connection of the throttle to the controller, which is oftentimes it's hidden underneath the cable housing here, but it's also possible that the connection's actually inside the frame. So, if it is inside the frame, disconnecting the throttle, reconnecting a new one can be challenging. Now, if it is good, accessible wiring, you could find it right here. 

Now, to do that, you would have to buy a different throttle, a right or a left throttle, because, as an example, the left throttle, if you flipped it upside down and moved it over, it's not going to work the same way you want it to. So, you'd have to buy a different throttle for either side. Now, the reason you... I'll explain why we put our twist throttle on the right and our thumb throttle on the left. So, all of our e-trikes have seven speeds on them. So some e-trikes out there are single speed, but if you do add gears to your e-trike like we do, then you're gonna need to have a shifter for the gears to shift the gears. Typically, on bikes, the gear shifters are on the right-hand side. There are two ways that you can have, or two types of gear shifters. There are twist shifters or trigger shifters, and we have trigger shifters on both of these models. We do use the twist shifter on some of our E-Trikes that have a thumb throttle on the left-hand side, because you couldn't have the twist shifter in the same place that you have the twist shifter for the gears.

You cannot have the twist shifter for the gears on the same side as you have the twist shifter for the throttle. So, if you put gears on your e-trike or e-bike, you're gonna have a shifter here. If you have the shifter on the right hand side the only option then is you can put the twist shift on the right hand side so if you have a trigger shift for the gears, you can have the twist shifter for the throttle all on the right hand side now if you have the gear shift over here and you want to have a thumb throttle, then the better bet would be to put the thumb throttle on the left side, and the reason for that is so it's not super cluttered with things on the right-hand side. The other thing is that all of these elements are positioned in a way where you can easily move your thumb to get to the trigger shifter. So you can press right here. You can also press the throttle right here.

If you squeeze the throttle in right here, you're not going to be able to both hit the throttle and hit the trigger shifter comfortably while still holding on to the grip. So that's why we do it. Now, if you have a trigger shifter and a twist throttle, like I said, you can have them both on the same side. I think oftentimes you will find the twist throttle on the right-hand side. Now, if you have a single speed e-trike or e-bike, then you could very easily put the trigger shifter on the right-hand side because now you're replacing the gear shifter, you're replacing the trigger shifter with the thumb throttle, and now you can easily reach the throttle by gripping, by holding onto the grip. So it's really about trying to configure everything where you can comfortably have your hands on the grips, reach your thumb out, and operate everything you'll need to operate the throttle, the gear shifter, and, of course, the brakes while you're going as well. So truthfully, in thinking about the throttles, we have a lot of test riders, 50% prefer a twist shifter, and 50% prefer a thumb throttle.

We also get some people who do have a preference on the side. A lot of people like it on the right. A lot of people like it on the left. So it's really hard for us to know which one is the most popular because we do a lot of test rides, and people have different preferences. Also, in talking to some customers who own quads, obviously, motorcycles primarily have twist shifters or twist throttles, but a lot of quads have thumb throttles as well and twist throttles. From what I hear, they are all located on different sides of the quad as well. Again, there are a lot of shifters that exist out there. And I think the thumb throttle came from the idea that quads use thumb throttles, motorcycles use twist throttles, and e-bikes are finding their way. And honestly, the preference varies from person to person.

So have any other questions about throttles on e-bikes or e-trikes? Reach out to us at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at 310-982-2877. We also have a much larger selection of e-trikes. If you want to check those out on our website. In addition to that, we offer a 30-day test ride of your e-trike policy. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back. No questions asked. No money out of your pocket. In addition to that, we're going to warrant everything for one year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we take care of it, parts and labor. Also, if you want to come for a test ride, we're located in San Clemente, California, at 1046 Calle Recoto, Unit K. Come on out, test ride all of our e-bikes and e-trikes before you purchase to ensure you're making the right choice. And lastly, join our community. We have a Facebook group called Sixthreezero Pedalers. There are thousands of members in the group. Join the group before you purchase to talk to existing riders to ensure you're making the right choice. Then, when you have yours, post in the group, make friends, and finally download the app to track your rides and compete on the leaderboard. So thanks for sticking around, and don't forget, it's your journey or experience. Enjoy the ride.