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

[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?

[mimitabby]

yeah, shimano what?
so we can buy it.

[HillSlugger]

Does anybody know what the little bubble thingy is called?

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.

[mimitabby]

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.

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

thanks!

[li10up]

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.

[snapdragen]

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......

[emily_in_nc]

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.

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

[Veronica]

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.

[li10up]

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.

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.

[Trek420]

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.