Gear Changing

desperion

I have a Dawes Galaxy 2007 with bar end gear shifters. I can change the rear cog quite happily, because I can feel and hear the click of the lever as it changes. I have difficulty with the changing the triple on the crank, as the lever for that does not click and the only indication I get is when I hear the chain slip to the new position ( by which time I have usually lost momentum) which for me a newbie is most disconcerting. Any suggestions to ease the matter would be helpful.

The other question I have how do you effectively change gear. For example if I am approaching a hill with the chain on the centre cog front and the big cog rear, I can happily change down through the nine gears. When I get to the lowest gear set if need be I then have to change to an even lower gear presumably by dropping to the small cog front, first. This leaves me in the position where I am in an extremely low gear (since my rear cog is also the smallest) and I am left wasting energy by spinning pedals. Is this correct or am I doing something wrong ?

pst88

The smallest gear on the back is the highest gear ie. harder to turn! Anyway, if you change down on the front you just have to change up a few gears on the back so the difference in gears isn't such a big jump.

Bronzie

My preferred way of doing it is change down a couple of cogs at the back first (ie larger gear, harder to turn the pedals) and then drop the chain to a smaller chainring at the front. This should leave you in near enough the same gear as you had before, but you can now change up the block at the rear to give smaller gears.

It's just a matter of pre-empting the change being required by looking at the road ahead and spotting that you need to change gears before it gets to the point that HAVE to change because your legs have stopped going round.

desperion

Thanks folks, as you have been extremely helpful. Its a lot to take in, but I think i've got the general drift and Im sure my gear changing will benefit from your sound advice.

nolance

Ok guys go easy on me here but when people start talking about low gear and high gear ,which combination are we talking about.I need to be familiar as I have a triple ring on the front and do a bit of moderate climbing(usually unsuccesfully!!).Please be as clear as possible,or point me in the direction of a good book on riding techniques etc.Thanks in anticipation Nolance.

freddymercurystwin

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12566858

MegaCycle

nolance wrote:

Ok guys go easy on me here but when people start talking about low gear and high gear ,which combination are we talking about.I need to be familiar as I have a triple ring on the front and do a bit of moderate climbing(usually unsuccesfully!!).Please be as clear as possible,or point me in the direction of a good book on riding techniques etc.Thanks in anticipation Nolance.

Lower gear means more rotations of your legs for every rotation of your wheels. So on the flat, changing to a lower gear will make your pedalling easier work, but less fast on the wheels. This is when you move to a bigger cog at the back, or a smaller chainring at the front (pedals). Lower gears are therefore used for going up hills.

Higher gear means less rotations of your legs for every rotation of your wheels. So on the flat, changing to a higher gear will make your pedalling harder work, but will generate more speed at the wheels. This is when you move to a smaller cog at the back, or a bigger chainring at the front (pedals). Higher gears are therefore used to get up to high speed on the flat, or for going downhill.

There - is that what you needed to know?