Gears

Mark1916

Hi Guys,

Apologies for what might seem a silly question, I got a new bike under the bike to work scheme, 10 gears, has two levers one on the left and right for changing gears im just asking what both sides are for and when to use them

Sorry for the silly question

Thanks

petethedrummer

Head straight for your nearest steep hill and it will all become obvious.

HivemindXX

Most bicycle gears are based on 2 or 3 cogs (chain rings) on the front and a bunch more on the back. One gear lever changes the cog at the front and the other changes the one at the back.

Changing at the front (usually the left lever) makes a big difference in how hard/easy it is to push the pedals around. Changing at the back means a smaller change.

Think of it as basically having two sets of 5 gears. An easy set and a fast set. The left lever controls this. The right lever allows you to fine tune how easy or fast you want within each set. You might find you can go a really long way and never use the left lever. It might sound complicated but you'll find it becomes second nature very quickly.

irishmotorist

Mark1916 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Apologies for what might seem a silly question, I got a new bike under the bike to work scheme, 10 gears, has two levers one on the left and right for changing gears im just asking what both sides are for and when to use them

Sorry for the silly question

Thanks

What bike did you get, by the way? I wonder do you have more than 10 gears and not realise it? Once we know that, we should be able to give you a bit more exact advice. If you got it in a shop, I'm a bit shocked that you could leave without them explaining how to use your gears.

ednwireland

just leave it in whatever gear it came in


http://www.tutorials.com/06/0674/06741.asp

Pherekydes

10 gears means 2 rings and 5 cogs. Ring is short for chainring, which is a large toothed gear driven directly by your pedals. They are on the 'front' of your bike, i.e. the dead centre. Cog is used by cyclists to refer to the gears on the rear of your bike.

Technically, you have 10 gears (5*2), but you should avoid cross-chaining. This is when you have the chain on the large ring on the front and the large cog on the back. If you check your bike out you'll see that the large ring and large cog are on opposite sides, the large ring being on the right hand side (of the two (or 3) rings, while the large cog is on the left-hand side. The chain will not be in line and will stretch itself and wear the teeth of the gears.

When changing gears, continue to pedal, but reduce the power in your pedal stroke. i.e. just rotate the pedals with little force. You should avoid changing gears going uphill for this very reason. The guys on the telly have electronic gear changing and are not as affected by this.

Pherekydes

ednwireland wrote: »

just leave it in whatever gear it came in


http://www.tutorials.com/06/0674/06741.asp

Bah! Complete with drawings. :mad:

studiorat

petethedrummer wrote: »

Head straight for your nearest steep hill and it will all become obvious.

well if you start at the bottom it will anyway...

Mark1916

irishmotorist wrote: »

What bike did you get, by the way? I wonder do you have more than 10 gears and not realise it? Once we know that, we should be able to give you a bit more exact advice. If you got it in a shop, I'm a bit shocked that you could leave without them explaining how to use your gears.

Hi all thanks for the replys it has actually helped a lot it makes sense now!

I got a merida road race 750 its a pretty nice bike and I intend to fully use it!