bike gears for dummies

sogg

Please no judgement here - I know I'm gonna come across like such an idiot but i need help figuring out my bike gears!! Too embarrassed to ask anyone I know so decided here would be nice and anonymous!! I'm a complete newbie (the last bike i owned was pink with a flowery basket on the front), but have invested in a giant avail. Was just using the gears on the left to begin with which was grand when i was just cycling round the park (one gear up, one gear down, and in between for the flat!), but really doesn't work when there's lots of terrain in between! Have googled lots of tutorials but still can't seem to make sense of them because they're not specific for my bike. Would love it just in plain english - not even telling me to shift up or down but just what i should PHYSICALLY do when i come to a hill (e.g. "click that black thing on your right..."), what i should do then when I'm back on the flat etc. Not worried about the theory, just the practicalities!! Can anyone help??

flickerx

OK, first of all you need to work out what kind of new groupset you want to put on your bike, many people here prefer shimano tiagra...

Seriously though.

When you are going up a hill - you want the chain to be on the smallest front ring (the chainrings), and at the back to be on the largest ring (of the cassette, this is the thing on your back wheel that the chain goes around, with all different sizes). This will help you get up the hill easier.

When you are going down a hill, you want the chain to be on the largest front chainring, and on the back on the smallest ring of the cassette (i.e. the opposite way around to the above). This is a tight gear and will help you still get traction to turn your back wheel even if you are going fast.

When you're on the flat, try somewhere in the middle.

Play around with your gear shifters to produce the desired effect.
You'll work it out eventually with use.

Nice bike.

tomasrojo

This is your bike?



For most terrain (including ascending modest hills), you'd be ok putting the chain on the middle ring at the front and leaving it there. If you've only two rings at the front, leave it on the smaller one.

Then concentrate on your right hand. Pulling the brake lever towards the centre line of the bike makes it easier to cycle (the wheel turns less for each revolution of the pedals) and pushing the thumb lever makes it harder (the wheels turns more for each revolution). So when you're find it hard going on your legs (for example, going uphill), pull the brake lever towards the centre line; when you find you can't go any faster even though you're pedalling as fast as you can, press the thumb lever.

I'm assuming that your gear levers work like mine. But you already know how the left-hand levers work, so you should be able to figure out the right-hand ones too. They just work the opposite of what you're used to; the action on the left-hand side that makes it harder to cycle makes it easier when performed on the right hand side, and vice versa.

cdaly_

This is pretty simple.

In a low gear, one turn of the pedals moves the bike a small distance. This is easy to pedal but you cannot go very fast.
In a high gear, one turn of the pedals moves the bike a greater distance. This is harder to pedal but you can go faster.

Low gear is for climbing hills and for starting off from stopped.
High gear is for downhill and for cycling fast.

I'm assuming that you have "rapid fire" gear shifters where you push the brake lever sideways until it clicks to change gear one way and click a button to change the other way. You already have the principle with the left hand shifter: Push sideways to change to a higher gear, click button with finger to change to a lower gear. The right hand shifter works the same way only backwards!

Using the right hand shifter, push sideways to change "down" to a lower gear. Click with your finger to change "up" to a higher gear.

The difference between left and right hand shifters is about how fine or coarse the gear change is. The left hand shifter gives you coarse changes. You change from a high "set" to a medium "set" to a low "set" of gears.
The right hand shifter gives you fine changes. You change from high to not quite high, then to higher than meduim, then to medium, to lower than medium, to not quite low, to low.

In the normal course, you would stay in the middle with the left shifter and change gears as needed with the right.
When you get to the fast bit of road (downhill or with a tailwind or, indeed, improved fitness) shift the left to high and again change gears as required with the right.
For the uphill bits (you can often remain in the middle unless it gets steep), shift the left to low and change gears as required with the right.

If you want the technical stuff, you'll see there are three cogs attached to the pedals. These are "chainrings" and are controlled by the left shifter. Push sideways to change to the bigger chainring (higher gear), click with finger to change to a smaller chainring (lower gear).
Now look at the rear wheel. You'll see 7,8 or 9 cogs called "sprockets". Here the small sprocket is the highest gear, the biggest is the lowest gear. These are controlled by the right shifter. Push sideways to change to the bigger sprocket (lower gear), click with the finger to change to a smaller sprocket (higher gear).

Happy cycling!...

Block (8

cdaly_ wrote: »

Low gear is for climbing hills and for starting off from stopped.
High gear is for downhill and for cycling fast.

Oops I always use high gear for starting off from stopped so as to give me more time and momentum to attach my other cleat.

Never mind me though because when you guys talk about high and low gears I always get them confused with car gears

mockler007

use what is easy for you, if it feels hard drop a gear, slip gears for climbing
legs move really fast, harder gears move really slow for straights and gong downhill. the gears up the front are simple the small bottom one is slip, and the big outer one is hard for downhill for straights , ask your mates and stop being sad, were cyclists, we like to help:rolleyes:

sogg

Thanks for all the advice....cyclists really do like to help!! Yup that's my bike alright, mine's a prettier colour though

That was exactly the level of basic I needed.....so I do the OPPOSITE with my right hand to what I was doing with my left. Aaahh!

beans

Also, have a look to see what hand-changes correspond to which changes of the chain on the sprockets. It should fall into place as you get more experience - like learning to shift in a car, it'll become second-nature.

Good luck.

Lumen

This reminds me of the legendary pedalling backwards thread.

Dr.Millah

A very easy way to think of it is

Move the chain closer to the frame of the bike makes pedaling easy
Move the chain away from the frame makes pedaling hard.

All the different options just allow you to pedal at the same RPM at different speeds.

concussion

Lumen wrote: »

This reminds me of the legendary pedalling backwards thread.

That thread was gold. Thanks for the reminder

kincsem

One way to think about it -

The gear shift for the front chainrings is on the left handlebar. You change the gears on the front chainring less (it has two or three big sprockets) as there are big differences in sprocket size / numbers on the big front rings. This is useful if you are right handed because left handed changes are more awkward.

When you push the left gear-change lever to the right it moves the chain to the right (and on to a bigger chainring.)

Most of your gearchanges will be with the gearchanger on the right handlebar. This changes the small sprockets at the back on ring at a time. It you push this lever to the right the chain at the back goes to the right and on to a smaller sprocket. Push it to the left and the rear chain moves left on to a bigger (and easier to pedal) sprocket.

If the chain is on the big ring at the front (52 teeth) and on the small 12 ring sprocket at the back when you do one pedal turn of the big ring at the front the small ring at the back must turn 52/12 = 4.33 turns so you go very fast (more than four wheel turns). This gear would be good for going on the flat or downhill.

However, if you have the chain on the 30 ring (smallest) at the front and the 25 ring ring at the back (biggest) one turn of the pedals will turn the back wheel 30/25 = 1.2 turns. This would be good for going up a steep hill as it is easier to turn.

kincsem

Oh yeah, I forgot one thing. Nice bike.

I assume you are female. If you meet a male cyclist do not be surprised if he checks out your bike first before checking you out.

sogg

Yeah i am growing to love the bike - got some really good advice before buying. Have noticed that about the male cyclists alright, didn't take me long to follow the eye gaze, but for all of 2.4 seconds there i was thinking i must look THAT good in lycra......

I like that about thinking where the chain is in relation to the frame - logical!

canice

i am VERY new to this cycling thing myself and recently bought a lappierre bike. I have fallen head over heals in love with it:D:D:D:D.....
i am slowly but surely figuring out the gears but delighted to have it all confirmed on this thread....
I was also trying to figure out where is a good place in town to park up??? Also do i really need to lock my TWO wheels to a post?
thanks,

cdaly_

canice wrote: »

I was also trying to figure out where is a good place in town to park up??? Also do i really need to lock my TWO wheels to a post?
thanks,

Depends on where in town you're going. There's a cycle parking facility in Drury St carpark free to use and supervised. There's also at least one cycle shop will allow you to park with them for something like EUR1 per day.

You need to lock two wheels, one frame and take anything removable off the bike when you park in town. I use a Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit Mini Lock on the frame with a Kryptoflex Cable through the wheels. The lock is currently on offer for GBP40 which is the cheapest I've seen it by a long shot.

dave.obrien

What he said.

If you leave anything removable on your bike, there is a chance it willbe removed. Most thieves are opportunists. Locking your bike but not your front wheel might mean you have to wheelie all the way home, which is really hard to do. Leaving lights in the brackets is an invitation for someone else to get a free torch.

BostonB

Dr.Millah wrote: »

A very easy way to think of it is

Move the chain closer to the frame of the bike makes pedaling easy
Move the chain away from the frame makes pedaling hard....

Great description

canice

Cheers for your replies.... i suppose i should have known the answer to the lock question but new to cycling and not a bag (big or small user) made me want a different answer!

lastly where do people park up in phoneix park? I like to cycle there to go for a run, that was my main motivation for buying the bike. What do ye do with your helmets then? Cannt imagion running with helmet on:p or with nap sack either:eek::eek::eek:
T

cdaly_

Just run on the bike. Nobody will notice that you're sneakily running instead of cycling and then you can just quit this running lark 'cos the cycling's much more fun...

canice

Ha,Ha..... not that convinced YET!

IM0

canice wrote: »

What do ye do with your helmets then? Cannt imagion running with helmet on:p or with nap sack either:eek::eek::eek:
T

leave it in the transition zone.

dave.obrien

Running's dangerous, what if your shoelace is untied? I wouldn't dream of running without a helmet...

Gavin

canice wrote: »

Ha,Ha..... not that convinced YET!

Don't bother with the helmet ? You could lock it up at the railings near the main entrance/the bike rental place

cdaly_

I usually leave my helmet on the bike when I park it. Not in city centre though. You could run the lock through the helmet straps...

thebouldwhacker

Lumen wrote: »

This reminds me of the legendary pedalling backwards thread.

Ya, that's just gone to Legends of the Boards