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D. 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 drive chain
a. Shifting Gears
There are several different types and styles of shifting controls: levers, twist grips, triggers,
combination shift/brake controls and push-buttons.
Ask your dealer 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
backwards immediately after having moved the shifter. This could jam the chain
and cause serious damage to the bicycle.
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