Changing gear..

fallingoff

Brand new to road riding after years of MTB abuse..
I went out today on my brand new Allez for the first time,I found the ride hard but I think the saddle height is now correct,I'm not complaining about the hardness it's just something I noticed..
What is worrying me is the position change for gear changing and in fact the wobble it causes when I do this.
Is there a smooth method? Am I doing something wrong?will it just come to me?
Propably a stupid question as it was my first time and I only covered 1.4 miles(cateye fitted ),very fast though..Thanks...embarrased... :oops:

pilot_pete

1.4 miles! Bet that was all over a bit quick?!

What do you mean by the 'position change for gear changing'? The only thing that has to move is a few fingers or a thumb. Not sure I understand how changing gear is inducing a wobble. Are you looking down as you do it? A flick of the wrist or push of the thumb should be all that is required to change gear, assuming your bike is correctly set up. I guess like anything else though, practice makes perfect. I would give yourself a little longer than 1.4 miles to practice your gear changing and try not to go too fast just yet.....

PP

Chiggy

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite blah blah".

When shoving the lever to change the rear down gear ( onto a larger sprocket ) press the handlebars ( not the lever ) with your left fingers.
After a short while, you will no longer need to.

ratsbeyfus

Do you have Sora levers? The thumb shifter is meant to be hard to reach if you're riding in the drops.

TheDrunkMonk

If the answer is 'yes', and you're riding on the drops, ride using the actual brake hoods until you're really confident. I think most people on race bikes use the hoods at least 90% of the time. (maybe not when racing)

fallingoff

Thanks to all of you..
I think it is just an unusual position to find myself in..between you you've summed up what I'am doing.
I find it a bit of a stretch to push the r/h brake/gear lever inwards,perhaps the span is adjustable somehow,but for now I'll stay with the hoods a while.
1.4 miles wasn't too bad as I was adjusting my seat height so there was a lot of stopping and starting,as sugeested perhaps the set-up isn't quite right for me and some tweaking is required..thanks..

SDK2007

If your Allez has a groupset below Tiagra then thumb shifting on the drops will be tricky.
Tiagra gearing an higher has both up and down shifting on the brake levers.

fallingoff

Thumb shifters..I'm sure it'll come to me..cheers..

White Line

My winter bike has Sora levers. Shifting is easy enough in the drops. Just need to rotate the had around the bar a bit so your palm is pointing forward. And I don't have the biggest hands in the world.

MrBibble

fallingoff wrote:

Brand new to road riding after years of MTB abuse..
I went out today on my brand new Allez for the first time,I found the ride hard but I think the saddle height is now correct,I'm not complaining about the hardness it's just something I noticed..
What is worrying me is the position change for gear changing and in fact the wobble it causes when I do this.
Is there a smooth method? Am I doing something wrong?will it just come to me?
Propably a stupid question as it was my first time and I only covered 1.4 miles(cateye fitted ),very fast though..Thanks...embarrased... :oops:

I was, well am, exatly the same, even the same bike! Had mine about 6 months ish and find it all quite natural now, but to begin with it was all very odd/strange. I got my supplying LBS to add some spacers the the brake levers as my wee hands couldnt pull the brake levers very well and even more so in the drops. This may also make you feel more comfortable riding as i barely use the drops now unless going downhill.

fallingoff

W0W..can't smile wide enough now.......
I took all the advice on board and had a great ride-out,only 17 miles vs 2 hours(visited and stopped to talk a bit :oops: ).
Let me explain..I set my seat at the uppermost setting for myself and set off,after covering 6 miles I started to get wrist ache so I lowered the seat 1/2",the same pain reoccured so again I dropped another 1/2 " and thet was perfect...gone was the wrist pain and all was good.
Gearchanges are smoother,I rode in the hoods and tried every other riding position just to see what it was like...
I didn't calculate in the "moronic-driving" increase with the increased invisibility I have attained... :roll:
My only issue now is a bit of R/H inner elbow pain but I'll put that down to the new position/experience.
Once again thanks for the superb advice...