Shifters, yea or nay?

[Ykick]

'see it over and over - folks building (assembling) hub motor eBikes and they dunno what to do with shifters. Thumb, half or full twist throttles compete with shifter location plus all the wiring for throttle, brake, speed electrical switches can be quite a bundle to run to your controller - it's a very common problem and issue practically everyone must deal with during eBike assembly.

On the couple bikes I've assembled my solution was to simply forgo the shifters. In both of my cases 'completely removed the front de-railer and locked the rear de-railer to the smallest freewheel cog. My 26" wheel ratio gearing is now 48T/13T running 12S Lipo which happens to be all I need to help on hills and allow for some amount of leg push every once in a while.

So if you're dealing with this issue on a multi-speed bike ask yourself this: "do you really need to shift gears?" In many cases you probably won't shift much, if any, because the motor will provide more than enough thrust to make up for the lack of gearing selection and it greatly simplifies the layout on your handlebars and subsequent cable routing.

I'm not suggesting that this is the best or only way but it's worth weighing pros and cons of your situation and you may be able to save yourself a lot of headache by eliminating something that many of us won't ever use or need.

 

[hydro-one]

+1 never shift, no shift cable or shifter , locked on smallest (14?), derailluer for keeping it on. front deraileiuer left it on works as a crude chainguide.

mike

 

[dbaker]

I leave out front shifter and manually move chain to smaller chainwheel if I have to do the ride of shame when ebike system dies! Rear shifter and derailleur is helpful for negotiating hills when pedaling.

 

[MadRhino]

I kept full set of 9 gears on the rear (11-34), for I have 150mm dropout width that allowed it. I use a grip shifter that I installed on the left side, to allow the half twist throttle on the right. It makes for a simple handlebar setup, and even if I don't shift in town, I like to have the gears in the mountain.

My next build will have a 5 gear freewheel, I find it enough with motorization. A Shlumpf drive is a dream to try soon, for I'd love to be able to pedal the bike at high speed to accompany the motor in its full range.

 

[nuevomexicano]

The front derailluer is usually controlled from the left of the handlebar and the rear shifter and throttle are usually on the right. So why not keep the front gears and forgo the rear gears? Most modern bikes have 2, 3 or 4 front sprockets, so you would have a few wide gears if you did want to pedal and no real interference from a right side shifter on throttle mounting.

 

[Lemlux]

I resonate to dbaker's idea. My current build plans are for a 53t by 39t chainwheel without shifter and a DNP 7 speed 11-32t freewheel with a trigger shifter. I'll have the trigger shifter on the normal right side and use a throttle on the left. I haven't decided on throttle type yet.

 

[Ykick]

'figured there's a lot of variation about how people deal with this decision. I started from electric stand-up scooters, kickbikes and single speed beach cruisers so gearing has always been a low priority when reworking bikes with hub motors.

For my 1st mtn bike instead of trying "workarounds" for the shifters I just went with high gear only and it's been fine for my purposes. Even in the ideal gear I can't peddle the lightest mtn bike up most hills any faster than I can walk it.

If my electric system ever dies, I can manually drop chain to a smaller crank wheel and perhaps provide some leg power on flat ground - but I kinda doubt that would be much faster than walking.

 

[dogman dan]

Stuck in high gear is not so good when your ride home is uphill. Then something happens, the battery didn't charge like you thought, etc.

But that's on a bike I may have to pedal 10 miles home or more. On one of my bikes with twist shifters, I found the ideal solution was removing the front shift handle, and mounting the rear shifter on the left upside down. I thought it worked out neat, since rolling it back went faster on both gears and throttle.

Then I upgraded my bikes, and now have mostly trigger shifters that I find quite compatible with half twist or full twist throttles. Somewhat less compatible with thumb throttles.

Lastly, old school lever shifters work well too. I have that on my 5 speed beach cruiser.

The Kart track racing bike is locked into 56 tooth gear up front, but the rear shifter could be used. I didn't bother to remove the shifters though. The trigger type seems fine to me.

 

[FMB42]

dbaker writes:
"I leave out front shifter and manually move chain to smaller chainwheel if I have to do the ride of shame when ebike system dies! Rear shifter and derailleur is helpful for negotiating hills when pedaling."

This is what I've been planning on doing with my FS MTB build. The only difference is that I plan on locating the rear shifter on the left side of the bars.

 

[StudEbiker]

That idea works well if you live in Texas or Kansas or some place like that, but here in Oregon I still find that some of the hills call for more than the front three gears alone.

 

[Lemlux]

Dogman:

Does "quite compatible" imply that you use a full or half twist throttle on the same side of the bar with a trigger shifter?

 

[kafka-cloud]

My downhill bike only had rear gear and a single middle spindle.

I put a grip shifter for rear speed on my left hand side of the handlebar. Same number of speed then rear derailleur, so spacing for the gear is equal. I can use about 5 of my rear 8 speed. (max reach of the shifter arm, because of distance between dropout of 150mm).

 

[docnjoj]

I dunno but I have to use gears and pedal to get up some of our hills. Also due to my bad knees I have 155 mm cranks and really have to shift to spin enough so I can pedal. I use mostly my rear gears with the throttle on the left and have a bar end on the right handlebar. I have the front shifter mounted low below the brake for the three chain rings if i need to spin home with a dead battery. Since I have a recumbent trike the handlebars are vertical.
otherDoc

 

[neptronix]

Put a massive single front crank on and ditch the front shifter and derailleur.

Works very well for me, as i don't climb mega hills unassisted anyway.

If you have a skimpy 250-350w motor, THEN it makes sense to keep all the gears. At 500w and above though, forget 'em !

 

[skeetab5780]

ive got Shimano paddle shifters built into my brake levers and i just kept the right one on and still use it with my rear derailur. I kept my front brake lever but took a dremel tool to it and shaved the shifting mechanisms out of it and painted it black so it works as a normal brake lever, removed the front shifter cable but left the front derailur on as a chainguard/ chainstay.

i use a thumb throttle on the right side and i find it easy to shift my gears and use the throttle. although i never shift gears when im commuting...but rather when im in the trails rippin' it up on the weekends.

 

[deardancer3]

With a crank drive, i like a rear shifter. Throttle goes on left side, rear shifter on right side, no front shifter.

rear 8 speed 11/32 teeth.

d

 

[Alan B]

I have twist grip shifters and am planning to put them on bar ends mounted below the bars. Using a Magura throttle on the right side and liking it. Currently have both twist shifters on the left side and not liking it. Need to shop for bar ends that are standard diameter round and have the right amount of angle at the clamp to work well inboard of the brakes on clamped the angle of the riser type MTB handlebars. Rather like shorter handlebars under the regular one. Anybody done that before??

 

[dogman dan]

Re the trigger shifters. Yes, just move the trigger shifter in some, and then put on the throttle. You may need to leave about a half inch space to allow the levers on the trigger shifter to still work. You'll be able to get two fingers on the brake handle. On some bars, moving the shifter in can be a problem, but lenthening a handlebar with a broomstick is pretty easy.

Removing the front derailur can work, but may lead to the chain jumping off on the larger bumps. So taking off the shifter and leaving the derailur may work best. You can use a short bit of cable to lock the derailur in the right spot for the big ring.

 

[Hillhater]

'see it over and over - folks building (assembling) hub motor eBikes and they dunno what to do with shifters. Thumb, half or full twist throttles compete with shifter location plus all the wiring for throttle, brake, speed electrical switches can be quite a bundle to run to your controller - .........

How does ditching the shifters simplify .."

all the wiring for throttle, brake, speed electrical switches can be quite a bundle to run to your controller

".... ??

+ as others have said , you obviously either never see a real hill, or you have a very illegal power level on your bike !

2 simple solutions ..
1) Thumb throttle doesnt interfere with twist shifters at all
2) "rapid fire" type lever shifters dont interfere with twist throttles

And if you really want to simplify all that wiring to the controller, just forget the "idiot switches" on the brakes !
........( yes, i know. ...thats illegal also ! )

 

[wineboyrider]

Hillhater wrote: 2 simple solutions ..
1) Thumb throttle doesnt interfere with twist shifters at all
2) "rapid fire" type lever shifters dont interfere with twist throttles

And if you really want to simplify all that wiring to the controller, just forget the "idiot switches" on the brakes !
........( yes, i know. ...thats illegal also ! )

Yes, all good advice, but I have 5 different bikes and some have front shifters some don't. However, I think I am going to eliminate the front shifter on all of my bikes..
Plus I am too damned cheap to just spend money on a shifter when I can just twist the throttle.

 

[mud2005]

I was looking at a dahon folding bike and they have a single chainring and 7 speed gears on the back, sounds perfect for an ebike conversion.

at first I thought the chain would fall off the front chainring, then I noticed it has a built in guide. I wonder if those are available for any bike.
youcan't tell from the pic but the guide is on both side of the chainring
edit: I looked at one of these at my LBS today and the guard was on only one side of the chainring.

 

[LegendLength]

I had a shimano deore rear shifter and it got in the way of the throttle badly. Mounting it upside down helped but I still had to bring my left hand over to shift with it because it was so far from the accellerator.

But I purchased shimano tourney shifter and there are no longer any clearance issues:

I got the 6 speed version and it indexes better than the deore. Although they are worse quality apparently.

 

[geetarboy]

I have kept my shifters (front & back) operational but have never shifted. I pedal along with the motor on take-off in high gear, adding my 200watts? of power to my motors 5000watts. My pedals are basicly ornamental...unless the motor dies

 

[biohazardman]

I removed my front derailleur and use the shifter and cable for my remote throttle. No wires on the handlebars and the throttle is in my battery bag so it stays dry. There are lots of hills around Portland so I use three of the seven gears available in the rear.

 

[Rifle]

I have a thumb throttle and twist shifters. Everything is easy to reach, the only problem is twisting your hand to downshift while maintaining throttle. Only time this is a problem is when I need to shift down while going uphill and cruise control hasn't taken over yet. In this situation I usually just wait for cruise to kick in and then shift.

I built my bike from parts so I didn't bother finding a front derailleur. Only time I had a problem with the chain slipping off the front turned out to be due to the chain breaking and it slipped onto one of the smaller gears so I took me awhile to even notice it had happened.