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ENGLISH
7. Tech
• one, two or three front sprockets called chainrings
• a drive chain
A. Shifting Gears
Identify the shifters on your bike before reading on. The vocabulary of shifting can be
pretty confusing. A downshift is a shift to a “slower” gear, one which is easier to pedal.
An up shift is a shift to a “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
up shift. 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 up shift.
Whether up shifting 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
after having moved the shifter. This could jam the chain and cause serious
damage to the bicycle and may cause you to lose control and fall.
B. Shifting the Rear Derailleur
The rear derailleur is controlled by the right shifter. The function of the rear derailleur
is to move the drive chain from one gear sprocket to another. The smaller sprockets
on the gear cluster produce higher gear ratios. Pedaling in the higher gears requires
greater pedaling effort, but takes you a greater distance with each revolution of the
pedal cranks. The larger sprockets produce lower gear ratios. Using them requires
less pedaling effort, but takes you a shorter distance with each pedal crank revolution.
Moving the chain from a smaller sprocket of the gear cluster to a larger sprocket
results in a downshift. Moving the chain from a larger sprocket to a smaller
sprocket results in an upshift. In order for the derailleur to move the chain from one
sprocket to another, the rider must be pedaling forward.
C. Shifting the Front Derailleur:
The front derailleur, which is controlled by the left shifter, shifts the chain between
the larger and smaller chain rings. Shifting the chain onto a smaller chain ring
makes pedaling easier (a downshift). Shifting to a larger chain ring makes pedaling
harder (an up shift).
D. Which gear should I be in?
The combination of largest rear and smallest front gears is for the steepest hills.
