Need a little gear selection help please
freddymercurystwin
Posts: 36
Okay, I've been away from cycling for 20 years and have taken a few rides out now on a sparkling new bike. I have a triple chainset and a 10 speed cassette. I'm a bit confused as to when I should be changing down from the middle to smaller chainring. If I'm say running on the middle chainring on the smallest cog at the back and begin to ascend and the hill becomes increasingly steep I obviously change down proggresively on the cassette to keep my speed up (or thats the theory lol) and try to maintain my cadence. However if the ascent gets steeper still I obviously then need to change down to the smallest chainring but I then I immediatly find my cadence shoots up and I then have to change up on the rear to get my cadence back down. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong or maybe I should be chainging on to the smallest chainring sooner? I hope I explained that okay and am sorry to ramble on, any advice would be appreciated.
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freddymercurystwin wrote:However if the ascent gets steeper still I obviously then need to change down to the smallest chainring but I then I immediatly find my cadence shoots up and I then have to change up on the rear to get my cadence back down. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong or maybe I should be chainging on to the smallest chainring sooner?
Well, I'm no expert, but my understanding is that derailleur gears work best -- in terms of least wear and most effciency -- when the chain runs as near parallel to the selected cogs as possible. If that's the case, it suggests that you should preferentially use the middle chainring with the middle gears in the rear cassette, and the smallest chainring only with the lowest gears.
So what I try to do on the approach to what appears to be a steep hill, or if a hill steepens unexpectedly, is to change _up_ on the cassette and _down_ on the chainring, at approximately the same time.
In practice I often forget all these things because I'm thinking about the shopping or not just paying attention and, like you, end up with my legs spinning like Road Runner for a few seconds while fumbling the change down.
Where I live it's so hilly that I bungle a few gear changes on every ride. Personally, I don't worry overmuch. At my age I'm just thankful that I can get up hills at all
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nah not doing anything wrong....
Its just knowing how many on the back you need to change on the back block just before you change the front to give you the next lowest or highest gear depedning on what your doing.
I had not cycled really as a kid, and when i started in october took me a bit of time geting used to it!
When im going from my top ring, to my compact, i change down two or three rings on the back, then drop the front. I change the back first as that way my cadence drops , then levels out when i change the front (if that makes sense), rather than changing the front first and my cadence going sky high...0 -
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redddraggon wrote:It's pretty easy shifting down a chainring and up a sprocket - just press the thumb button on each side (if you've got the right groupset of course)
Thats exactly what I do, both at the same time.0 -
redddraggon Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:08 am Post subject:
It's pretty easy shifting down a chainring and up a sprocket - just press the thumb button on each side (if you've got the right groupset of course)
Sora?
I remember being advised to not shift front and rear at the same time, it I was told, increases the chances of the chain being thrown? 0 -
I tend to shift up 1 or 2 gears on the rear first (ie move to a SMALLER sprocket) before dropping the chain onto a smaller chainring at the front. That way you should be in near enough the same size gear as you started off with, but can now shift to larger sprockets on the rear as the hill's gradient starts to bite.
With some gear systems, I find you can drop the chain if you try to change front and rear at exactly the same time.0 -
Stewie Griffin wrote:redddraggon Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:08 am Post subject:
It's pretty easy shifting down a chainring and up a sprocket - just press the thumb button on each side (if you've got the right groupset of course)
Sora? I remember being advised to not shift front and rear at the same time, it I was told, increases the chances of the chain being thrown?
And Campag.
I very rarely need to shift both at the same time, I don't tend to keep much of a constant cadence over the rolling terrain of my routes.0 -
Many thanks to all who reponded
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