How to avoid crunching gears

[Beekeeper]

I will be riding with someone who has a brand new ebike with very little technical knowledge and who has a tendency to crunch gears when changing.

What simple advice can I give as i don’t want them to snap a chain early on or wreck their new bike.

I’ve said don’t change down a gear when going up a hill and I’ve also said don’t change down a gear when in Turbo mode at any time.
Is this good or bad advice?

 

[Shifty]

I always free wheel directly at the lever click to take the pressure off. I always did that on an analogue too. Then reapply the pedal softly as the gear change takes place.

 

[Pdoz]

Try suggesting changing with the pedals at top / bottom - just keep it simple so that's all they have to think about

 

[Zimmerframe]

If they have a tendency to do it when climbing, you could suggest that when they want to change gear, they do two hard pedals, then ease off (pedal softly) and change - so there's not really any drive force on the chain when they change. Hopefully the extra momentum from the two hard pedals carries them through the change so they don't feel they need to snatch the gear.

 

[steve_sordy]

All of the above particularly Zimmerfame's advice.

Get into a the gear you need before you need it, then it's less of a strain.

If you really need to change to a bigger gear while going uphill and it's a proper strain, then don't change gear, change mode! With the extra power, give a bit of a surge and then pause pedalling momentarily (more of a backing off of foot pressure, not an actual stop in pedalling). With less tension on the chain, change gear and then drop the power mode.

Mechanical sympathy goes a very long way!

 

[Swissrob]

All of the above particularly Zimmerfame's advice.

Get into a the gear you need before you need it, then it's less of a strain.

If you really need to change to a bigger gear while going uphill and it's a proper strain, then don't change gear, change mode! With the extra power, give a bit of a surge and then pause pedalling momentarily (more of a backing off of foot pressure, not an actual stop in pedalling). With less tension on the chain, change gear and then drop the power mode.

Mechanical sympathy goes a very long way!

Yes and yes, emphasis turbo is a get out of jail free card so adjust support up in the lower modes until fitness and skills improve then lower it, primarily using trail modes.

 

[Kingfisher]

Nothing much you can do. You need to switch gears before you need it. If you ride enough, you can see a line and already know what gear you need to be in. If they are new, sure you can tell them they need to shift before they need it, but they will have no idea in what gear they need to be.

Otherwise: ease off, shift, freepedal, and only bring the power when the gear is engaged.
Tell them every time their gear crunches, a kitten dies.

 

[ggx]

When climbing and the things go arder, if in low assist level/wrong gear , I think it´s better to increase assist level than crunch gear changes.

 

[B1rdie]

Using a shimano motor with most recent FW. Have noticed that even if I stop pedaling before shifting there will be a crunch because the motor keeps assisting for a fraction of time, but when I do a slight movement backpedaling the motor disengages imediately making possible a faster shifting

But under power on the cranks the best suggestion is to only shift the mode button.

 

[billwarwick]

Nothing much you can do. You need to switch gears before you need it. If you ride enough, you can see a line and already know what gear you need to be in. If they are new, sure you can tell them they need to shift before they need it, but they will have no idea in what gear they need to be.

Otherwise: ease off, shift, freepedal, and only bring the power when the gear is engaged.
Tell them every time their gear crunches, a kitten dies

Nothing much you can do. You need to switch gears before you need it. If you ride enough, you can see a line and already know what gear you need to be in. If they are new, sure you can tell them they need to shift before they need it, but they will have no idea in what gear they need to be.

Otherwise: ease off, shift, freepedal, and only bring the power when the gear is engaged.
Tell them every time their gear crunches, a kitten dies.

 

[billwarwick]

Oops... what I meant to say, if that’s true about the kittens, don’t tell the RSPCA where I live?

 

[Swissrider]

My Bosch powered bike seems to momentarily cut power when shifting up under load, even in turbo. It’s a a Shimano set up and really smooth up and down. On my Brose powered bike with SRAM it’s much more clunky, mainly because it continues to power for a bit even when you stop pedalling. Having said all this, all the advice above is correct but there are times when one finds oneself on a really steep hill in Turbo and you’re just in too high a gear so you have to change with a horrible noise. Having done it quite a lot I haven’t broken anything and my first chain lasted 1000k. It just doesn’t feel very nice!

 

[MinusPrevious]

Hey good topic Gents. Im new to E-Biking & am aware of the gear change issue & do my best not the kill any kittens during the shift LOL

I do now have a masterlink included in my tool kit

 

[ottoshape]

A lot of good, seasoned responses! I concur with the "don't if you don't have to" recommendation. Upshifting my SRAM GX 12 spd whilst in turbo mode sounds violent compared with shifting in trail mode. I can actually feel the shift through the bars. This is apparent even when rolling on a regular road surface and only pedaling gently. Given this discovery, I try not to upshift in Turbo.

FWIW, I am carrying two master links and a chain breaker tool. I should throw in a short section of chain while I'm at it.