- 1 day 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
00:14some 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.
00:56It connects your chain set to your cassette. This is your rear derailleur. Its job is to literally
01:03derail your chain so that you can move it across the different size sprockets on your cassette.
01:08This is your front derailleur. It has the same job but it just has to move the chain between two
01:14or 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.
01:41When 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,
02:06if I talk about having a 50 34 tooth chainset that means my largest chain ring has 50 teeth and
02:13my
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
02:25sprocket
02:25you will have a gear which will be great for going really fast and you might select this gear when
02:31riding
02:31downhill or on some fast flat roads. On the other hand, if you pair a small chain ring with a
02:37large
02:37sprocket you will have a gear that's great for using when going uphill or when you're facing more resistance.
02:45It's worth knowing chain ring sizes often come along with a few names and I'll pop them on screen now
02:50for
02:51you. A 50 34 chainset is referred to as a compact, a 52 36 is called a semi-compact and
02:58a 53 39 is called
03:00standard. SRAM does things a little bit differently because it offers smaller chain rings. Available
03:06options 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
03:21close
03:21look at the chain rings and cassette. Usually the size will be printed on the side. Like here for
03:27example you can see that I have a 52 36 tooth chain set and an 11 30 cassette. Or if
03:35you cannot see any
03:36numbers the next best option is just to count them. My method is pretty simple, being careful not to cut
03:42my
03:42finger. I'll leave my finger on a tooth and then count around leaving the tooth my finger is on as
03:49the
03:49last one to count. Simple. The gears that are best for you depend on a number of variables. Ultimately the
03:56role of your gears is to keep your legs spinning at a comfortable cadence. For most people this is around
04:0280 to 90 revolutions per minute. You'll need to consider that area in which you will do most of your
04:09riding. If that's somewhere fairly flat then you may find running a cassette like an 11 28 best. You
04:15could also size up your chain rings to give you a similar effect. However if you live somewhere hilly
04:21you may want to stick with a compact chain set and consider using an 11 32 or 11 34 tooth
04:28cassette. This
04:29will make it easier to spin your legs at a higher cadence and makes it less tiring to ride up
04:34steep gradients.
04:39So hopefully you now have a good understanding of what all the parts are called, what relationship
04:45the chain set and cassette have with each other and which sizes are best for different types of
04:51terrain. So how do you actually use them? Well we're going to start with mechanical Shimano gears and then
04:58move on 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
05:12you want to move the chain up and down the cassette. The shifter in your left hand controls the front
05:17derailleur and will move the chain between your different chain rings. Let's focus on the right
05:21hand shifter first. If you want to move the chain into a larger sprocket, something you'll likely want
05:27to do when riding uphill, then push the whole lever over to the side. One click means you've moved up
05:34one sprocket. If you want to move the chain onto a smaller sprocket, something you'll likely want to
05:40do when going faster, then push this smaller shift button which can be found just behind the brake lever.
05:46One push means you've gone down one gear. Let's move over to the left hand shifter now. If you want
05:52to move
05:52the chain 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
06:04may
06:04want to do when approaching a hill, then push the smaller shift paddle once.
06:12Lots 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 handlebars
06:36once for one shift. To move it into a larger sprocket, push the raised textured button once to move it
06:43up one.
06:43If you hold either of these buttons down continuously, then the derailleur will continue to shift in whichever
06:51direction that you have selected until you release the button. It's a similar story for the left hand
06:56shifter. Either push the button closest to the bars to move the chain into the smaller chain ring, or press
07:02the
07:02raised textured button to move it into the larger one. If you have an electronic SRAM group set, then things
07:08do change, so
07:09listen up. If you want to move the chain into a smaller sprocket, then push the right hand shift
07:14button once. If you want to move it to a larger sprocket, then push the left hand shift button once.
07:20Again, if you hold either of the shifter buttons down, the chain will continuously move in the direction that
07:26you have selected until you release the button. Onto the front derailleur, and if you want to move the chain
07:32to the other chain ring, no matter where it currently is, then just push both shift buttons at the same
07:38time.
07:41That'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. Knowing when
07:53to shift gear is important, and can save you a lot of hassle. The goal is to maintain a comfortable
07:59cadence so that you're not spinning your legs really fast, but also so you're not grinding along trying
08:05to push a gear that is just too hard. Being prepared for when you're about to go uphill is arguably
08:11the
08:12most crucial time to ensure you're in the right gear. It's a good idea to move the chain into a
08:16smaller
08:17chain ring before you start climbing, just as the gradient of the hill starts to eat into your speed.
08:23I'd recommend shifting gear while your legs are at a reasonable cadence, again around 80 or 90 RPM.
08:29This will ensure the shift itself can happen smoothly. If you try to shift when your cadence is too low,
08:36then the shift may end up being really clunky. If you've been riding uphill and you have reached the
08:41top, then now is a good time to drop the chain into a smaller sprocket, and depending on whether or
08:46not you're about to go straight back down, you may also want to move the chain into the bigger chain
08:52ring.
08:53While you're riding on the flat, it's a good idea to choose a chain ring that allows you to keep
08:58the chain
08:58roughly in the middle of the cassette. This will reduce wear on components and again aid in smooth
09:04shifting. Another good time to change gear is in the last 10 to 20 meters before a junction, a set
09:10of
09:10traffic lights or any time you're coming to a stop. By moving the chain to a larger sprocket or by
09:16dropping
09:16it down onto a smaller chain ring means that when you set off again, you'll be able to pull away
09:21with
09:22ease, much like you would in a car. Trying to set off in a really hard gear is not a
09:27fun thing to do,
09:28so 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,
09:42you don't want to change gear when stationary. This will result in lots of crunching noises and
09:48potential damage to components when you set off again. You don't want to change gear when you're
09:54riding out of the saddle and putting out lots of power. It can be done safely, but it takes some
10:00practice to get right and requires some careful timing to ensure the shift happens smoothly.
10:05You don't want to change gear when your cadence is too low. In a similar vein to changing gear when
10:10stationary, you'll be met with lots of crunching noises and risk damage to your components. Lastly,
10:17you don't want to shift both front and rear derailleurs at the same time. This can result in
10:23your chain falling off. It's best to do your front derailleur first, followed by your rear to then refine
10:30your cadence. We've now covered all the basics on how to use your road bike gears, but I'm going to
10:40end the
10:40video on one final warning. That warning is do not cross chain. By that I mean do not use both
10:49your big
10:49chain ring and your biggest sprocket at the same time, and do not use your smallest chain ring and
10:55your smallest sprocket at the same time. This is called cross chaining and is in effect putting your
11:01chain at quite a drastic angle. If you find that you're working your way to the bottom of the cassette
11:06and
11:07you're still in the small chain ring, then move it to the big one and move the chain into a
11:12larger
11:12sprocket. Likewise, if you've approached a hill and you're still in the large chain ring and you're now on
11:18the 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 the
11:43gears on your new road bike. If you have any questions, then just let me know down in the comments.
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