Ask whether you need gears on an electric bike and you'll hear two confident answers: “no, the motor does the work” and “yes, obviously.” Both are half right. A motor changes what gears are for without making them pointless, and on a hub-motor bike like the Air Max the gears and the motor do two different jobs. This guide covers what a 7-speed actually does on a commuter of about 62 lb, how to shift without fighting the assist, and when you could honestly live without gears.
In this guide
- The short answer
- What gears do when there's a motor
- What's on the Air Max
- Why a hub motor changes the picture
- How to shift with pedal assist
- Which gear when: a cheat sheet
- Gears, battery and chain wear
- Choosing a bike: how much gearing is enough
- Where to go next
The short answer: not strictly, but you'll want them
You don't strictly need gears on an e-bike. The motor covers a lot of what a gear does on a regular bicycle: you can pull away, hold a pace and get over a modest rise without touching a shifter. E-bike makers say as much. Ride1Up's own explainer on this question (checked October 2026) says riders on flat roads may get by without gears, and that gears become useful on steep inclines and for keeping pedal assist low, since leaning on the motor alone drains the battery much faster.
“Not strictly” is not the same as “not worth having.” Three situations are where a gear still earns its place on a bike like this:
- Pulling away. Starting from a stop is the most demanding moment of any ride, and a heavy bike makes it more so. An easy gear makes those first pedal strokes light.
- Hills and headwinds. Both ask more of you and more of the battery. A lower gear is one way to pay that cost; a higher assist level is the other.
- Range. Asking the motor to do everything is the fastest way through a battery. Our range guide lists “use gears at launch” among its ten ways to ride farther for exactly this reason.
What gears do when there's a motor
A gear trades force for speed at your pedals. In an easy gear the pedals turn many times for each turn of the wheel, so each push takes little force. In a hard gear they turn fewer times and each push takes more. Cyclists call the easy end “low” and the hard end “high,” which trips up newcomers: shifting to a lower gear makes pedaling easier, not slower. On a conventional chain drive, the larger the rear sprocket, the easier the gear.
The point is to keep your legs turning at a steady, comfortable rhythm (your cadence) whatever the bike is doing. A motor adds to your effort; it doesn't remove the need for that rhythm. Grinding away from a stop in a gear that's too hard feels bad with or without assist, and so does spinning your legs flat out in a gear that's too easy at speed.
There's one extra wrinkle on a torque-sensor bike like the Air Max. A torque sensor scales assist to how hard you actually push, so a gear that makes you grind asks the motor for more help, while a gear that lets you turn a lighter, steadier effort asks for less. Gear choice and assist level are two dials for the same job: how much of the work comes from you and how much from the battery.
What's on the Air Max
Here is what the Air Max spec sheet says about the parts that matter for this question. Nothing in the table is derived or estimated.
| Part | Published spec | What it means for shifting |
|---|---|---|
| Drivetrain | Shimano 7-speed · 52T · 14–28T | Seven gears to choose from |
| Motor | 750W rear hub, 900W peak, 85 Nm | Drives the wheel directly, not through the chain |
| Sensor | Bilateral torque sensor | Assist follows how hard you pedal |
| Controls | Pedal assist plus throttle | The throttle drives the same hub, in any gear |
| Top assisted speed | 28 mph | Assist covers speeds up to this |
| Complete bike | About 62 lb | Heavy enough that your starting gear matters |
A note on those tooth counts. The sheet lists “52T” and “14–28T.” By the usual convention the first is the front chainring and the second is the span of rear sprocket sizes, which is where the seven gears live. We haven't published gear ratios for the bike and won't work them out from two numbers on a spec sheet, so treat the tooth counts as a label, not a calculation.
A hub motor doesn't care what gear you're in
The Air Max motor sits in the rear hub and spins the wheel directly. It doesn't push power through the chain, so it has no idea which gear you've selected. Our hub vs. mid-drive guide covers the engineering; three practical consequences matter here.
- Gears help your legs, not the motor. On a mid-drive bike, shifting down multiplies the motor's torque too. On a hub bike it doesn't. That's why a hub-motor commuter suits flat-to-rolling streets and isn't the right tool for a long, steep daily climb, and our hill-climbing guide is blunt about it. A low gear makes your share of a climb easier, and that's all.
- The chain only carries you. Because the motor isn't pulling on the chain, the drivetrain handles your pedaling and nothing else. That's why hub bikes don't wear chains and cassettes as fast as mid-drives do, and it makes shifting under assist gentler on the parts.
- The throttle ignores gears too. If you ride mostly on throttle you'll rarely touch the shifter, but throttle-heavy riding is also the most battery-hungry way to use the bike, so a seven-speed you never shift isn't helping your range.
How to shift with pedal assist (and the throttle)
None of this is specific to e-bikes. It's ordinary bicycle technique, and the how-to guides from e-bike makers say much the same. It matters a little more with a motor underneath you, because a heavy bike at speed punishes a bad shift.
- Keep the pedals turning. Chain-and-sprocket gears only change while the chain is moving. The tooth counts on the spec sheet point to a conventional drivetrain like that, so shifting while you coast, or while you're on the throttle without pedaling, won't move the chain.
- Ease off the pedal pressure for a moment. You don't need to stop pedaling. Just lighten your push as you click the shifter. On this bike the chain carries only your effort, so a brief easing is all it takes, and on a torque-sensor bike the assist eases with you.
- Shift one gear at a time and let the chain settle before you shift again.
- Shift early. Change down before the hill starts, not halfway up it. Change down before a stop while you're still rolling, so the next start is already in an easy gear.
- Learn which way your lever goes. Shifter layouts differ between bikes, and published guides don't agree on which direction means easier. Check the manual and spend a minute shifting somewhere quiet.
Which gear when: a practical cheat sheet
There's no magic gear number, and we won't invent one. The target is a steady, comfortable cadence; this table is how to get there from the situations a commute throws at you.
| Situation | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pulling away from a light | Start in an easy gear | Restarts are among the highest-drain moments for the battery, and the hardest for your legs on a bike of about 62 lb |
| Cruising on the flat | Shift up until your legs turn at a steady, comfortable rhythm | Too easy and you spin without getting anywhere; too hard and you grind |
| Approaching a hill | Shift down before the slope, not on it | Shifting under heavy load is rough on the chain and hard to do cleanly |
| Headwind | Drop a gear before you raise the assist level | Gear and assist are two dials for the same effort, and the gear costs no battery |
| Coming to a stop | Downshift while still rolling | The next start is already sorted |
| Rolling downhill or with a tailwind | Shift up so your legs aren't spinning loose | You stay in contact with the pedals and can add effort when you want to |
Gears, battery and chain wear
Range. When the battery is what you're worried about, the order of operations is: get into the right gear first, lower the assist level second, and reach for the throttle last. Our range guide puts the Air Max's planning figures at roughly 51 miles for mixed riding and about 31 miles for heavy-throttle riding, against a 121-mile rated maximum. Those are arithmetic estimates, not test results, but they show how far your riding style moves the number. Two batteries (921.6 Wh combined) give you margin; they don't make gear choice irrelevant.
Chain wear. A chain is a wear item. Our warranty page lists chains under “what's not covered,” as consumable and wear items alongside tires, brake pads, cables and grips, while the six covered components are the frame, motor, battery, controller, LCD display and charger. That's normal for any bike, and it's one more reason to shift gently: forcing gear changes under heavy pedal load is how chains and sprockets wear faster than they should. Keep the chain clean, and when you wash the bike keep degreaser to the chain and drivetrain only, applied with a rag and away from the frame, as the care guide describes.
Choosing a bike: how much gearing is enough?
Our buying checklist covers motor and sensor type but doesn't give gearing its own item, so treat this as the addendum. Questions worth asking about any e-bike:
- Hub or mid-drive? This decides whether gears multiply the motor's torque or only your own effort.
- What does your route look like? If it's short and flat, a single-speed e-bike is a legitimate, lower-maintenance choice. Rolling hills or a long commute make a geared bike easier to live with.
- How wide is the sprocket range, not just how many speeds? A 7-speed with a narrow spread and a 7-speed with a wide one are different bikes. Ask for the tooth counts, the way the Air Max sheet gives them (52T and 14–28T).
- What will the drivetrain need, and who does it? Chains and cables are wear items on every bike. Ask before you buy, not after.
- Can you try the shifter? Feel matters. Mihogo USA offers a 14-day return window, enough to ride the bike through a real commute before you commit.
The honest read on the Air Max: the 7-speed is there so you can hold a steady rhythm and keep assist low, which is useful on rolling commuter terrain. It isn't a way around the physics of a hub motor on a steep climb, and if you'd never shift anyway, a simpler bike is a fair answer to your question.
Where to go next
If a hub-motor commuter with a torque sensor and seven gears sounds like the way you ride, the Air Max review has the full spec sheet with the pros and cons laid out, including the parts that aren't strengths. And if you've already decided, the bike is on the Air Max page at $999.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need gears on an electric bike?
Not strictly. The motor covers much of what a gear does on a short, flat ride, and some e-bikes ship with a single speed. Gears still earn their place for pulling away, hills and headwinds, and for stretching the battery, because an easier gear lets you keep assist low. On a hub-motor bike like the Mihogo Air Max, gears help your legs rather than the motor, so they matter most for the part of the work you contribute.
Can you shift gears while using pedal assist or the throttle?
You can shift with assist on, and ordinary bicycle technique applies. Keep the pedals turning, because chain-and-sprocket gears only change while the chain is moving, and ease off the pedal pressure for a moment as you shift. Coasting or riding on the throttle alone won't change gears. We don't state whether the Air Max controller briefly cuts assist during a shift, so don't rely on it.
Which gear should you start in on an e-bike?
An easy one. Pulling away is the hardest moment of a ride for your legs and one of the most expensive for the battery, and a bike of about 62 lb, like the Air Max, makes it more so. Shift down while you're still rolling toward a stop so the next start is already in an easy gear.
How many gears does the Mihogo Air Max have?
Its spec sheet lists a Shimano 7-speed drivetrain with 52T and 14–28T tooth counts. We haven't published gear ratios, so we don't quote any.
Does a hub motor make gears pointless?
No, but it changes what they do. A hub motor drives the wheel directly, so it doesn't care which gear you're in, and shifting down doesn't multiply its torque the way it does on a mid-drive. On the Air Max, gears make your own pedaling easier and help you hold a steady cadence; they don't turn a hub motor into a steep-hill climber. Our hill-climbing guide covers that trade-off.