How to Shift Gears on an Electric Bike | Is Shifting Gears Different on an E-Bike?

Hey, guys, Dustin here, CEO of Sixthreezero. Today, I'm going to explain to you how to shift hears on an electric bike. Stick with us.

All right. Today, we're going to talk about shifting gears on an electric bike but before we do, hit that subscribe button below, stay in touch so you can find out all the happenings at Sixthreezero. We post content all the time. Also, we do weekly giveaways. If you want to be the first to know about them, hit subscribe. We give away bikes and accessories weekly so you're going to want to stay in tune. 

All right, let's talk about shifting gears on an electric bike. Now, most electric bikes come with some sort of gear system, Shimano is a popular one, you're going to see Shimano on a lot of products out there and you're going to see shifters. Now, when I say shifters, I think there are two different things with electric bikes. You can change the pedal-assist level or you can actually shift the gears of the bike. The actual electric motor doesn't have anything that you shift, so to speak. You can change the assist level but when I say shifting gears on an electric bike, I'm talking about shifting the gears in the bicycle wheel, not shifting the gears of the electric motor. I think that's important to make note of.

An electric bike, in essence, is a bicycle with an electric motor. The shifting of the bike is the same as shifting a normal bike. There are many different types of shifters. Now, if you want to get more specific to the actual shifting, I've got another video I made about shifting gears on a bike, you guys can check that out, and that's going to apply to e-bikes. It's going to depend on the e-bike that you're riding. Now, there could be single-speed electric bikes, that's possible. In that case, there's going to be no gears to shift, it's just going to be one speed. From what I see though, a lot of electric bikes have gears. The options could be three-speed, seven-speed, 10 speed, 21 speed. I think seven-speed is probably the most common, from what I've seen, but it also depends on the type of electric bike, the type of riding it's meant for. Is it a mountain bike? Is it a road bike? It's a casual bike, cruiser bike, etc, etc? That's going to depend on the gears

How do you shift that bike? Well, here's one important thing. When shifting gears on an electric bike, make sure you're pedaling. If you're using the throttle on an electric bike and you're not pedaling, you do not want to shift the gears of the bike. That could greatly cause, not damage, but it could cause the chain to come off. If you're shifting the gears and you're not pedaling, once you start pedaling and let's say you shift it five gears while you're doing the throttle and the chain wasn't moving and then, all of a sudden, you start pedaling again, it's trying to jump five gears because you shifted while you weren't pedaling. It can get the chain off track because it causes a lot of torque. Shifting gears on an electric bike, make sure you have it in either pedal assist or full bicycle mode so you're just pedaling normally.

You've got to be pedaling and then just shift the bike as you would normally shift a bike. Obviously, most of our bikes use twist shifters but there are thumb throttle shifters as well. Again, it just depends on the gear system, the type of bike. Most mountain bikes are going to have thumb shifters and most recreational, or a lot of recreational, will have twist shifters. Really important, if you're doing full throttle on an electric bike, do not shift the gears. Wait till you're pedaling or doing pedal-assist to shift the gears of a bike and, again, it's a normal bicycle. If you're using it like a normal bicycle, you're shifting gears the same way on it like you would on a standard bike. 

If you want more information about shifting gears on a bike, the different types of shifters, check out the other video we made about shifting gears on a bike. If you have any questions or comments or thoughts, please comment below. We're happy to respond or answer them or see what you have to say or you can email us at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at 210-982-2877. Don't forget, visit our website sixthreezero.com and check out our e-bike selection, tons of colors, frames, different motor sizes, and battery sizes. Also, we have a proprietary body fit tool on our website. You're going to answer questions about your body and your life and our tool will fit you to the perfect bike for your body and your life. It's our own proprietary algorithm, it doesn't exist anywhere else. The bonus, we have a 365-day return policy. If you don't love your bike within 365 days, send it back, zero questions asked, no money out of your pocket.

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