Changing Gear

[swede54]

Having just added a compact equipped road bike to the stable I find that when swapping cogs at the front the difference is much greater than on my old triple equipped hybrid so I also need to change the rear cog. Doing both together allows me to keep pedalling at roughly the same cadence/power but are there any hidden dangers with doing this?

 

[cyberknight]

Chain drop, best to do one at a time.

 

[biggs682]

keep it simple and do 1 at time for above reason

 

[Sittingduck]

I do both at the same time. Normally when I am approaching a hill that requires me to shift into the small ring. I tend to press the paddle on the left shifter and shift UP twice on the r/h shifter at the same time, to avoid a massive switch in cadence.

 

[caimg]

Oh pants! So when I shift from say 3,5 to 2,5 I should be going down sequentially rather than dropping all the way down? I rarely ever seem to touch 1-4 on the right shifter!

 

[Paulus]

Not really, you can drop down on the chainrings to the same gear on the cassette no problem, as long as you try not to use the largest chainring and the largest sprocket at the back, or the opposite, smallest chainring and the smallest sprocket. The chain will be at an acute angle across the teeth and may not change smoothly, or drop off.

 

[sabian92]

Not really, you can drop down on the chainrings to the same gear on the cassette no problem, as long as you try not to use the largest chainring and the largest sprocket at the back, or the opposite, smallest chainring and the smallest sprocket. The chain will be at an acute angle across the teeth and may not change smoothly, or drop off.

Indeed - I recently changed chain and I used the "biggest to biggest" method for measuring the length. It worked eventually but it wasn't half hard getting the chain to sit on both without it falling off!

 

[gbb]

You need to ask yourself if you really need that 34 or 36 T inner. Is it too small for your terrain Swede ?
I can't remember if its hilly out MK way, but if its not, ditch the 34, fit a 38 or 39, you'll not have to double shift then.

 

[swede54]

It's not particularly hilly but I have used every gear on the bike on some of my 30/40 mile circuits. I think I just need to plan ahead a little better when transitioning from uphill to downhill and vice versa. What I really need is the legs I used to have when I was a teenager cycling around Cornwall on a single speed bedstead.