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

[DebW]

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.

[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.

[Pedal Wench]

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.

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.

[mimitabby]

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!)

[spokewench]

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!

[Bad JuJu]

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. 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!

[bcipam]

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.

[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.

[mimitabby]

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

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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.

[Surlygirl]

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.

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.

[Trek420]

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!! 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
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

[mimitabby]

me me me! waving hands!! 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
I heard reviews that Ergo Brain is expensive and hard to install and maintain....

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!

[snapdragen]

Does anybody know what the little bubble thingy is called?