How to Change Gears on Your Bike
Knowing when and how to change the gears on your bike is not one of those things that is immediately intuitive to most people. It seems like it should be simple to do, but somehow it ends up more complicated than that and many riders new to a geared bike feel frustration the first few times as they invariably shift into a much harder (or easier) gear than the one they really wanted.
The actual shifting of gears, clicking from one to another is not difficult. It's just a matter of getting the feel for going up or down in the range of gears, and the good news is that being able to shift smoothly is about 80% practice and only about 20% understanding what's happening. In no time at all, you'll be shifting like a pro, changing gears smoothly without even thinking about it.
Why Bikes Have Gears - What Shifting Does
When it comes right down to it, bikes have gears to allow your pedal speed (your cadence) to stay relatively steady and at about the same level of effort, regardless of if you're going down a big hill or up it. Your speed may change, but having gears means you can climb without killing yourself as well as to go fast on a descent, your pedaling still pushing the bike forward and not just twirling futilely, your feet unable to keep up with the speed of your wheels.
It works like this. If all the riding you ever did was on a flat level road at a constant speed, you wouldn't need gears at all. Your bike would have just one gear, set at just that right spot where where you can keep pedaling at a nice comfortable pace without killing yourself. From the riding you've done so far, you certainly know the feeling when you are cruising along in the cadence that is just right for you - going along at a steady clip but not straining yourself. That's what we're trying to have happen with our pedaling all the time.
But the world is not flat, as you know, and there are hills that we go up and down when we ride. Putting gears on the bike allows you to keep pedaling at that sweet point we talked about where you're most comfortable, regardless of the incline.
The tradeoff is that easier pedaling up a hill means you're going to be going slower. And to be able to zoom fast down a hill, you ride in a gear that is much higher than you'd ordinarily be able to start out in or even use to ride on the flat. In both cases your effort pushing on the pedals feels about the same, because the gearing makes adjustments that allow you to either climb easier or go faster than you would if you had just one gear.
Shifting Your Bike's Rear Gears
Most bikes with gears have between five and nine gears in the back. We are talking about these back gears first because they are the most important to you and where most of your shifting takes place. The shifter for your back gears is usually at your right hand. Get in the habit of using these first.
The shifter on the other side changes the front chain rings. Those are for major shifting that doesn't happen as frequently, but the rear sprockets are what you use almost continuously for small adjustments as you go. It would not be uncommon for you to make several shifts over a couple hundred yards as the terrain goes up and down.
In the back, the biggest sprocket, the one closest to the inside of your wheel, produces your easiest pedaling. The smallest sprocket on your rear wheel, the outermost one, allows you to go the fastest, but is not going to be easy to pedal in unless you're already moving pretty good.
What you're ultimately trying to get the feel for -- and what will become second nature for quickly with just a little practice -- is to shift when you sense that your pedaling is becoming easier or more difficult as it happens, so that you maintain yourself in that perfect and comfortable pedaling spot.
Picture this: the pedaling starts to get just a bit harder because of a small rise in the path and you automatically flip it into an easier gear to maintain your cadence, or pedaling rhythm. Or, the road starts to flatten out and go downhill in front of you and your speed increases, so you flip quickly into a higher gear, and allow yourself to go even faster with the same amout of exertion.
When you notice that you're starting to do this without even thinking is when you'll realize that you've gotten the hang of shifting.
What the Front Gears Do
Most bikes with gears have two or three big ones up front. Located by your pedals, these are most commonly called chain rings. And you actually won't use them very much at all. Especially when you first get started, you should make a point not to worry about shifting them your front gears at all. Most experienced cyclists will pick one and stay in it probably 90% of the time, and you'll be just fine in picking one and sticking with it.
This is because the big gears in front are for making major shifts in the overall range of your gears. For instance, the smallest chain ring up front is going to give you the easiest pedaling. So if you anticipate a lot of climbing, you'll probably want to operate primarily using the small chain ring in the front, and again, doing most of the actual shifting in your rear gears. If you've got lots of flat riding or down hills, the larger chain ring in front will serve you better. It will allow you to go faster by providing higher gears for you to use, when the bike is already moving fast enough that you can keep the pedals going without the type of exertion it would require if you were going slower or climbing.
Again, the basic premise is to pick one and generally stay there. Youre adjustments should be continuous, smaller shifting through the gears in the back. You'll only shift the between the front rings if the range of gearing in the back, where most of your shifting takes place, is not allowing you to do what you need to do to either climb easily or pedal fast enough on the downhills to keep driving the pedals.
Shifting Tips - A Few More Hints About Changing Gears
Once you've mastered the basics of shifting there are a couple more things to remember that will help you make changing your gears go even more smoothly.
- Anticipate shifts: It is very difficult to change gears (and bad for your bike) when you pushing the pedals very hard. So get in the habit of downshifting into an easier gear as you come to a stop or begin the approach to a big hill.
- Don't try to shift when you are stopped. Bikes with traditional gearing are designed to be shifted when the pedals are moving, so don't try to shift when you are stopped. It's bad for the bike to shift when the pedals are not turning, and so you want to remember this and anticipate your stops, shifting to the right gear that you want to be in starting out before you actually stop.
- Avoid cross-chaining: It's hard on your chain and your sprockets to be at extreme angles. To avoid this, don't shift your bike to a spot where it's on the littlest ring in the front and smallest gear in the back, or vice-versa, on the large ring in both front and back. That puts the chain on opposite extreme ends of the spectrum and if you find yourself in this situation, it's a good sign that it's time for a big shift in the front gear to help bring things back in synch.
