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

[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!

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[KnottedYet]

Had Shimano brifters on my Trek. Don't know how I knew what gear i was in, but after a month or two I didn't need to look anymore.

I'm hoping the transition to Campy will somehow resurrect that knowlege.

It has been kinda fun with the number indicator thingies on my BikeE and my Kona. Instant gear identification!

[salsabike]

So...I used to have indicators on the Sirrus, but when I got the Eros Donna without them, I just learned to go by feel, always being careful not to crosschain. No problems so far at all. And I really don't like looking down when I ride.