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SHIFTING GEARS
If your bike is a multi-speed bike, please read the information below to familiarize yourself with
the basics of shifting gears.
Your multi-speed bicycle will have a derailleur drivetrain (see 1. below), an internal gear hub
drivetrain (see 2. below) or, in some special cases, a combination of the two.
1. How A Derailleur Drivetrain Works
If your bicycle has a derailleur drivetrain, the gear-changing mechanism will have:
– a rear cassette or freewheel sprocket cluster
– a rear derailleur
– usually a front derailleur
– one or two shifters
– one, two or three front sprockets called chainrings
– a chain
a. A Brief Note About Shifting Gears
There are several different types and styles of shifting controls: levers, twist grips, triggers,
combination shift/brake controls, pushbuttons, and so on. If you are not comfortable shifting
gears, ask your local bike mechanic to explain the type of shifting controls that are on your
bike, and to show you how they work. The vocabulary of shifting can be pretty confusing. A
downshift is a shift to a “lower” or “slower” gear, one which is easier to pedal. An upshift is a
shift to a “higher” or “faster”, harder to pedal gear. What’s confusing is that what’s happening
at the front derailleur is the opposite of what’s happening at the rear derailleur (for details, read
the instructions on Shifting the Rear Derailleur and Shifting the Front Derailleur below). For
example, you can select a gear which will make pedaling easier on a hill (make a downshift) in
one of two ways: shift the chain down the gear “steps” to a smaller gear at the front, or up the
gear “steps” to a larger gear at the rear. So, at the rear gear cluster, what is called a downshift
looks like an upshift. The way to keep things straight is to remember that shifting the chain in
towards the centerline of the bike is for accelerating and climbing and is called a downshift.
Moving the chain out or away from the centerline of the bike is for speed and is called an
upshift. Whether upshifting or downshifting, the bicycle derailleur system design requires that
the drive chain be moving forward and be under at least some tension. A derailleur will shift
only if you are pedaling forward.
CAUTION: Never move the shifter while pedaling backward, nor pedal backward
immediately after having moved the shifter. This could jam the chain and cause damage to
the bicycle.
ASSEMBLING YOUR BIKE
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