Do you need an optical gear display in your shifter?

[Stefan Mikes]

Since the bikes I have ridden until recently had multiple chainrings, I was convinced a shifter had to have an Optical Gear Display so you could determine in what gears (chainring and the derailleur) you actually were. For double and triple chainrings, I think these small windows indicating currently chosen gear are the must. It is important to select right sprockets front and rear to keep the chain line possibly straight, so you avoid having, e.g., 1-8 or 3-2 gears selected. Also, it happens you are not sure in what chainring, 2 or 3 you actually are without the gear display. It is at least my experience.

Optical gear display shifter

As I have never been an expert in bicycles, I got a small shock when I bought the 2017 Vado 5 e-bike last autumn. Specialized love the MTB and borrow mountain bike solutions when designing commuter bikes. Therefore, they put Shimano SLX group and the shifter comes without the gear display.

Non-gear-display shifter

I can understand why the SLX shifter has no gear display. It is an MTB shifter. When you are on a trail, there is no time to check the chosen gear and it is mostly irrelevant to have the gear display. There is only one chainring, you just use the derailleur to adjust the gears for given riding condition, by feeling. I was a little bit disappointed because in the commuter situation you would at least like to know if you are currently in middle or high gear to be able to smoothly start from the intersection green signal. On the other hand, I hear the optical gear display might contribute to more resistance to the thumb.

According to Specialized current specs for Vado, I can see the manufacturer changed the shifter to the one with Optical Gear Display for 2020, so they probably assessed the situation properly.


Do you need or use shifters with optical gear display? Your experience?

 

[christob]

I agree with your commuting "surprise". My first bike had the visible gear indicator dial, and I grew accustomed to seeing it, primarily as a reminder that I was in the wrong gear to start up smoothly, after coasting to a stop sign following a sustained pedal run in a higher gear... When the bike was replaced (same make / model) the manufacturer had changed to a shifter without the gear indicator.
I still miss it, but obviously it hasn't stopped me from biking successfully Still, I'm just as prone to forgetting to down shift as I approach stop signs -- particularly on the pre-coffee morning commute

 

[Stefan Mikes]

primarily as a reminder that I was in the wrong gear to start up smoothly, after coasting to a stop sign following a sustained pedal run in a higher gear...

Precisely. I'm also like "blinded" before I need to negotiate a flyover -- in what gear range am I actually?! It would be good to be prepared before the incline begins...

 

[AHicks]

I could ride without an indicator, but given my 'druthers, I'd prefer to have one. Kinda like a car. Little things like power windows, intermittent wipers, and cruise control are things that are hardly necessary, but very desirable.

 

[harryS]

I would expect most riders ride by feel. If the gear feels good, that's where you are, regardless of what the shifter says.

Still, those M310 Quickfires in the first picture are only 8-10 dollars each, if you get them from China. Probably only cost a dollar to add the display. I could see the cost reduction on a $500 mountain bike, but a $3K ebike?

 

[Ken M]

When I drive my manual car I don't pay attention to the gear I'm in...I shift based on "feel." Obviously when I stop I shift to neutral and then back into first gear when I need to start going again (I'm always shocked how many people will hold their clutch in with the transmission in gear while they sit at a stop light...I guess they love adding wear to the clutch plates or they are just ignorant).

I would think most bikers would have the same "feel" for gearing but obviously a lot of riders feel they need to see the gear displayed. Wow....

 

[christob]

Wait - you mean the world of cyclists is not (gasp!) a single, defined, homogeneous set of uniform preferences universally shared and emphatically agreed upon by all?!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Still, those M310 Quickfires in the first picture are only 8-10 dollars each, if you get them from China. Probably only cost a dollar to add the display. I could see the cost reduction on a $500 mountain bike, but a $3K ebike?

I don't think it was the driving force for the minimalistic approach of Shimano in their SLX shifter. That is how it is done in the world of MTB and e-MTB. The $12K S-Works Turbo Levo has the SRAM X01 shifter and guess what? No optical gear display. Basically, the less cluttered the cockpit of an e-MTB is the better. Turbo Levos do not even have the main display! I think Specialized just put a high group on Vado 5 drivetrain in 2017 and that group was made for MTB. (SLX 11 was a novelty at that time).

When I drive my manual car I don't pay attention to the gear I'm in...I shift based on "feel."

Oh, that's not correct. You feel the position of the stick and it is also very hard to shift to the 3nd gear when you are in the 6th. The lever will almost automatically downshift to the 5th gear.

 

[PDoz]

I thought this was more that higher quality shifters are targeted at users who perceive themselves above needing visual aids ? But apparently shimano make xt shifters with indicators ! I'll confess to a bit of gear snobbery here - " that's a kids shifter" ...I almost assume it'll clunk rather than click and never quite be in the right gear - hence it needs an indicator of where it thinks it is...looks like I'm wrong?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

looks like I'm wrong?

No, Shimano drive-trains of all groups are of high quality; and the optical aid is unnecessary in the MTB world with 1x chainrings that are now in fashion. The single chainring is also required by most of mid-motor e-bikes.

The optical indicator is really useful for multiple chainrings. Let us assume you are in the largest chainring and had downshifted too much towards large sprockets in the cassette. The chain becomes skewed and it is very bad for the chain as the lateral load appears; it is also taking some extra power from you and the motor. With the gear indicator it is clear you are already in 3-4 gear so you would downshift to the 2nd chainring if the need of further downshifting happens. I hope that's clear.

As I said before, the situation with commuter e-bikes is different from MTB. A typical commuter will approach red signals; to avoid high loads on the mid-motor drivetrain, the aware rider would downshift towards middle gears. When starting at the green signal, the loads on the drive-train would be reasonably low. Therefore, a commuter e-bike should have optical indicating shifter. Luckily, Shimano delivers higher class shifters with the optical gear indicator, too.

What I said about MTB, also corresponds to road bikes. A road cyclist does not need any optical gear aid, they want to keep matters as simple as possible. Since MTB and road cycling markets are lucrative, Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo make their top shifters without the gear indicator.

 

[PDoz]

Stefan, my giant full e pro ( mtb) came with an xt 2x front, 11 x rear ( no indicator ) . That's on a yamaha pwx motor. Admittedly it was widely criticised in the media for the unfashionable 2x front choice - unfashionabke AND not required . I may be wrong, but I think bosch are the only mid drives incapable of running multiple gears up front - not that there is any great need now that rear clusters have 500% ratios!

 

[indianajo]

Feel is no indicator. Everything felt like small rear sprocket today: my speed indicators told me I was just aging badly. Not riding enough long distances in the cold of winter.
My premium yubabike bodaboda came with indicators, from SRAM. If I didn't have them, I would buy them on the aftermarket. Taking off in large front sprocket at a stop sign with cross traffic coming could get one killed. The 0-20 feet time depends heavily on what sprocket ratio you have selected. 52 instead of 42 could add 4 seconds to the time to cross the street.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan, my giant full e pro ( mtb) came with an xt 2x front, 11 x rear ( no indicator ) . That's on a yamaha pwx motor. Admittedly it was widely criticised in the media for the unfashionable 2x front choice - unfashionabke AND not required . I may be wrong, but I think bosch are the only mid drives incapable of running multiple gears up front - not that there is any great need now that rear clusters have 500% ratios!

Of course you could replace the shifter but as I said gear indicators are not fashionable in the MTB world.

Now:

• Bosch
• Brose
• Shimano
• Most of Yamaha

only use 1x front chainring. Only some Yamaha powered e-bikes can be 2x. I think that's great and it was done on purpose. It is an MTB. You would like to ride steeply uphill in technical terrain, using the "granny gear". With many 1x chainrings, that would be the 32t one. With Giant, that would be 28/38t. The smaller chainring gives you an edge on climbing while the larger one makes it easy to achieve good speed on the flat. Moreover, such flexible solution makes it easy not to overload the drive-train in any situation.

Taking off in large front sprocket at a stop sign with cross traffic coming could get one killed.

Excellent point!

 

[gtpharr]

Taking off in large front sprocket at a stop sign with cross traffic coming could get one killed. The 0-20 feet time depends heavily on what sprocket ratio you have selected. 52 instead of 42 could add 4 seconds to the time to cross the street.

That is why most of us downshift as we are approaching a stop sign

 

[AHicks]

That is why most of us downshift as we are approaching a stop sign

I think most will be familiar with that concept, but some of us aren't that smart, forgetting to down shift, or plain and simple, not having time due to an unexpected stop (like a car turning in front of you).

 

[antboy]

I think most will be familiar with that concept, but some of us aren't that smart, forgetting to down shift, or plain and simple, not having time due to an unexpected stop (like a car turning in front of you).

When I'm recreational riding (bike paths, trails etc), I shift just enough that I don't mind having a visual reference (but don't need it).

When I'm doing more task-driven riding in the city though, I've gotten into the habit of not even bothering to shift.

When I'm in traffic lanes, I much prefer to stay in high physical gear and adjust my PAS instead, battery efficiency be damned.

From a dead stop (lights, or car making illegal U-turn cutting me off), I'll just thumb the throttle for a couple of seconds to get back up to speed.

To be honest, this dual behaviour has made consider a second bike that's more "bike-like" (torque sensor, mid-drive), and keep the fat tire as my all-weather errand boy, though I'd probably have to give up my acoustic bike for the space.

 

[6zfshdb]

To answer the OP's original question, no, I don't need a gear indicator but I'm glad my bike has one. It doesn't indicate what gear number is in use but rather a general range from high to low. I glance at it when stopping to know if I'm in a gear low enough to easily get started.

 

[justforfun]

To answer the OP's original question, no, I don't need a gear indicator but I'm glad my bike has one. It doesn't indicate what gear number is in use but rather a general range from high to low. I glance at it when stopping to know if I'm in a gear low enough to easily get started.

Same here.

 

[DouglasB]

I think it's sort of like learnig to use a keyboard. If you look at the keyboard when you're first learning, you will always need to look at the keyboard. Fortunately I had a typing teacher who forced us to not look and to this day, I can type without looking.

 

[PaD]

I think most will be familiar with that concept, but some of us aren't that smart, forgetting to down shift, or plain and simple, not having time due to an unexpected stop (like a car turning in front of you).

i have noticed that I forget downshifting before stops more often with my e-bike than I did with my regular bike. I think the power assist can be the reason for this. It’s so much easier now to go with a lower cadence and a higher gear.
There is an optical didplay on my 2020 Vado 5.0 and I like having an indicator on my handlebar even if it doesn’t show the exact gear. There was no indicator on my 2018 Vado 4.0 and I was ok with that but I prefer this years shifter with a display.