Quote Originally Posted by Lise
I know how to shift. I just don't know which is called "down" and which is "up" shifting. Is it "down" shifting to make it easier for the wheels to go around, and "up" shifting when you have to work harder? This maybe the dumbest question yet in this thread!
Warning I think I may actually confuse this matter more!

I think that it may actually depend on what "bike generation" you belong to. I have always thought of shifting up as going to a harder gear and down as to an easier gear. Mind you I started with down tube shifters and if you moved the shifter up you went to a harder gear and down to an easier gear.

With integrated shifters you are now essentially shifing sideways rather than up and down. Now I've heard at least one person referring to shifting up as up to a larger ring on the rear cluster, which is an easier gear, and vice versa.

In any case this is just speculation - maybe the up and down designations spring from gear ratios? or something else all together. Most of the people that I know refer to shifting up as going to a harder gear and down to an easier one and its the odd one out that uses it the other way around.