How to Shift the Bicycle Gear
How many bicycle gears do you have?
It’s a simple multiply calculation, the number of the front chainring multiplied by the number of rear cassettes.
For example, a double chainring paired with an 11-speed cassette is a 22-speed gears set-up, and so on.
The Types Of Gears
Bicycle shifters are located at the handlebars. The most common way to perform shifting is by gripping, triggering, and thumb pressing on the shifter.
For the Flight Deck Shifter, you need to push the shifter inward towards the bicycle stem to perform gear shifting.
For most bicycle brands, the right shifter adjusts the rear derailleur; the left shifter adjusts the front chainring.
How To Shift Gears On Bike
We aim to get comfortable cycling on a bike with efficient gears. When you head uphill, you shift to lower gear on the cassette.
Try to shift early and don’t wait until you can feel the pedalling resistance is strong.
When you shift, keep pedalling, especially on hills—if you’re pushing hard or if you stop pedalling completely, the chain may skip or fall off. Don’t wait!
When riding downhill, you need to lower the speed by using the brake. Prevent immediate stop from fast speed.
If you are riding too slow on flat roads, you can shift to high gear. It can save your energy from pedalling hard.
Once you feel more comfortable, you can start playing with different bike gears and see how it feels to ride in different gears in different situations.
Things not to do
We need to prevent cross-chaining when shifting the gear.
Once we give the chain too much pressure when cycling, it will easily cause the chain to slide off from the chainring (dropped chain), chain bent or damage the chain.
What to do if you drop your chain?
Slow down and pull over to the safety side:
1. Push the rear derailleur arm forward
2.Take the chain and put it back on the front chainring
3.Release the rear derailleur arm to tighten the chain
4.Lift the rear tire and hand pedal twice to ensure that the whole chain back in place
Find the nearest bicycle shop if you can’t solve the problem. The following are some common issues and solutions.
| COMMON ISSUES | SOLUTION |
| Chain dropping when shift gear (Cross-chaining happen) | Manually adjust back onto chainring and cassette |
| Front chain dropping | Adjusting front derailleur’s limit screws |
| Rear chain dropping | Adjusting rear derailleur’s limit screws |
| If the chain is still dropping | The crankset may incorrect position, look for a technician to fix it |
| Chain bent/twisted | Replace with a new chain |
| Chain stack in the chainring/cassette | Find a bike technician to pull it out with a special tool. (Replace with a new chain if necessary) |
| Chain frayed/rusty | Bring to the bike shop for replacement |
| If cycling not smoothly | Lubing & cleaning the chain |
| Maintain the bicycle performance | Half/full cleaning services (cassette, chain and chainrings) for the bike once a year |
That’s it, you have the basic understanding of how to use bicycle shifting gears.
Once you feel more comfortable riding, you can start to explore different hill climbs and long term cycling.
Would you be interested to explore more shift gear facts at steep climbs?
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