Started cycling recently need help with gears!

[manick0de]

Hi there, I recently started cycling to work and I'm not that fammiliar with the gears. These are the things I've picked up after a week,
1) Choose a gear before coming to a slope.
2) Pedal but don't apply full pressure to the pedals.

Now these seem to be helping but is there any thing else I should know?

Also, for some reason I have a much harder time with gears on the way home (guess i'm more tired) which usualy results in me throwing the bike in the garage shouting "it's broken". This usually happens when I'm trying to shift from 2 to 3 on the front thing, I don't undrerstand why this is happening, I feel like I'm going fast enough to put it in 3 but I can only think I'm so tired after a day at work that I think I'm going faster than I am, could it be the bike?
Thanks

 

[Aussie Steve]

The front thing is called a "chainring".
Dont change from 2 to 3...change to a harder gear on the back instead.
The variations in the chainrings are much larger than the differences in the rear cogs.
Your first choice should always be the rear cogs.
Another thing....I work in an office and find that on the ride home, I take about 15-20 minutes to really get going, as I have been sitting all day.
Choose easy gears until you feel loose and flexible, don't try to go supersonic
And at least one day per week, try a different route home to add another 15-20 minutes to the ride, that will really help your fitness...

 

[RickF]

Dont change from 2 to 3...change to a harder gear on the back instead.

With three chainrings, you should not be in the largest one (3) unless you are going faster than 20 mph (32 K/h). The biggest mistake most beginners make is to use too hard of a gear. As Aussie Steve said, stay in the middle chainring and switch among the gears in the rear to match your speed. Always switch to an easier gear before you stop. It is much easier to start up in an easy gear, then shift to a harder gear once you are up to speed.

 

[Archibald]

i'll add a question that i've often pondered but never really sought an answer to about gears.
is there a distinct difference between all gears on the different chain rings, or is there some overlap between smallest rear cog on smaller CR and the largest rear cog on a larger CR?

 

[francishuia0]

what i need to know is dose anyone know how i should fix my dic brakes for i no idea what im doing would some let me know how i do my dicbrakes

 

[Insight Driver]

I don't know if you were properly fitted on your bike. Was your seat position set according to your leg length?

Generally, since you have a triple, start out in the middle front chainring. Be on the largest rear cog (easiest pedaling force). Just spin easily in that gear and gradually increase your gearing on the rear cog. Keep the pressure on the pedals light. You will gain strength more quickly if you don't push hard. Spin at a comfortable rate, faster than you probably are spinning now. Muscles are more efficient at a higher spin rate, usually.

You are already good at anticipating your downshift. Now, just in case, you may not realize that you have an uphill grade on the way home. This may be the reason you have a harder time with gears on the way home. What may also contribute is if you depleted your muscles on the way to work. Taking it easier on the way in is key to having enough energy for the ride back. Make sure you eat a good lunch while at work. It's also smart to have a high-energ, easily-digestable snack an hour or so before it's time to leave work.

If you are going on a downgrade and can your spin increases while in the middle ring, you can shift to your front larger ring, but make sure you are at least in the middle of your rear cog before you shift. The closer to the middel you are, the easier it is to shift due to the chain line being close to optimum. If you are on your largest rear cog it is harder to get your chain to shift easily onto the outer large front ring.

Think of chaning your front chain ring from the largest to the middle ring being the same as shifting down three times on your rear cassette. Before pedaling gets too hard, shift to your middle ring and stay on it for most of your riding.

You are doing well. Keep riding, taking it easy. It's more important to put time in the saddle than to put a lot of effort in pedaling. You will gain muscle strength by just easy pedaling, believe me. After you get stronger, then you can start harder pedaling. For now, steady pace and easy effort is the key to enjoying your ride and increasing your strength gradually.

 

[RickF]

i'll add a question that i've often pondered but never really sought an answer to about gears.
is there a distinct difference between all gears on the different chain rings, or is there some overlap between smallest rear cog on smaller CR and the largest rear cog on a larger CR?

Yes, there is a lot of overlap. In general, it is better for the chain not to ride in the extremes (i.e., small chainring and smallest two cogs on the casette or large chainring, largest two cogs on the casette. If you look at the chain when it is in these positions, you will see that there is a lot of sideways stress on it. That will cause premature wear of the chain and the cogs.

A typical 10 speed, tripple chainring road bike configuration would have 30, 42, and 52 teeth chainrings, and 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, and 25 teeth on the casette cogs. You can do the math, but the bottom line is that using the 42 teeth chainring would give you gear ratios from 1.68 (easy) to 3.5 (hard). To go lower than 1.68, you would go to the 30 teeth chainring, and use gears 4 (19 teeth - 1.58 ratio) to 1 (25 teeth - 1.20 ratio). To go higher than 3.5, you would use the 52 teeth chainring and gears 8 (14 teeth - 3.71 ratio) through 10 (12 teeth - 4.33 ratio).

If you are in the small chainring, there is nothing wrong with staying there and going to gears 5 or 6 on the casette to avoid double shifting, but the ratios on these combinations would be similar to being in gears 1 and 2 while you are in the middle chainring. Similarly, if you are already in the large chainring, there is nothing wrong with going down to gears 4 through 7 on the casette, but these combinations would be similar to being in gears 7 through 10 while you are in the middle chainring.

To better visualize the effects of the various combinations, set up a spread sheet with the number of teeth on each casette cog going down and the number of teeth on each chainring going across, then fill in each cell by dividing the number of teeth on the chainring by the number of teeth on the casette. The result is the number of revolutions of the wheel for each revolution of the pedal. The smaller the number, the easier (more torque, less speed). The higher the number, the harder (less torque, more speed). You will see where the overlaps are for your configuration.

 

[wheelist]

Spend some time when you're not on the way to work just riding and playing with the gears.

As Rick F so excellently points out (in his 3rd paragraph) there are times when you could just change the rear cog, but in order to maintain the best gear (i.e. looking forward to the next change perhaps) it'd make more sense to switch chainrings and adjust the cog to compensate for the large jump in gear - this means that at times you'll probably be wanting to change both the chainring (front) and cog (rear) at the same time. Try this - practice running through the gears at slow speed - you'll soon get the hang of it.

I guess the important thing to remember is to try and keep the chain straightish - if it's going from the smallest chainring to the smallest cog, or biggest to biggest, find a better gear!

Keep on riding.

Wheelist

 

[dauphin]

With three chainrings, you should not be in the largest one (3) unless you are going faster than 20 mph (32 K/h). The biggest mistake most beginners make is to use too hard of a gear. As Aussie Steve said, stay in the middle chainring and switch among the gears in the rear to match your speed. Always switch to an easier gear before you stop. It is much easier to start up in an easy gear, then shift to a harder gear once you are up to speed.

Just a clarifying question. Yesterday while riding my Specialized Sirrus I found myself at 20 mph or a bit higher while in the large chainring and in the 7th and 8th gear. Does that sound right? In a case such as this....and on rolling terrain, I would have to shift down to five or six on the slight uphills and back to to seven or even eight on the downhills.

 

[RickF]

Just a clarifying question. Yesterday while riding my Specialized Sirrus I found myself at 20 mph or a bit higher while in the large chainring and in the 7th and 8th gear. Does that sound right? In a case such as this....and on rolling terrain, I would have to shift down to five or six on the slight uphills and back to to seven or even eight on the downhills.

That is about right, but you would probably do better to work on spinning the pedals faster in an easier gear.

If you were on the large chainring (48 teeth) and gear 8 (12 teeth), then each revolution of the pedal is four revolutions of the wheel. The circumfrence of the 700x28c tire that is standard on the Sirrus is about 2136mm, or 84 inches. Thus, for every revolultion of the pedal, you are moving 336 inches, or 28 feet. It takes 188 revolutions of the pedal to go one mile. If you were traveling at 20 mph, that is about 63 revolutions per minute. That is better than most beginners do, but you really should work towards maintaining a cadence of about 80 rpm. If you were in the middle chainring (38 teeth) and gear 8 (12 teeth), then to go 20 mph, your cadence would be 79 rpm, which is closer to what you should be trying to achieve. Alternatively, you could be on the large chainring and in gear 6 to go 20 mph with a cadence of 78 rpm, but as I stated in a previous post, unless you are going above 20 mph, you do not need the large chainring.

As far as shifting down on the uphills, you are on the right track, but again, you are in to hard a gear. You would do better in the long run by spinning easier gears at a faster cadence. It seems awkward at first, but as you get used to it, you will find that it is much more efficient. Being in the middle chainring when you come to the hill gives you much more flexibility than being in the large chainring. You will find that shifting the rear gears is much easier to do under strain than is shifting the chainring. When you most need to downshift on the chainring is the time that it is most difficult to accomplish.

 

[ward17]

Go to www.income-software.com and download gearcalc.
Put in the number of teeth on your chainrings, cassettes and a rpm of 80.
This well tell you what speed to do in each gear and your gear overlaps etc.