Newbie help hybrid to road bike

Kingsmill1

Hi first post so be gentle
Over the past year I have been riding a hybrid 24 speed fairly light 700c road wheels I really enjoy my cycling and have got a bit mad about it so traded up to a new specailized allez sport 2013 road bike 18 speed , went on my usual 9 mile ride to understand the gearing and frankly found the ride harder than my hybrid even though this allez is way lighter . Anyway does anyone understand the optical display on the new sora gear shifters ? Only noticed them after half an hour but there must be some reason to them. Should I be surprised I needed to do more effort I never used the first ring on the front of the hybrid so can't understand why the double is harder than the triple I was riding.
If anyone has any newbie tips to share they would be welcome I mainly ride for fitness. :?:

Mikey41

My experience was the opposite, the road bike was much easier to pedal than my hybrid.

The gearing is a lot different though, I am still learning what I can use where. Sounds like you are trying to use far too high a gear.

If the Sora gear indicators are the same on Tiagra, they have a red needle in them. When it's over on the right, you are in the biggest rear sprocket, left is the smallest, so the needle just shows where-abouts in the cassette you are.

Are you using the big front ring or the smaller one? I only get to the big one when I'm on the flat or going downhill, other times I'm on the smaller ring.

Kingsmill1

Thanks for the advice my route has a gentle climb I used the smallest ring at the front , with with on the small rings on the rear cassette, for down hill I used the big ring on the front and a larger ring on the back didn't seem as fast as the hybrid so far up to 27 on the roadie where I have had 28-29 on the hybrid but today was my first ride need to get my head round the gearing and trimming as couldn't do that on the hybrid or quick shift. Hopefully the weather down south will improve tomorrow and ill be out again

night_porter

Using the small front with the small rear and the large front with the large rear is opposite to how gears are normally used. It causes a crossover in the chain which will increase wear but also it limits the speed/power you are getting.

This is a simplified rule to give you a guide:

Large Front with small rear is the hardest gear to push but when you are going downhill and are assisted by gravity you will acheive your greatest speed. If you feel that this is too hard to pedal the move the rear to a slightly larger (easier) gear. If you are moving to the largest gears at the rear (the red line will be at the right of the window) it is best to change to the smaller ring at the front and at the same time change to a smaller gear at the rear.

On the small front chainring and the largest gear at the back you will find that you can climb any hill with relative ease but you legs will be spinning furiously. If it is too easy then change to a smaller gear at the rear (right shifter line moving left) and you will go faster but be pressing harder on the pedals. If you get to the point that the red line is over to the left edge of the window you should be using the larger gear at the front so do the double shift with both the front and rear to bring the red line more central again.

This all means at the front Large chainring = harder/faster & Small chainring = easier/slower

Whereas at the rear Large gear = easier/slower & Small gear = harder/faster

Hope this helps!

Kingsmill1

Night porter

Went for a ride today taking your advice in hand all seemed to work well and I'm getting used to the shifters now and gearing, quick shifting when you can jump a set of gears on the rear do you have to press the lever quickly twice or just press it all the way over ? My top speed today was 28 mph down a slight decline down on the drops completed 11.2 miles average speed according to my edge average speed was 15.4. Still getting used to the lightness of the bike which is quite off putting when going into roundabouts quickly.

night_porter

I normally just click it twice but it can be done either way and you will find what suits you best.

Glad to see things are working out easier and soon the speed will rise beyond your expectations.