New Rider/Help

[VeloVT]

Welcome SueSue,

Here's the deal with your front chainrings:
--the smallest ring has your easiest gears, for climbing hills. the medium ring is likely to be your "cruising" gear for a while at least, for a lot of your flat/lightly rolling terrain. the big chainring is your hardest gear, for going fast downhill and for major power efforts on flat to rolling terrain.

--I conceptualize the front gears as being "the opposite" from the back gears, because in the back, bigger=easier and smaller=harder, and it's just the opposite in the front. however, I suppose you could conceptualize it this way: shifting (the chain) away from the frame always yields harder gears, while shifting the chain towards the frame always yields easier gears.

--assuming you have Shimano STI shifters, the big brake lever will shift you into larger (harder) gears in the front, while the small inner lever will shift you into smaller (easier) gears.

--you want to avoid extreme combinations (innermost ring on the front + outermost cog(s) on the back and vice versa); this can cause premature chain wear, noise, and rough shifting/dropped chains.

--you usually need to let up on the pedals a little for a moment to get a perfectly clean shift in the front. this doesn't mean you have to stop pedaling, just soft pedal for a revolution. also, depending on your components, you may find that shifting up, into larger chain rings in the front, requires a big shove (they have improved a lot in just the past 2-3 years in this regard though). if this is the case, practice doing it decisively -- otherwise you can miss the shift. conversely, it's likely you'll only need a small tap to shift into the easier gears, and it *IS* possible to overshift on the way down and drop your chain, so it's good to practice this a fair bit and get a feel for your bike's gears. if, after a shift, your chain moves to the right ring but rattles, you can "trim" it so it's centered properly on the ring by tapping one or the other lever *just a litte*. if you do drop your chain, you can often sweep it back up by *not panicking* , and quickly shifting up. when I first got clipless pedals (and was still clumsy at clipping/unclipping and still not very good at shifting), my biggest fear was dropping my chain going up a steep hill and not being able to clip out in time, and going down. fortunately it never happened, my clip-out reflexes in emergency situations were better than I thought and I learned how to pick the chain back up without stopping .

hope this doesn't serve to confuse you more . sometimes my explanations are not the clearest, but I try .

good luck and have fun with your new bike!

[SueSue]

Thanks for all the info. I'll have to re-read the info 12 times to get all into my old brain!

[Zen]

Sue- what kind of bike did you get and where in VA are you?

[Melalvai]

Turn your bike upside down, or get someone to hold the rear wheel off the ground for you, and run it through all the gears. You'll see how shifting onto the biggest front chainring makes it hard to pedal, and shifting onto the smallest front chainring makes it really easy.

In the rear, it's the opposite, because when you change gears, you are actually changing the gear RATIO.

I just think it really helps to see what is happening when you change gears, and you can't see it when you are riding.

[tulip]

Welcome to TE, SueSue. Liza covered the shifting issue nicely. On my triple-chainring (3 rings up front), I usually stay in the middle one and shift the rear gears. On big climbs (not often chez moi) I'll go into the little front ring. When I'm feeling really strong, I'll go into the big front ring and jam, or some semblance thereof

There are several TE folks in Virginia.

[IFjane]

Welcome to TE, SueSue.
There are several TE folks in Virginia.

Me! me! me!

I'm in Virginia, too, Suesue. Welcome and let us know where you are located. Maybe some of us are nearby and can help you out.