Haven't been on a bike for over 25 years

Purdia

Hello, the title of my thread says it all

Hubby treated me to a Specialized Ariel Sport Disc bike for our anniversary and I love it

However, I am a little stumped by the gears - when I was a kid my bike only had 3 I have tried to google and youtube to no avail.

I can shift gears using the right shifter no problem, but when I try to use the left one, I keep getting a funny sound as if the chain isn't engaged etc. Should I peddle backwards to engage the gears?

Any help greatly appreciated and I am sorry for posing such a dumb question :eek:

seamus

The two shifters work identically - click while pedalling forward and it should change pretty much straight away. You don't have to be pedalling forwards while changing gears, but it's recommended, otherwise they can slip and that hurts. Never pedal backwards when changing gears.

If you look at how the bike is set up, there are two sets of cogs. One set at the pedals of 3 big rings, and a cluster on the back wheel with nine little cogs.

The shifter at your right hand moves the chain up and down at the back, the shifter on your left hand moves the chain up and down at the front.

The simplest way to describe the difference is that a change up or down at the back just makes it slightly harder or easier, a change at the front makes it much harder or easier.

If nothing happens when you change the left shifter, then the gears probaby just aren't adjusted correctly. Any shop should be able to sort it in a few minutes.

This was about the most straightforward link I could find about gears:
http://bicycleuniverse.info/eqp/gears.html

reallyunique

I'm no expert and I'm sure others here will provide more technical assistance but...
Don't pedal backwards, it makes the chain come off.
First of all, make sure you're pressing the lever all the way (as far as it'll go). The left hand lever usually needs a bigger shove than the right.

If you press the left hand lever to change gear and it actually changes gear then the mechanism may need an adjustment. You can do this yourself or get the shop to do it.

If it doesn't change gear on the first push then try pressing it again, that may move the mechanism far enough to change gear. The systems I've used don't need two pushes to get the gears to change if they're working right. If it needs a second shove then get the shop to look after it.

If you are having problems then just use the right hand shifter until you get the left hand one seen to. Nothing worse than having the chain coming off all the time.

Well done for getting back on the bike. Enjoy

Purdia

Thank you both! I have bookmarked the link you gave me Seamus and I will have a read through it and then put it into practice.

I was quite concerned over the rattling noise coming from the bike when I use the left shifter, so I may mention it to the bike shop if it continues once I have cracked the gear shifts correctly.

I am really enjoying the freedom of cycling again :-)

Ellmu

They are looking for volunteers for Bike Week to get back on their bikes - you could take part in Operation Transportation! They will provide cycle training which is great for getting confident when you haven't been on a bike in a while - this is in Cork but I'm not sure if they're doing it in other parts of the country? www.bikeweek.ie should tell you.
Have a look at www.facebook.com/OperationTransportation

SerialComplaint

From what I can find, you have an 27 gear bike. The 18 gears comes from 9 right hand settings (which relate to the 9 rear cogs) multiplied by the 3 left hand settings (which relate to the 3 chainwheels, down at the pedals). So in theory, you have 27 possible gears.

Now here's the trick. For the front chainwheels, small is lowest gear, and big is highest gear. But, for the rear cogs, big is lowest gear and small is highest gear. So your lowest gear (which you will probably never use) is;

L=1 (smallest chainwheel) and R=1 (biggest rear cog)

Your highest gear (for good downhills) is

L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=9 (smallest rear cog).

In reality, you don't have 27 usable gears. If you were to try riding with

L=1 (smallest chainwheel, on the inside) and R=9 (smallest cog, on the outside), the chain would be stretched at an arkward angle, and may get stretched or damaged. The rattling noise you mention may well be down to this. So you have about 11 usable gears, something like the following, from lowest to highest;

L=1 (smallest chainwheel) and R=1 (biggest rear cog)
L=1 (smallest chainwheel) and R=2
L=1 (smallest chainwheel) and R=3
L=2 (middle chainwheel) and R=3
L=2 (middle chainwheel) and R=4
L=2 (middle chainwheel) and R=5
L=2 (middle chainwheel) and R=6
L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=6
L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=7
L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=8
L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=9 (smallest cog)

Unless you are climbing mountains, you'll probably never need to use the lowest 2-3 of these gears. Try starting off at L=2 and R=4 and go from there.

But do take the time to get familiar with the gears. With these derailleur gears, you need to keep the pedals moving forward as you change gear. You can't change when stopped at the lights, so you need to change down gear as you approach a red light.

Purdia

U

Ellmu wrote: »

They are looking for volunteers for Bike Week to get back on their bikes - you could take part in Operation Transportation! They will provide cycle training which is great for getting confident when you haven't been on a bike in a while - this is in Cork but I'm not sure if they're doing it in other parts of the country? www.bikeweek.ie should tell you.
Have a look at www.facebook.com/OperationTransportation

Thanks so much will definitely check it out

Purdia

SerialComplaint wrote: »

From what I can find, you have an 27 gear bike. The 18 gears comes from 9 right hand settings (which relate to the 9 rear cogs) multiplied by the 3 left hand settings (which relate to the 3 chainwheels, down at the pedals). So in theory, you have 27 possible gears.

Now here's the trick. For the front chainwheels, small is lowest gear, and big is highest gear. But, for the rear cogs, big is lowest gear and small is highest gear. So your lowest gear (which you will probably never use) is;

L=1 (smallest chainwheel) and R=1 (biggest rear cog)

Your highest gear (for good downhills) is

L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=9 (smallest rear cog).

In reality, you don't have 27 usable gears. If you were to try riding with

L=1 (smallest chainwheel, on the inside) and R=9 (smallest cog, on the outside), the chain would be stretched at an arkward angle, and may get stretched or damaged. The rattling noise you mention may well be down to this. So you have about 11 usable gears, something like the following, from lowest to highest;

L=1 (smallest chainwheel) and R=1 (biggest rear cog)
L=1 (smallest chainwheel) and R=2
L=1 (smallest chainwheel) and R=3
L=2 (middle chainwheel) and R=3
L=2 (middle chainwheel) and R=4
L=2 (middle chainwheel) and R=5
L=2 (middle chainwheel) and R=6
L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=6
L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=7
L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=8
L=3 (biggest chainwheel) and R=9 (smallest cog)

Unless you are climbing mountains, you'll probably never need to use the lowest 2-3 of these gears. Try starting off at L=2 and R=4 and go from there.

But do take the time to get familiar with the gears. With these derailleur gears, you need to keep the pedals moving forward as you change gear. You can't change when stopped at the lights, so you need to change down gear as you approach a red light.

Brilliant! Thanks do much for taking the time and trouble to give me such a comprehensive guide. Just what I was after.

Thanks again to all who have replied and helped enormously