Getting to grips with gears???

[JessieJellyBelly]

Hi! I'm new to here and forums in general so please bare with me. I got my bike out for the first time in a year after and cleaned it up checked my tires and off I went. I just cant handle my gears, I have moved to a really 'hilly' area and have two hand shift gears, both ranging from high to low and I am flummoxed about what gear I should be using for hills and flats. Went 5 miles for the first time in a long time today and it killed me because my gears seem all wrong. Anyone out there who may be able to help?? Any tips welcome.

 

[Rob3rt]

There is no set gear you should be using, you use the one which allows you to turn the pedals.

Smaller at front, larger at back = easier to turn the pedals up hill!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Hi and @JessieJellyBelly.

From your profile I see you have a mountain bike so I presume it's a triple gear set up on the front. As @Rob3rt says, there is no set gear to use but there are certain gears you should avoid where the chain is skewed at an extreme angle (smallest chainring on the front to smallest sprocket on the back or biggest front to biggest back) as this causes excessive wear.

What I'd suggest is that you use the middle gear on the front most of the time and just go up and down the gears on the back according to what feels comfortable, then drop to the small chainring and use the bigger sprockets at the back as needed for the steep hills.

You'll soon get the feel for what works for you. Hope this helps.

 

[Markymark]

Many more experts than me but I'll give my thoughts. Don;t put the chain skewed. That is, don;t have it on the front right ring (large) and rear left ring (large). Try to keep the chain either both towards the right, both in the middle or both to the left.

Try to keep an even cadence. This is the number of times you spin the pedals. Find a comfortable rate and stick to that. When you go up or down hill, adjust the gears so that you are keeping the same cadence but it isn't too difficult/easy to pedal.

 

[JessieJellyBelly]

Middle for most... small at front and large at back for hills. Thank you so much, Rob and Phil for answering this, I was in a right tizz about it all. You've helped me no end, now to figure out which does which pretty sure I'm on a left hand for front right hand for back. I'll avoid extreme angles too.

Thanks again, fingers crossed I can get to grips with it now, really want to get back into it again. Even though my legs were like jelly cycling is so liberating.

 

[mcshroom]

The left shifter will control the gears at the front (attached to the pedals), where the smallest ring is the lowest and the largest ring the highest gear.

The right shifter will control the rear gears (where the largest sprocket is the lowest gear and the smallest the highest).

As above a good start would be to set the front gears on the middle ring, and then just change up or down gears on the right hand shifter to find the one you want.

If your bike's been unused for a while it may be worth getting someone to check the cables/chain/brakes to make sure that they are all in good order.

As for which gears, you will find that the more you ride, the higher the gears you need for the same hills

 

[TissoT]

Practice makes perfect

 

[JessieJellyBelly]

0-markymark-0 __ Thanks for the tip and the hand with the jargon, I didn't have a Scooby what cadence was

mcshroom __ That is fantastic help thank you the correlation to high and low was going to be my next question. I think your right middle on the front then just stick to one side shifting for the time being, as each shifter has about 10000000000 dots on it between high and low so once I got going I didn't have a clue what gear setting I was attempting to go on. The higher the gears for the same hills seems a long shot but sticking to my route till I can run it in a higher gear will be my next goal, sticking to my route without feeling like Simon Pegg in Run Fat Boy Run after a spinning class is my first lol.

Thanks again you guys are ace, think I may become a regular on here.

 

[JessieJellyBelly]

Practice makes perfect

Too True! I'm very out of it at the mo.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

They are probably numbered, and the lower the number the easier the gear, 1 on the left is the small front chain ring and 1 on the right the biggest rear gear ( I know seems a bit odd) so 1 on the left and 1 on the right is the easiest gear you will have, then working down through the gears (increase in numbers) the harder it will become to pedal, till you on 3 and lets say 7 on the rear this being the highest and most difficult gear to peddle, as has been mentioned you will most likely be on the middle front (no2) most of the time same applies low number on the right easier gear to higher number harder gear (large to small rear gears), there is some cross over between the gears, but worry about just getting the sequence right with a little practise first.

and

 

[ayceejay]

Two things that may help:
1) if you can put your bike on a stand so that the back wheel runs free when you turn the pedals by hand you can play with the gear shifters and watch what happens.
2) put your bike on a trainer and play with the shifters until you get a feel for what is going on.

 

[TissoT]

Too True! I'm very out of it at the mo.

Few hours on your bike ... It will be become second nature
Though having a triple on the front can make it a little confusing ...
Stick to the middle and top rings on the front and use all of the gears on the back wheel .

 

[JessieJellyBelly]

Thanks @tissot will get back out on it tomorrow if there is a break in the rain. nigelnaturist The gears arent numbered I think that is why I have been so perplexed, they are a series of dots (not very useful when there is a huge hill in front of you) But once I've had a play around with them likeayceejay (will definitely be having a go at this) suggested I will have a better idea which is 1 etc. Thanks for the advice though, will stick to the middle for my next ride out. Thanks again you guys this is amazing I had no clue and getting to grips with my gears will help my confidence no end.

 

[ShipHill]

I don't know if this will help and it depends on what gear levers you have on your bike but here goes...

My Boardman has 2 levers (one big and one small) on each end of the handlebars
The left side levers control the front 2 gears
The right side levers control the back 9 gears

The big levers put the chain onto a bigger cogwheel.
The smaller levers put the chain onto a smaller cogwheel.

 

[annedonnelly]

If you can find a large flat area - maybe an empty car park - you can play around. Ride along and change into a lower gear - it should be easier to pedal. Low enough and your pedals will just spin around without doing much. Try a higher gear - it'll be harder to pedal. Once you've got the hang of changing you'll not need to look at your display of dots.

As others have said you'll usually need a lower gear to go up a hill. It'll soon become second nature.