$@!#$@ what gear am i in?

My first multiple speed bike was a trek, with numbers that showed me where I was. My second multiple speed bike was a Raleigh, with little dials that also showed me what gear i was in.

My lovely bianchi expects me to know a lot more. I've had it since May and I'd say there's 400 miles on it, and I still don't know where I am (gear wise) half the time!

I learned last week to keep it in the low gears for the inner chain ring, that i can use all the gears for the second chain ring, and if i'm ever in high, never
put it in the lowest gears.

I have really been trying to follow that, and sunday I managed (for the first time) to pop the chain right off. I had it in the highest rear gear and the inside chain ring.

So I started trying to keep track of each gear i was in.. Got halfway home last night and... i was in the high chain ring (outside) trying to go up the hill.
What!!

I CAN look but I can't see too well under there and i prefer to have my eyes on the road. Can anyone give me some pointers here?
thanks

A Campagnolo ErgoBrain computer tells you your gears right on the display, and integrates into your Campy levers - there are little 'dots' on your hoods that are used to change the screens on the computer.

ooooooooooooooooo new toy? I will check that out!!

I could point out that with downtube shifters, a quick glance at the shifters will give you a good idea what gear you are in. It's still a downward glance, but not as far down and back as trying to see your chainrings or cassette. But I still make occassional mistakes of not realizing that I'm in the large chainring. Not sure what to do other than trying to improve one's memory or taking the occassional downward glance.

i don't have downtube shifters, could you throw any other pointers my way?
I am reading the reviews on those Campagnolo computers aren't so good.

Not certain what components are on your bike but if Shimano Ultegra or Dura Ace, you can get and use a FLIGHTDECK computer. The Computer is awesome. Shows you what gear you are in, tells you when you shift what ger you are going in and also has some great computer features hard to get like cadence. When I first switched from down tube shifters to my Ultegra components the FLIGHTDECK realy helped me learned where I was and where I needed to be. Don't use it anymore 'cause I can tell by feel where I am, but for a couple fo years, it was invaluable.

A more elegant solution is the little indicator that comes on some Shimano equipped bikes. It goes right inline with the shifter cable housing and looks a bit like a little bubble level, but with 9 hash marks instead of 3. the little indicator moves to show you wich gear that you are in. Small unobtrusive, but lets you know right away what gear you are in.

yeah, that's kind of what i had on my raleigh.

Mimi,
I had to get used to my numberless bar end shifters as well.
My only advice to you might be to stay in the middle ring up front while you keep changing the only rear gears back and forth to get used to the feel of those. (needless to say, don't attempt steep hills while you do this).
Once that all becomes really familiar, try staying in a middle-ish gear in the back while you ride around switching between the front middle and small(uphill)gear. Forget the front big gear for now, you can get to know that one later.

These two exercises might help you get a better feel of the gearing, as they did for me.

P.S. Better to lose the old mindset of mentally wanting to have gears numbered or named in your mind. Think big and small or instead of numbers.

Just think of the front small gear as not being needed unless you are going uphill in some way. Think of the middle front gear as good for most level riding.
Then think of the rear gears as being fine tuning variations for those front gears.
Then, it logically follows that you wouldn't want to be in your most "uphill" gear in back(biggest ring) paired with your most "downhill" gear in front(biggest ring). Or vice versa. Maybe I'm off the mark, but this way of seeing it helped me.

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

i don't have downtube shifters, could you throw any other pointers my way?
I am reading the reviews on those Campagnolo computers aren't so good.

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Mine was included with my eBay Colnago purchase - for free, it works well.

The ErgoBrain and the Shimano Flightdeck are supposedly the same computers, modified for Campy/Shimano differences. Both made by Cateye. At least this is what I've heard.

some of the reviewers sound like idiots, but i'm not much better when it comes to little electronic gadgets. Do all campy shifters have the little bumps?
(I never saw any bumps!)

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

I learned last week to keep it in the low gears for the inner chain ring, that i can use all the gears for the second chain ring, and if i'm ever in high, never
put it in the lowest gears.

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OK, I am a newbie. I hadn't been told this. Why am I not supposed to be on the big rings both in front and back. On my 10-year-old Diamondback hybrid bike, sometimes that's the only way I can get enough speed to keep up with the road bikes in my group. Some of the guys have yelled at me in the past that I'm not supposed to ride there, but if I drop the front down to the middle, I just exhaust myself spinning. I'm more comfortable pedaling at a more moderate pace, which also gives me more speed, on the big rings.

I'm picking up my new LeMond any day now, so if there's something I need to know here, someone had better tell me quickly! :eek:

it stretches your chain. it wears stuff out.

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Originally Posted by Eden

A more elegant solution is the little indicator that comes on some Shimano equipped bikes. It goes right inline with the shifter cable housing and looks a bit like a little bubble level, but with 9 hash marks instead of 3. the little indicator moves to show you wich gear that you are in. Small unobtrusive, but lets you know right away what gear you are in.

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Ditto. I have one. My favorite LBS put it on when I asked them to. Sure makes it nice and easy and not that expensive.

I'm old school, I started riding bikes before they had all these markings on shifters, etc.,etc. So, if you don't have them, you figure out a way to keep track of where you are. As you are aware crossing over is not good.

I've been riding so long that i'm not sure how I learned to do this or hardly how I do this, but let me give a stab at this.

so, say you have 10 gears in back and it sounds like you have a triple up front. (I'm lucky only two in front so I don't have to keep track of 3); just start thinking in sets of five. If you have gone to your small chain ring, you have most likely changed your rear cassette to a lower gear as well, so think if I'm down here, I have 1-3 (most probably, you could have 5 but this would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise) shifts before I go to another chain ring. Then go to the next ring. If you can been in most gears in back in the middle chain ring - there's a place you don't have to pay much attention and then when you are in your big chain ring the same applies as above. Pretty soon with practice, you will pretty much know what gears you are in or close enough.

My husband every once in a while catches me in a cross over even after 20 years of riding - it usually happens when I'm on a casual ride and I'm blabbing my mouth too much! Oh, well, who's perfect?

Hope this helps, but it is hard to remember how I know this stuff sometimes since it comes natural most of the time now, except of course, when I'm not paying the slightest attention to my bike!

When I started riding my first adult bike, I counted the teeth on each chainring and each rear sprocket, then made up a tiny three-columned chart (handwritten--it was the early 80s and I had never even used a computer), then taped it to my handlebar stem. :rolleyes: Does the term "geek" come to mind here? Anyway, that helped me get used to what was where, and since I had downtube shifters, I was able eventually to get a feel for which position meant which gear and, thank goodness, get rid of the little chart.

Fast-forward to the 21st century. Now I have barend shifters, but I'm pretty much operating on feel, in the sense described by Spokewench and Lisa. I use the middle chainring for most flat riding and not-too-aggressive ups and downs, move down to the smallest chainring when the hills get too steep, and reach for the largest one when I'm flying downhill and want to keep spinning as long as possible to take advantage of that hill. Then I use the rear gears for fine-tuning, avoiding the crossover thing as much as possible, of course.

This works pretty well for me. I still do an ungraceful move sometimes when I'm reaching for an easier gear, but in general, I'm reasonably smooth for someone using barcons. And no more geeky little chart!:o

Eden "A more elegant solution is the little indicator that comes on some Shimano equipped bikes. It goes right inline with the shifter cable housing and looks a bit like a little bubble level, but with 9 hash marks instead of 3. the little indicator moves to show you wich gear that you are in. Small unobtrusive, but lets you know right away what gear you are in."

me me me! waving hands!!:) :p I've got that! on Campy no less!!

When I try to look back and see what gear I'm in I ride into trees ;)
When I try to remember what gear I'm in I forget :o
I heard reviews that Ergo Brain is expensive and hard to install and maintain....

My LBS suggested the bubble thing and it works well. No more guessing if I have gears left, I can see "whoopee, I'm climbing well in a bigger gear". It's small, unobtrusive, elegant....not unlike me heh ;) :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Trek420

me me me! waving hands!!:) :p I've got that! on Campy no less!!

When I try to look back and see what gear I'm in I ride into trees ;)
When I try to remember what gear I'm in I forget :o
I heard reviews that Ergo Brain is expensive and hard to install and maintain....
;) :rolleyes:

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Trek, Spoke Wench,
thank you all; valuable advise. I am almost riding into a lot of trees.
I do try and stay in the middle chainring! HONEST!
I think part of what is going on is i am still forgetting shifting; left to right and right to left and all that stuff too.

I will look into that shimano thingy.

Juju, putting those numbers on my handlebars will NOT help me. It is just one more thing I'd have to look at!

Does anybody know what the little bubble thingy is called?:rolleyes:

yeah, shimano what?
so we can buy it.

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Originally Posted by snapdragen

Does anybody know what the little bubble thingy is called?:rolleyes:

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I just found one called "Dura-Ace 9-Speed Right Hand In line Gear Display" They also make one for 10-speeds. Unfortunately, there's no info on how big the thing is or how to install it.

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Originally Posted by MDHillSlug

I just found one called "Dura-Ace 9-Speed Right Hand In line Gear Display" They also make one for 10-speeds. Unfortunately, there's no info on how big the thing is or how to install it.

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In Line gear display is good. i can say that to my LBS

thanks!

Over-simplified reply but it will work until you get the hang of it.

Stay in your middle chainring up front. When you run out of gears to make it easier to pedal, shift to your inside (smaller chainring up front). This will most likely make your pedals have no resistance so you will need to shift to a harder gear in the back.

When in the middle chainring and you run out of gears to make it harder to pedal, shift to your outside (largest chainring up front). You may need to shift your back gear to an easier gear.

Move back to your middle chainring up front as soon as possible to prevent crossover - which wears out the chain and your gears sooner.

MDHillSlug and all, though it says "Dura-Ace 9-Speed..." I have Record 10 speed and it works!

My LBS said there was a chance it would not work and if so then Ergo Brain would be next step...don't know how he did it but....

Flightdeck is nice, you get speed, distance, gearing AND cadence. But only for the Shimano equiped.

Ah! found another link: http://www.bikemannetwork.com/biking...RDPRTSH/LD7706

I wonder if my raggedy a**, can't see to read without glasses, eyes would be able to see it......

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Originally Posted by li10up

Stay in your middle chainring up front. When you run out of gears to make it easier to pedal, shift to your inside (smaller chainring up front). This will most likely make your pedals have no resistance so you will need to shift to a harder gear in the back.

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Actually, this advice can be a little dangerous. You should shift your front chainring before you run out of gears in back. If you are in your middle chainring and shift all the way to your largest cog (or sometimes even second largest) in back before shifting to "granny" in front (if you need it), you have a very good chance of dropping your chain to the inside. Been there, done that! It will stop you dead on a climb, making it very hard to get going again once you stop and put your chain back on. Much better is to shift in front only when you're, say, on the third cog in back. It puts much less stress on your drivetrain and you are much less likely to drop your chain.

I find it pretty natural to take a quick glance down to my front chainrings to see which chainring I'm in, if I forget, and even to glance back between my legs to see which cog I'm in, but I've been riding for years. It can be harder to do on a mountain bike on trails, and it does take some practice. Because I've been doing this on road bikes for so long, I totally forget to use the little gear indicators on my mountain bike gear shifters. I need to remember that those are there for my convenience (and safety)!

Emily

I have Bar End shifters, so I can't answer the Shimano/Campy thing... but a quick glance down and back between your legs is pretty easy.

I've been staying out of my smallest gear recently and find this easy to do even while climbing to see how many gears I have left before the smallest.

V.

PS Lisa with bar ends - straight up for the rear is the easy gears, the middle is the middle gears, straight down is the hard gear. Yes there is some variance in there, but this line of thinking works for me. :) And it doesn't need to be exact, you just need to glance to keep from cross chaining.

Had Shimano brifters on my Trek. Don't know how I knew what gear i was in, but after a month or two I didn't need to look anymore.

I'm hoping the transition to Campy will somehow resurrect that knowlege.

It has been kinda fun with the number indicator thingies on my BikeE and my Kona. Instant gear identification!

So...I used to have indicators on the Sirrus, but when I got the Eros Donna without them, I just learned to go by feel, always being careful not to crosschain. No problems so far at all. And I really don't like looking down when I ride.

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Originally Posted by Veronica

PS Lisa with bar ends - straight up for the rear is the easy gears, the middle is the middle gears, straight down is the hard gear. Yes there is some variance in there, but this line of thinking works for me. :) And it doesn't need to be exact, you just need to glance to keep from cross chaining.

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Yes, thanks, I have been using this same thinking, and it's working pretty well for me. I'm doing ok! :)

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

Actually, this advice can be a little dangerous. You should shift your front chainring before you run out of gears in back. If you are in your middle chainring and shift all the way to your largest cog (or sometimes even second largest) in back before shifting to "granny" in front (if you need it), you have a very good chance of dropping your chain to the inside. Been there, done that! It will stop you dead on a climb, making it very hard to get going again once you stop and put your chain back on. Much better is to shift in front only when you're, say, on the third cog in back. It puts much less stress on your drivetrain and you are much less likely to drop your chain.

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That's why I said it was overly simplified. Doing what I suggested one time would show the rider that she needed to be in a couple of gears harder in the back (smaller cog). So once she got to the biggest cog she would then know to shift up two gears before droping down into her smallest chainring. This would then naturally lead into knowing when to shift into her smallest chainring without doing the double shifting....a learning process.

I'm with you, mimi. Every bike I've ever owned has had numbers to tell me what gear I'm in. Not the Bianchi. So I do it by feel. I realized I like the numbers because it lets me know how far "up" or "down" I have to go before I need to shift from big to little ring. Doing it by feel is working pretty well.

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Originally Posted by li10up

That's why I said it was overly simplified. Doing what I suggested one time would show the rider that she needed to be in a couple of gears harder in the back (smaller cog). So once she got to the biggest cog she would then know to shift up two gears before droping down into her smallest chainring. This would then naturally lead into knowing when to shift into her smallest chainring without doing the double shifting....a learning process.

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I think Emily's advice is excellent. I've met many a rider that did not figure out why they kept dropping their chain -- and many of them would fall on steep climbs as a consequence, not to mention damage to the frame.

There are very few hills where I live and I hardly ever shift, so the only time this happens to me on my Bianchi is when my husband has been working on it or riding it and has left it in some weirdo gear and I don't notice until we are on our ride. I can see the front chain ring okay (not that that helps, I think I have been off the middle chain ring once in each direction; the triple is totally wasted on me) but I can't see the rear, so if I really can't tell by feel I just ride ahead of him and make him tell me what gear I'm in.

If I don't start riding some place with hills I should probably sell that bike, because if all I ever use is "middle/middle," with occasional forays into "middle/left of middle" and "middle/right of middle," I could probably get by with a three-speed Raleigh.

Xeney, you can always come with me on one of my hill-seeking rides!

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Originally Posted by salsabike

So...I used to have indicators on the Sirrus, but when I got the Eros Donna without them, I just learned to go by feel, always being careful not to crosschain. No problems so far at all. And I really don't like looking down when I ride.

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I also ride a Sirrus (it really is a good commuter, even if it's not a fancy road bike with drop bars) and while I like the indicators, I use them very little and instead ride by feel. Why? Well, two reasons. First of all, I learned to ride with gears on an old Univega hybrid, and it didn't have any markings. Second, I was doing a large part of my riding at night, and since the indicators aren't backlit, they were useless. Not that lit indicators wouldn't be pretty cool. :)