how to use gears??

sal613

hi, i am compltely new to cycling (just learned 2 weeks ago) but i still cant use the gears. i dont have the modern ones (i think) they are not the 21 gear ones. on the left hand side it has above the handlebars a black "flap" and underneath has a white "flap" and same for the right hand side. no numbers or anything on them. i am really confused and dont know how to use them, and going uphil is killing my legs! so any help is aprreciated. sorry if i dident explain it to well. thanks

doobie919

While your biking flip the little paddle flaps and find a gear your comfortable in.

It's pretty simple once you get the hang of it.

Just push the lower flap to go down a gear, and the top flap to go up a gear. Same principle applies for both the rear and front shifters.

LittleB0b

doobie919 wrote:

It's pretty simple once you get the hang of it.

As someone who still changes the wrong way occasionally I think this statement says alot - it is simple once you understand it, a bit like driving a car, riding a horse or using a mouse.

I remember being terribly confused that the on my first bike, you pushed 1 leaver to go up on one side, but on the other side this lever went down, but the other lever went up - it just didn't seem logical to me.

P.S in reply to the original post. First work our which levers control the front and which the back set of cogs. then work out which moves up and which down.

Headhuunter

I think we need more info here. What type of bike is it? A road/racer or some kind of flat bar hybrid or MTB? The principal for changing gears is the same on both but it's hard to specifically advise how to use the levers without knowing the set up.

However, the basics are the same. At the rear you have a "cassette" of gears of various sizes. the largest one at the back is the lowest gear (like 1st gear in a car) and the smallest is the highest gear.

At the front you may have 2 or 3 chainrings. The opposite holds here, the smallest is the lowest gear and the largest is the highest.

If you want to go up a hill, changing gear so that the chain flips up to the largest at the back and then down to the smallest at the front will give you your lowest possible gear, however depending on what gear ratios you have andthe steepness of the hill, you may find your legs are spinning like crazy. If so, change to a large gear at the front and/or a smaller gear at the back.

If you find that you can't get your head around both front and back, then stick the front in the middle chainring of 3, if you have a triple chainset, or the smallest if just 2 and leave it, and just stick to using the rear gears to start with until you get the hang of them.

One thing to consider is that it's not usually a good idea to "cross" the chain, ie use the largest front chainring at the same time as the largest rear gear (or vice versa - small and small). the chain will then be stretched diagonally across which puts strain on the rear mech. Largest at front and small at back or smallest at front and largest at back are both fine however, just avoid large and large or small and small.

Also if heading up a hill, it's a good idea to get into gear before you start up the hill as it can take some experience to change gear efficiently whilst actually climbing a steep hill.

Hope this helps.