- 3 months ago
How Bike Gears Work (And How To Shift Them)
Road bike gears can be tricky to understand. There's often lots of buttons, paddles and things to interact with and knowing what to press and when to ensure you get the most out of your bike can take a while to learn. In this video, Sam Gupta explains how bike gears work, what all the drivetrain components are called, what gear ratios are, how to shift gear correctly, which gears are best and common mistakes to avoid.
Road bike gears can be tricky to understand. There's often lots of buttons, paddles and things to interact with and knowing what to press and when to ensure you get the most out of your bike can take a while to learn. In this video, Sam Gupta explains how bike gears work, what all the drivetrain components are called, what gear ratios are, how to shift gear correctly, which gears are best and common mistakes to avoid.
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00:00Have you bought a road bike and been left wondering what the deal is with the gears?
00:04Well you're in the right place. In this video I'm going to cover everything you need to know
00:09from what everything is called, which gears are best for you, how to operate them and finally
00:15some important do's and don'ts. First off we're going to name all of the important parts that go
00:24into making your bike gears work. These are your shifters. This is what you hold when you're
00:30riding and they both operate your brakes and your gears. Later in this video we're going to go into
00:36detail about how to operate them. This is your chain set. It is made up of crank arms and usually
00:42one, two or sometimes three chain rings. This is your cassette. It's a collection of different size
00:50sprockets which enable you to fine tune the gear that you want to ride in. This is your chain. It
00:56connects your chain set to your cassette. This is your rear derailleur. Its job is to literally derail
01:03your chain so that you can move it across the different size sprockets on your cassette. This
01:09is your front derailleur. It has the same job but it just has to move the chain between two or three
01:15chain rings. If you only have one chain ring then it's likely you won't have a front derailleur because
01:21there's nowhere for the chain to go. This means you'll just be controlling the gears at the back
01:26of your bike. All of these components together namely your chainset, chain and cassette are often
01:33referred to as your drivetrain and you may hear me use that word a little bit later on.
01:38When talking about gearing there's often a lot of numbers being thrown around. The ones that you
01:46should be aware of are the chain ring sizes and the cassette sizes. These numbers relate to the
01:52number of teeth found on either the chain rings or the sprockets. For example, if I talk about having
01:58an 11 28 tooth cassette that means the smallest sprocket has 11 teeth and the largest has 28. Likewise,
02:07if I talk about having a 50 34 tooth chainset that means my largest chain ring has 50 teeth and my
02:13smaller ring has 34. It's the relationship between these two groups of numbers that will impact the
02:19spread of gear ratios that you have at your disposal. When you pair a large chain ring with a small sprocket
02:26you will have a gear which will be great for going really fast and you might select this gear when riding
02:31downhill or on some fast flat roads. On the other hand if you pair a small chain ring with a large
02:37sprocket you will have a gear that's great for using when going uphill or when you're facing more
02:43resistance. It's worth knowing chain ring sizes often come along with a few names and I'll pop them on
02:50screen now for you. A 50 34 chainset is referred to as a compact, a 52 36 is called a semi-compact and a 53 39 is
03:00called standard. Sram does things a little bit differently because it offers smaller chain rings.
03:05Available options are 50 37, 48 35, 46 33 and 43 30.
03:15You might be wondering how you work out what size you have on your bike. You can either take a close
03:21look at the chain rings and cassette. Usually the size will be printed on the side. Like here for example
03:28you can see that I have a 52 36 tooth chain set and an 11 30 cassette. Or if you cannot see any numbers
03:37the next best option is just to count them. My method is pretty simple being careful not to cut my finger
03:43I'll leave my finger on a tooth and then count around leaving the tooth my finger is on as the last one to
03:50count. Simple. The gears that are best for you depend on a number of variables. Ultimately the role of your gears
03:57is to keep your legs spinning at a comfortable cadence. For most people this is around 80 to 90
04:04revolutions per minute. You'll need to consider that area in which you will do most of your riding.
04:09If that's somewhere fairly flat then you may find running a cassette like an 11 28 best. You could also
04:16size up your chain rings to give you a similar effect. However if you live somewhere hilly you may want
04:22to stick with a compact chain set and consider using an 11 32 or 11 34 tooth cassette. This will make
04:29it easier to spin your legs at a higher cadence and makes it less tiring to ride up steep gradients.
04:39So hopefully you now have a good understanding of what all the parts are called, what relationship the
04:45chain set and cassette have with each other and which sizes are best for different types of terrain.
04:52So how do you actually use them? Well we're going to start with mechanical Shimano gears and then move
04:58on to electronic gears from SRAM and Shimano. If you have mechanical Shimano gears then the lever which
05:06you hold on to with your right hand will control the rear derailleur. This is the shifter to use if you want
05:12to move the chain up and down the cassette. The shifter in your left hand controls the front derailleur
05:17and will move the chain between your different chain rings. Let's focus on the right hand shifter
05:22first. If you want to move the chain into a larger sprocket, something you'll likely want to do when
05:27riding uphill, then push the whole lever over to the side. One click means you've moved up one sprocket.
05:35If you want to move the chain onto a smaller sprocket, something you'll likely want to do when going
05:40faster, then push this smaller shift button which can be found just behind the brake lever. One push
05:47means you've gone down one gear. Let's move over to the left hand shifter now. If you want to move the
05:52chain into a larger chain ring, something you'll likely want to do when going downhill, then push the
05:58whole lever over to the side. If you want to move the chain to a smaller chain ring, something you may
06:04want to do when approaching a hill, then push the smaller shift paddle once.
06:13Lots of bikes now come with electronic group sets and we're seeing them come on more and more affordable
06:18models. Again, we'll start with Shimano group sets before moving on to SRAM. Much like the mechanical
06:24group sets, the right hand shifter controls the rear derailleur and the left hand shifter controls the
06:30front. To move the chain into a smaller sprocket on the cassette, push the button closest to the
06:35handlebars once for one shift. To move it into a larger sprocket, push the raised textured button once
06:42to move it up one. If you hold either of these buttons down continuously, then the derailleur will
06:49continue to shift in whichever direction that you have selected until you release the button.
06:54It's a similar story for the left hand shifter. Either push the button closest to the bars to move the
07:00chain into the smaller chain ring or press the raised textured button to move it into the larger one.
07:05If you have an electronic SRAM group set, then things do change, so listen up. If you want to
07:10move the chain into a smaller sprocket, then push the right hand shift button once. If you want to move
07:16it to a larger sprocket, then push the left hand shift button once. Again, if you hold either of the
07:22shifter buttons down, the chain will continuously move in the direction that you have selected until you
07:28release the button. Onto the front derailleur, and if you want to move the chain to the other chain ring,
07:33no matter where it currently is, then just push both shift buttons at the same time.
07:42That's my crash course on how to operate your gears, so I'm now going to share some advice on best
07:47practice and how to set yourself up for success while you're out riding on the road.
07:52Knowing when to shift gear is important and can save you a lot of hassle. The goal is to maintain
07:59a comfortable cadence so that you're not spinning your legs really fast, but also so you're not
08:04grinding along trying to push a gear that is just too hard. Being prepared for when you're about to go
08:10uphill is arguably the most crucial time to ensure you're in the right gear. It's a good idea to move
08:16the chain into a smaller chain ring before you start climbing just as the gradient of the hill starts to
08:21eat into your speed. I'd recommend shifting gear while your legs are at a reasonable cadence, again
08:27around 80 or 90 rpm. This will ensure the shift itself can happen smoothly. If you try to shift when
08:34your cadence is too low, then the shift may end up being really clunky. If you've been riding uphill and
08:40you have reached the top, then now is a good time to drop the chain into a smaller sprocket and depending
08:46on whether or not you're about to go straight back down, you may also want to move the chain into the
08:51bigger chain ring. While you're riding on the flat, it's a good idea to choose a chain ring that allows
08:57you to keep the chain roughly in the middle of the cassette. This will reduce wear on components and
09:02again aid in smooth shifting. Another good time to change gear is in the last 10 to 20 meters before a
09:09junction, a set of traffic lights or any time you're coming to a stop. By moving the chain to a larger
09:15sprocket or by dropping it down onto a smaller chain ring means that when you set off again, you'll be able to
09:21pull away with ease, much like you would in a car. Trying to set off in a really hard gear is not a
09:27fun thing to do, so thinking ahead can really save your legs, especially when you're tired.
09:36There are also bad times to change gear and I've touched on some examples already, but to expand,
09:43you don't want to change gear when stationary. This will result in lots of crunching noises and potential
09:49damage to components when you set off again. You don't want to change gear when you're riding out
09:55of the saddle and putting out lots of power. It can be done safely, but it takes some practice to get
10:00right and requires some careful timing to ensure the shift happens smoothly. You don't want to change
10:06gear when your cadence is too low. In a similar vein to changing gear when stationary, you'll be met with
10:12lots of crunching noises and risk damage to your components. Lastly, you don't want to shift both
10:19front and rear derailleurs at the same time. This can result in your chain falling off.
10:26It's best to do your front derailleur first, followed by your rear to then refine your cadence.
10:35We've now covered all the basics on how to use your road bike gears, but I'm going to end the video on one
10:41final warning. That warning is do not cross chain. By that I mean do not use both your big chain ring
10:50and your biggest sprocket at the same time, and do not use your smallest chain ring and your smallest
10:56sprocket at the same time. This is called cross chaining and is in effect putting your chain at
11:02quite a drastic angle. If you find that you're working your way to the bottom of the cassette and
11:07you're still in the small chain ring, then move it to the big one and move the chain into a larger
11:12sprocket. Likewise, if you've approached a hill and you're still in the large chain ring and you're now
11:18on the largest sprocket of your cassette, then drop yourself into the smaller chain ring and bring the
11:23chain into a smaller sprocket. Doing this will ensure your drivetrain runs smoothly. You don't needlessly
11:30wear out your components and you'll save yourself a fair bit of headache because cross chaining can be
11:36quite noisy. There we have it! That's everything I think you need to know to get you started using
11:42the gears on your new road bike. If you have any questions, then just let me know down in the comments.
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