Really dumb question about changing gear on a bike!

HurdyGurdy

I have 6 gears on my bike, on a twist thing on the handlebar.

When I am changing gear, should I stop pedaling while I change? or freewheel , or what?

I am new-again to cycling and my last bike was a Raleigh Shopper, in about 1975 and it only had three gears on a kind of a trigger thing on the handlebars, so these twist ones are new to me.

The bike is second hand - I got it to see how I got on with cycling after such a long break - and so is likely to be starting to show it's age (just like its now owner). When I change gear, the gears seem to slip a bit and I can hear a kind of tick tick tick noise coming from the rear wheel.

That's why I wondered if I was doing it wrong when changing gear.

The_ICT_Engineer

Ease off, but keep pedalling,

dotdash79

Yep keep pedalling but not as hard as otherwise you will put stress on everything and likely cause massive damage to either the chain or rear derailleur.

Last week on a ride someone managed to snap the rear derailleur off the frame, and ended up converting his bike to a single speed.

jonparr

Keep pedalling, but if you get to a hill, try and anticipate changing gears beforehand as that can really put stress on your chain if you change when you are already struggling up hill.

HurdyGurdy

Thank you. So the next daft question is . . .

Is it ok to go from gear 2 to gear 5 in one go, or should I step up through them? and Likewise going the other way. There is one particular hill I encounter on my way to work, which most people would just sail up. But being old, fat and unfit, it is taking a bit of a major effort for me to get up it. I tend to go into gear 2 for it, but once at the summit, it's straight back down again and I can go along in gear 5, but I'm not sure if it's ok to jump gears. (It is getting a bit easier every day, that hill. I will conquer it one of these days and not arrive at the top a gasping, puce-faced wreck )

ceredigion

I will conquer it one of these days and not arrive at the top a gasping, puce-faced wreck )




it never gets easier ! you just get quicker :rotfl:

Prothet_of_Doom

why not turn your bike upside down on the patio, and see what happens in slow motion. If the chain is not rotating, the chain can not jump up or down. Buy a book about bike maintenance (Haynes do a good one)

Avoriaz

Really dumb answer about changing gear on a bike:

Never change gear on a bike.

Decide what to wear before getting on your bike. If you try to change clothes while riding you will probably fall off.

Billy-no-Money

HurdyGurdy wrote: »

Thank you. So the next daft question is . . .

Is it ok to go from gear 2 to gear 5 in one go, or should I step up through them? and Likewise going the other way.

Technically yes of course you can (though if you think about it you're actually going through all the gears, just very quickly). If you're about to go up a steep hill then it's best to get into the right gear just before you need it.

What you should be aiming for is a comfortable 'cadence', which is the speed you turn the pedals. The ideal cadence is likely to be somewhat faster than you expect - 60 to 80rpm is about right for many people. You use the gears to stay within your ideal cadence range, just like using gears in a car to keep the engine in a certain rpm range.

To be most efficient you should be up and down gears all the time as the road and wind conditions change; if you encounter a slight gradient drop down a gear, unless it's very short.


Your description of the sounds coming from the gears makes me think they're slightly out of adjustment - if they're reluctant to go into the next gear but do so eventually then you'll probably just need to tighten the cable slightly (cables tend to get slightly slacker with time). A six-speed bike isn't particularly difficult to adjust, but if it's cheap or worn it might never be quite right.

If you do buy a new bike, most budget ones are seven speed with twist shifters; it can be worth looking out for one with a trigger shifter, and ideally eight gears.
(Retailers like numbers to look big, so will multiply the number of gears at the back by the number of chainrings; so a seven-speed might be advertised as a '21-speed', and an eight-speed as '24'. You don't actually have that many different gears though).

The reason I suggest looking for eight gears (or "24") is that they use a different rear hub configuration (known as a 'freehub') which is likely to be more robust than the typical seven-speed 'freewheel'.


Personally I'm a fan of 'hub-geared' bikes, like the old three-speed Sturmey Archer you had on the Raleigh Shopper. These days they've got 7 or 8 gears, even up to 11 in some cases, and once they're adjusted correctly rarely need much attention. If you do eventually go for a new bike consider paying that bit extra for hub gears.

HurdyGurdy

Avoriaz wrote: »

Really dumb answer about changing gear on a bike:

Never change gear on a bike.

Decide what to wear before getting on your bike. If you try to change clothes while riding you will probably fall off.

funneeeeeee!!

HurdyGurdy

Billy-no-Money wrote: »

Your description of the sounds coming from the gears makes me think they're slightly out of adjustment - if they're reluctant to go into the next gear but do so eventually then you'll probably just need to tighten the cable slightly (cables tend to get slightly slacker with time). A six-speed bike isn't particularly difficult to adjust, but if it's cheap or worn it might never be quite right.

Thank you Billy-n-m. One of the gear cables was broken or damaged, and I had it replaced about a month ago. Someone suggested that it may have slackened over the month, so I will pop back to the shop and ask them to have a look for me.


I have been browsing online for new bikes. I really love Pashley bikes (I am a traditionalist when it come to bikes!) but I have been told they are very heavy bikes to pedal, so I may have to downgrade slightly. I will have fun researching and test-riding though