Shifting Gears

[sulis]

I have decided to jump into the world of biking and recently purchased a mountain bike. My only biking experience was as a child on a ten speed my father put together for me. I am ashamed to say that I haven't ridden in many many years...and well, this concept of shifting gears is completely foreign to me. So far I have only ridden on a fairly flat bike path but would like to venture out onto so more challenging trails. I have two sets of gears-- one at levels 1 2 3 (3 being the highest) and 7 sub levels within each of those gears. Oh my, had no idea there was so much to biking now. Can someone take pity on me and explain the concept of shifting gears? When should I have it on the higher resistence, when should I shift down etc? Thanks!

[Irulan]

You have three rings in the front, 8 or 9 in the back.

When you are in the biggest chain ring in the front, and the biggest gears in the back, those are your "lowest" gears: you use those for going up hills or going slow. The very lowest is your "granny" gear. If you are new to biking I bet you will be using it a lot ;-)

Using the biggest chain ring in the front is when you want the most speed and power... going fast down a grade for example.

The middle section of your casette ( what we call the back cluster of gears) are your most useful.

When you are in one gear and the pedaling gets easier, you want to go "up" a gear, up a number on the back, into a smaller ring on the back. Or, you can go up (bigger) in the front lets say from the inner to the middle chainring.

Same thing applies in reverse. If your pedaling is getting harder ( going up a hill) you want to go "down" a gear in the back... onto a bigger gear in the back, down a number.
And, go down one in the front,

Do's and Don'ts

Do not climb in a "big" or "high" gear. This is really hard on your knees. You want to be pedaling easy, not pushing.

Do not cross chain. This is, using your smallest ring in the front with the smallest gears in teh back. Or, big chainring in the front with biggest gears in the back. This is really hard on your chain. If this is where you need to be gearwise... go to the middle chain ring in the front and then find your correct gear in the back.

Do not shift under load. This means, with a lot of pressure on the pedals. Try and set up for what gear you need before you need it ( eespecially when going up hills) or, take the pressure off the pedals. Shifting underload is a major cause of chain suck.

hth

~Irulan

[Adventure Girl]

Originally posted by Irulan
You have three rings in the front, 8 or 9 in the back.

Mountain bikes almost all have 3 chain rings in the front and 8 or 9 in the back. Road bikes have 2 or 3 in front and 7 to 10 in the back.

Originally posted by Irulan
When you are in the biggest chain ring in the front, and the biggest gears in the back, those are your "lowest" gears: you use those for going up hills or going slow. The very lowest is your "granny" gear. If you are new to biking I bet you will be using it a lot ;-)

I'm sure this was just a typo. But to be in your lowest gear, you will be on the SMALLEST chain ring in the front.

Lowest gear: Small in front, big in back (Easiest to pedal. Used for climbing).

Biggest gear: Big in front, small in back (Hardest to pedal. Used for to speed).

You don't really need to remember all this, once you get in your bike a while, you'll learn which way to shift (front & back) to make it easier or harder to pedal!

Just go out there and ride!

[Irulan]

oh, good catch... yes either a typo or thinking way too hard. I had to keep pictturing a drive train in action while I was typing!!

I see an awful lot of mtb's with no big ring around here... they pull it off and put a bach guard on instead.

~I

[Veronica]

That's funny - as I was reading Irulan's post I was thinking why do I even have a big chain ring on my MTB?

V.

[Adventure Girl]

Originally posted by Irulan
I see an awful lot of mtb's with no big ring around here... they pull it off and put a bach guard on instead.

I've seen lots of mountain bikers without a granny, but I've never seen one without a big ring. Must be different riding conditions here.

[Irulan]

A lot of folks pull off the big ring and put on a bash guard if they are doing a lot of log hopping kind of technical stuff. I find that the only times I use my big ring are on something like a long gradual descent. Most of the terrain I ride is too variable to use the big ring very ofter... I keep mine for decoration.
DH/free riders usually only have two rings in the front.

shows you who I"m hanging out with these days....