Hi Guys,

I have been riding for a while now but have just started chatting to my best mate who has also recently bought a bike and she was asking me about the gear changing etc and she is also have some tri training so is being fed heaps of info from them. Needless to say I have now confused myself and am wondering whether I have been using my gears correctly. Basically I had no advice or training I just hopped on the bike when I bought it last October and started pedalling and spent weeks trying to work it all out.. I have a vivente elite with 3 gears at the front and 9 at the back. So what I have been doing is pretty much keeping on the middle gear at the front (unless going down big hill) and changing up and down on the back gears. I never really use the easiest gear on the front but have I been making life hard for myself when going up hills? Majority of the time I sit when going uphill and not stand. I have seen a few websites on gears etc but I guess I'm more after everyone's different advice on how they use their gears..

Thanks

Hi MISWEN,
The chain is a fixed length, so the ideal is to use the larger front sprocket with the smaller rear sprockets (downhill), and the smaller front sprocket with the larger rear sprockets on uphills. This will make changing easier, and less stress on the derailleur and rest of the gear line, will also avoid gear jumping and drive train noise. Using the gears in this manner will mean the drive line will be straight, not at an angle if for example you were on both large sprockets front and back or both small sprockets at either end.

The art of efficient gear changing requires thinking ahead, ie not leaving it to the last minute.
Maintaining Cadence is the ultimate goal.

Can I suggest starting with the centre ring on both front and back sets, then move up and down the front rings to suit the road profile. As the course gets steeper then move to the front smaller sprocket, then move up the rings on the rear. As the load decreases, then start coming down the rear rings to the centre again. When you hit the rear centre sprocket then move up to the next larger sprocket on the front, fine tune the rear sprockets to suit. As you head down hill, move the front ring to the largest sprocket then work the rear gears down from centre.

Hope I haven't completely confused you !

Chilliman, thanks for the explanation. It explains a lot of things I have been doing wrong and also explains problems I have been having with my gears slipping.

Hi Chilliman,

No way not confusing.. that's an excellent explanation!! Thanks so much.. Now I just need to find the time to get out there and practice that.. Hopefully tomorrow.. Will let you know how I go

Cheers

Phew, I'm so glad that someone else started this thread before I had to!

Thanks for the info Chilli, you've helped clear up a few things that I'd been wondering about too

I have a Rohloff. No problem with front and rear gear changes - just move the grip shifter one way for a higher gear, the other for a lower gear. Dead easy.
Expensive but worth it.
Having ridden with it for three and a half years now, I wonder why more bikes are not made with hub gears. I got a mountain bike for my 7 year old son last Christmas and he still has little idea about the gears - a hub gear would have been far simpler for him.

Hi MISWEN,

When you are cycling, you want to aim to be in a gear that allows you to peddle quite fast but remain stable on your bike, ie not peddling so fast that you bounce all over your seat. The speed at which you pedal is referred to as the cadence of your peddling.

When you are cycling along, experiment with your gears to find a range that feels fast but not too bouncy. If you want to lash out with the cash, you can get a cadence meter that will measure your peddling speed. Look to one of these if you get really serious and want to measure your improvement.

There are plenty of good bike computers out there that do heart rate, speed and cadence (and if you want to go all the way power output!)

Here is a good article that explains why a high cadence, or peddling as these faster speeds is better for your fitness:

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0965.htm

Good luck and keep at it!

Danny

Chilliman's explanation sounded like it would solve all my problems but when I rode home today I realised that I do most of it already anyway. The only change was to go to the smallest front sprocket when pedaling uphill but unless the hill is really steep this just doesn't give me enough resistance unless the rear sprocket is also the smallest.

I guess I'm just going to have to put up with slipping gears until I can afford to get a new bike or some lessons or something.

Gear set ratio's are another world balri, mountain bikes for example have ratio's targeting lower speed and steeper hills, where on road bikes the ratios are setup for higher speed. The info I posted above was really a generalisation and won't suit every bike.

Slipping gears can also be due to:

Lack of good quality lubrication/maintenance of the drive train.
Stretched gear cables, lack of lube.
Misaligned front or rear changers.
Damaged derailleur (bent etc)
Worn gear set / chain.
Hub issues.

Gear changes under too much load will also cause slipping gears and crunching sounds. Back off the pedalling power whilst changing gears climbing. Being prepared and changing early also avoids too much load.

Hope that helps

I headed out for the first time on the local streets this morning (very scary), tried to keep in mind Chilli's post but got totally muddled up with the big/small cog, easy/hard gears. I think I used maybe two different gears all together and only changed when I realised how hard it was going up hill - at which point I was nearly at the top anyway

This is really going to take some practice - more sessions on the mag trainer methinks