How to use gears on an ebike?
In fact, this question is one of the most important questions that may come to your mind if you were a beginner in the cycling world, in general, this could be for several reasons, the most important of which is that the correct use of electric bike gears will make your experience of using the bike really wonderful.
On the other hand, the correct use of the gears of the electric bike helps you to extend the life of a single charge of the battery.
Therefore, it is not only about the fact that there are gears in the electric bike that should be used, but also the correct use affects your electric bike riding experience.
That is why my goal in this post is to give you useful information about using electric bike gears to have a great cycling experience.
Now let’s get started.
How do gears work on an Ebike?
In order to reach our goal of this post, which is to give you useful and practical information on how to use the gears on the electric bike, we should first know how the gears work on the electric bike and what parts are used in the bike in order for the transition between different speeds to occur.
Ebike parts that participate in shifting Gears.
1- Shifter: The shifter is the part responsible for taking the movement command from you during pedaling in order to transfer the chain on the cassette.
It is a button that is on the handlebar and is used as follows:
In order to shift to a lower gear, this button is pressed with the right thumb finger down, and in order to move to a higher gear, this button is pulled up by the index finger.
2-Cassette: The cassette is a set of gears that control the torque and speed of the bike.
The cassette, as we mentioned, consists of a set of gears, and gear No. 1 is the largest gear, which gives you the highest torque
As for the smaller gear, the higher number depends on the number of gears in your ebike, which gives you the highest speed
That is why the first gear is called the lowest gear, and the last gear is called the highest gear.
3-Chain & Chaing ring:
The function of the chain and the chain link in the shifting is to transfer the command from the shifter to the cassette
4- Derailleur: The Derailleurller is responsible for moving the chain on the various gears of the cassette.
How to Use Gears on E-bike?
After we knew how all the parts responsible for shifting in an electric bike work, we will learn in this part how to use gears on an electric bike.
Rule Number 1: Always shift while pedaling:
The first and basic rule for you to use gears correctly is that you must shift while pedaling, and the reason for this is that using gears without
changing will lead to the chain coming off, which affects the life span of both the chain and the cassette.
In order to use gears on an electric bike, you should know that using gears is no different from using them on a regular bike.
What I mean here is that using the wrong gear can reduce the speed of the bike and also using the correct gear can give you the best performance.
As a general rule, the shift to the higher gear is done by pulling the shifter upwards using the Index Finger & Shifting to a lower gear is done by pressing the shifter down using the thumb finger.
How to professionally use gear on ebike?
What we mentioned in the previous part of the post is the correct way to use gears on an electric bike, but in this part, we will explain how to professionally use gears.
Get ready to be a pro!
When you buy a modern electric bike or an electric mountain bike, you will notice the presence of the shifter and also types of mode
As for the mod, the designations differ according to the brand, but the functions remain almost the same.
Let’s explain what does ebike Modes means?
There are usually 3 types of modes in the new electric bike or mountain electric bikes.
Economic system: It means that it works on moderate use of both the motor and the battery.
Terrain system: It means the use of torque for the motor and low speeds.
High-speed system: which means the highest use of both the motor and the battery, but the torque is low.
In order to use gears on an electric bike in a professional way, the ebike mode must be proportional to the gear you ride your bike on.
How to match your ebike mode with the correct gear?
There is nothing better than the harmony of all the parts of an electric bike together and if you succeed in making these
parts in harmony with each other, you will get a really special riding experience.
To help you with this, we will put forward our recommendation in terms of harmonizing the mode of the electric bike with the gear used.
Eco Mode: will perform better with lower & medium gears from 1 up to 5.
Terrain Mode: will perform better with low to medium gears
Speed Mode: will perform better with high gear
Tips for professional use of electric bike gears.
1- Watch your cadence speed.
What is meant by cadences is the number of times you do the pedaling, and my advice to you here is that the gear that you will shift to is suitable for the number of pedal spinning because if you are pedaling too quickly and moved to a high gear, which means that the pedaling will be difficult, you will notice a clear slow in the movement of the bike
So the higher your cadence is, the better it is to use a low gear.
2-Use the correct Mode in the correct time.
The sepiece of cond advice is to choose the appropriate mode for your use, for example, do not use the high-speed mode while you are riding at a low speed and a low gear because all you will get is a high battery consumption without any other benefit.
3- Don’t change the gear too quickly.
Many electric bike cyclists are in a hurry to change gears, especially when going up a steep hill
And the correct way to go up a slope is to be on a low gear and use a high-speed mode and stay on this until you get up the hill and be on a straight path, after that you can change the gear to a higher gear.
When you should use the gear on ebike?
1- Going up a steep hill.
Going up a steep hill by e-bike requires obtaining high torque, and in order to increase this torque, it is necessary to take advantage of
the presence of gears in the electric bike, so it is preferable to be on a low gear (1 or 3) and always remember that a low gear means greater torque and ease of movement
2-Riding on Snow.
If you live in a snowy area and want to use your electric bike on the snow, the use of gears will always help you, here it is preferable to
use a low gear so that the ebike is easier to control (1 or 3)
3-Working out.
If you want to use your electric bike for exercises, using the gears will be beneficial for you to increase the resistance of the bike and thus make more effort.
To get high resistance from the ebike, it is preferable to use high gears (5 to 9 or higher).
4-Daily commuting.
When using an electric bike for daily commuting, relying on gears will be very important because in daily commuting you will need
different speeds, and different torques, in addition to longer battery life, so it is preferable to use gears according to the following potty.
A lower gear means less speed and more torque.
Higher gear means less torque and higher speed.
Conclusion:
As a general rule, the gear can be used by using the right thumb and pressing down to get a low gear, and pulling the Index Finger up to get a high gear on, taking into account the compatibility of the bike mode with the used gear.
One of the most important tips for using gears in a professional way is to shift the gear with a suitable Cadence and not to shift quickly
Gears should be used if you are going to bike up a steep hill while biking in the snow, or even for the daily commute within the city.
