help a bike noob

OmegaGene

okay folks so long story short, had bmx bikes as a kid and got into fitness a while ago and started using the bikes in the gym fast forward to no gym and i picked up a basic Coyote Absolute bike with shimano ez shifters

now i have no idea how the gears work left or right, ive been out a few times and think i have the hang of it but then i get a horrible gear change and i dont want to mess up the chain, any help would be great


https://ibb.co/BBn1qP6
https://ibb.co/dMPMBDM

cletus

Those grip shifters are, imo, the worst way to change gears. I hate them.

The shifter on the left will control the "front gears" or chain ring, the shifter on the right will control the "rear gears" or cassette

That aside, what do you mean by a "bad shift"?

Does the chain not go to the selected gear?

In general, it's considered good practice not to be in the biggest and biggest, or smallest and smallest, gear at the same. This is cross chaining.

Often shifting problems are related to either derailleur indexing, or cables stretch, especially on a new bike.

A little more info and someone should be able to steer you in the right direction

Edited to add: I note the left shifter is "friction shift". The right shifter is indexed.

The difference here is that an indexed shifter will move to a gear each time you click the shifter, so one click equals one gear shift.

The friction shifter, on the other hand, doesn't have defined steps, so you sort of have to select gear by feel

cletus

Ok, so there's not really a "correct" gear to be in. It will depend on your fitness, the actual gear rations on your bike etc.

In general, though, as you look at the right hand shifter, you will see numbers. The higher the number, the "harder" the gear. If you're cycling along and your legs are spinning furiously, it's time to go up some gears. As you come to an incline, you'll find it harder to pedal, so you'll want to come down some gears.

The left hand shifter controls whether you're in the big ring or the small ring. This will change the gear ration in relation to the rear gears. The

Unfortunately, it's not linear. You don't get 6 easy gears with the small ring, and then 6 hard gears with the big ring (assuming 2 front rings, you may have three, but same idea). There is overlap with all the various "speeds".

What you could do is set the left shifter to one ring or the other, and play around on the flat with changing the right gear up and down. You'll get a feeling for what feels easy and what feels hard, and it will soon become second nature as to whether you need to twist forward or back to select your gear. Try and avoid the cross chaining I mentioned in my first post, but in general, I wouldn't be too worried about the chain, worst case scenario is you wear it out a little quicker

Howard Beale

OmegaGene wrote: »

okay folks so long story short, had bmx bikes as a kid and got into fitness a while ago and started using the bikes in the gym fast forward to no gym and i picked up a basic Coyote Absolute bike with shimano ez shifters

now i have no idea how the gears work left or right, ive been out a few times and think i have the hang of it but then i get a horrible gear change and i dont want to mess up the chain, any help would be great


https://ibb.co/BBn1qP6
https://ibb.co/dMPMBDM

Crap gear sytem them. Live and learn.

Rotate them hard to change gears.

07Lapierre

Most newbies rely to much on the right hand shifter.

Example: when cycling down hill, your legs are spinning, you you go up one gear by using the right shifter. If your legs are still spinning, go up another gear. Legs still spinning? ... at this point newbies keep using the right shifter until they run out of gears. Only then do they use the left shifter.

My General rule is.. if you have to shift gear twice on the right, the third shift should be with the left shifter.

That make sense?

07Lapierre

OmegaGene wrote: »

Perfect sense thanks

Ok. Its the Opposite when cycling on the flat and approaching a hill.

when approaching a hill, your first though should be to shift with the LEFT (to get the chain onto the smaller chainring).

Then once your on the hill, if you need a lower gear shift to a lower gear using the RIGHT shifter.

"horrible gear change" sounds like you could be waiting until you are actually on the hill before changing gears ?