Front Cog shifting patterns!!

Compton77

Hi All,

In my haste to get on my new bike and go for a ride, I forgot to get a rundown from the guys in the shop. Now, all the other parts are pretty easy to work (rear shifter, pedals!!) but i'm having a few issues with shifting the front gears. I to shift (occasionally) from the small cog to the large cog though, to be honest, it's more out of luck than anything (god, i sound a real amateur..) Could someone advise what's the actual way of shifting the front gear? I have a Shimano 105 front derailleur and shifters..

Appreciate your help..

pieinthesky

I dont know of any accepted rules for changing front rings other than to try and avoid extreem chain lines, big to big or small to small. Occasionaly doesnt matter, most of us do it at some point!

Just use the chainring which most suits the speed you are riding.

One other thing I would not do is to change chainrings at the same place all the time, for example when on the middle sprocket at the back. If you do, the sprocket in question will get twice as much wear as the others.

Smokin Joe

You should regard the chainrings as giving you two sets of gears, high and low rather than thinking in terms of 20 gears. When you are spinning out on the small ring change up and use the big ring, when your cadance drops change back to the smaller. As Pieinthesky says, avoid running extreme combinations to ensure mechanical sympathy, On a ten-speed system regard each chairing as having eight usable sprockets available.

As you become fitter and more experienced you will find your feet with efficient gear use, ideally you should be aiming for a cadance somewhere between 85-100rpm.

feel

Compton77 wrote:

Hi All,

In my haste to get on my new bike and go for a ride, I forgot to get a rundown from the guys in the shop. Now, all the other parts are pretty easy to work (rear shifter, pedals!!) but i'm having a few issues with shifting the front gears. I to shift (occasionally) from the small cog to the large cog though, to be honest, it's more out of luck than anything (god, i sound a real amateur..) Could someone advise what's the actual way of shifting the front gear? I have a Shimano 105 front derailleur and shifters..

Appreciate your help..

Just guessing here - is it that you are having probs operating the levers? One inward push on the small lever puts the chain on to the smaller chain wheel, but sometimes the set-up can require two quick pushes. An inward push on the bigger brake lever puts the chain on the larger chain wheel. The levers should give a little click as you push them inwards. If it is not behaving like this and the chain does not move sweetly from chainring to chainring when you are on the flat you need to take it back to the shop as it has not been set up properly. When on the actual hill the movement might not be so sweet hence the need to anticipate changing down.
hope this helps.