Probably a daft question about gears

Sevilo

Just bought my first road bike after 20 years of no cycling. Taken it out on a couple of short rides to get used to it and I need some help with using the gears properly. The right hand gears are fine but I'm not sure when and how to properly use the left hand gears. After the right gears? At the same time? Any advice on this would be much appreciated.
Thanks

markhewitt1978

The actual gear you are in is a combination of the front and back.

In general the lowest gear (easy to pedal) is the smallest at the front and biggest at the back. Once you run out of gears on the back then you shift to a bigger ring on the front and continue.

Of course it's not that easy as you shouldn't use the smallest on the back with the smallest on the front at the same time. Which is why the gears have overlap.

johntheboy84

http://youtu.be/Tb6UuHzL6cE

Hopefully the above link will help. Golden rule to follow isn't to use the easiest gear at the front with the hardest at the back and vice versa. I tend to work it as I'm picking up the pace I'll drop a few gears at back (right level) as I shift up on the front gears (left leaver) one you start to get used to it your ride becomes much smoother and quicker

Sevilo

Thanks John....although I'm not sure if the video link is correct as had nothing to do with bikes!
At the moment I've left the left (front) gears in the middle position and only used the right gears. From what you say I should be using the 2 in tandem. I will give it a try.

simon_masterson

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Of course it's not that easy as you shouldn't use the smallest on the back with the smallest on the front at the same time. Which is why the gears have overlap.

Not necessarily - It's a good rule of thumb, but it depends on what gearing you have. It's pretty common practice to do this with a standard double, for example; if there aren't any nasty angles or derailleur fouling involved, you should be fine.

ForumNewbie

Sevilo wrote:

Thanks John....although I'm not sure if the video link is correct as had nothing to do with bikes!
At the moment I've left the left (front) gears in the middle position and only used the right gears. From what you say I should be using the 2 in tandem. I will give it a try.

Hi there, sounds as if you have a triple chainring at the front as you have left it in the middle. A lot of road bikes have only 2 chainrings at the front, but triples like yours are good to start with. If you leave it in the middle at the front at first and then just change the gears at the back that's fine. As you move to the bigger cogs at the back (right-hand gears) pedalling will become easier as you go uphill. If you are on a steep hill and pedalling is still hard when you are on the bigger cogs at the back, you then move your left-hand gear to drop down to the smallest of the 3 cogs at the front. Usually this is done by moving the little leaver below the brake inwards.

If you are going downhill in the middle ring and try to pedal, there will be little or no resistance and your legs will just spin, so if you want to pedal you will need to move up to the biggest front ring. This is usually done (on most gear set-ups) by moving your left hand brake leaver inwards. However I would advise that you experiment and get used to moving up and down the front chain rings when you are on a flat road so that if you accidently go into the big ring when you intended to move down, it should not be a problem.

Sevilo

Thanks for the clear explanation....it has helped a lot. I find a lot of the technical information doesn't make sense to me at this stage. I just want to make the best use of the bike and not do anything to damage it.

simon_masterson

If you have a triple, you can use all of your rear cogs with the middle ring. Just don't use the big cogs at the back with the biggest ring at the front, or the small cogs at the back with the smallest ring at the front. Put your bike into one of these gears at home and you should be able to see that it pitches the chain at a steep angle.

navrig2

Simon Masterson wrote:

Put your bike into one of these gears at home and you should be able to see that it pitches the chain at a steep angle.

The real issue being that this pitching or angling (referred to as cross chaining) puts undue stress on the chain and is more likely to cause it to break and wear more quickly.

simon_masterson

Navrig2 wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

Put your bike into one of these gears at home and you should be able to see that it pitches the chain at a steep angle.

The real issue being that this pitching or angling (referred to as cross chaining) puts undue stress on the chain and is more likely to cause it to break and wear more quickly.

Exactly. Thanks for clarifying - did you think I was implying that the chain has feelings and might complain to the bike transmission union about working conditions?

navrig2

Simon Masterson wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

Put your bike into one of these gears at home and you should be able to see that it pitches the chain at a steep angle.

The real issue being that this pitching or angling (referred to as cross chaining) puts undue stress on the chain and is more likely to cause it to break and wear more quickly.

Exactly. Thanks for clarifying - did you think I was implying that the chain has feelings and might complain to the bike transmission union about working conditions?

Not at all. I work in an environment where an implied statement may result in the wrong understanding and therefore I promote explicit statements.

larkim

This may or may not help. I'm a fellow beginner, and I was interested to see what difference the gears made in their various combinations, as I was instinctively aware that there was quite a degree of overlap.

On my Triban 3, I have a 12-25 cassette at the rear, and a 30-39-50 triple at the front, which I am led to understand is a fairly standard triple setup.

The image shows the front cogs colour coded for clarity. It effectively shows that, apart from on the steepest climbs where the biggest three cogs at the back can be paired with the smallest at the front, you have decent options in the middle for climbing. And at the faster end of the spectrum, you gain the most in the two smallest rear cogs paired with the large front ring. Other than that, you have orange combinations which should see you through most riding. I've excluded the two smallest / largest gears paired with the large / small front cogs to avoid stressing the chain, as advised.

secretsam

You'd think the OP's bike shop would have talked him through all this, FFS

CiB

Sevilo wrote:

I'm not sure when and how to properly use the left hand gears. After the right gears? At the same time?
Thanks

Use the gears how you see fit - there are no rules; it's not like being in a car that has a torque band that you match to the gear ratio and you need to go up through the gears in sequence. On a bike, you can use any gear you like and it doesn't matter how you get there or which one you start off in, as long as you're not trying to set off up a 1 in 3 slope in 53/11.

Don't know about anyone else but I tend to use the lower 2-3 gears (big cogs at the back) with the smaller front ring, and the higher 2-3 gears (small cogs at back) with the big ring. For the rest I'll chop & change front & rear as it suits. Gear changes don't take long and don't cost anything. The main thing to keep on top of is cadence - 85-100 is fine for me, ymmv.

ai_1

CiB wrote:

Sevilo wrote:

I'm not sure when and how to properly use the left hand gears. After the right gears? At the same time?
Thanks

Use the gears how you see fit - there are no rules; it's not like being in a car that has a torque band that you match to the gear ratio and you need to go up through the gears in sequence. On a bike, you can use any gear you like and it doesn't matter how you get there or which one you start off in, as long as you're not trying to set off up a 1 in 3 slope in 53/11.

I disagree. I'm just like a car. I have an maximum torque and an efficient torque band to which I try and match the gears!

CiB wrote:

Don't know about anyone else but I tend to use the lower 2-3 gears (big cogs at the back) with the smaller front ring, and the higher 2-3 gears (small cogs at back) with the big ring. For the rest I'll chop & change front & rear as it suits. Gear changes don't take long and don't cost anything. The main thing to keep on top of is cadence - 85-100 is fine for me, ymmv.

I agree. When using the central portion of the cassette my choice of chainring is mostly dependent on what I expect to need next. If I'm between ramps on a climb, I'll be in the small chainring ready to change to a smaller gear at the back. If I'm expecting easier riding ahead or if I may have to respond to a sprint, I'll be in the big chainring.
However, it's all pretty simple and you'll figure out your own approach in time once you know the basics as explained in previous posts.