Completed:Any cycling gurus out there?

[gardener]

Hi
I just collected my brand new bike from the shop and it spurred me on to ask a question (working on the "the only stupid question is one that is not asked" line of thinking here).

OK, this bike has 3 x 7 gears and I cycled home comfortably using 2 and 1-7 as a combination. In the future, if I encounter a steeper hill or have a following wind on a straight stretch, what do I do with the rest?

I asked my husband: he looked the way he looks at MacDonald's when faced with ordering for a family of five via the intercom.
I asked my brother in law who said he had no idea.
I thought about asking my son but his idea of gear changing is standing up to pedal.
I thought about my daughter but her bike is asa rusted heap.

I tried Google and found somewhere that said that 21 gear bikes were actually only 13 gear as you can't use the full seven with each cog because the chain is too angled, but still I am puzzled.

Say I am cycling along and get to a hill and using 2 on the left and 1 on the right just won't get me up it easily. What do I do? Do I switch to 1 on the left handlebar and stay with 1 on the right? Or do I have to do something more tricky?

And if I am zooming along with 2 on the left and 7 on the right and what to go even faster, what do I do?

I've never understood bike gears. I would say bring back Sturmey-Archer but I doubt if I would like it if I did!

[snoopysue]

I've only got 7 on mine - plenty for flat Denmark!

[peterd]

of the three cogs attached to the pedal the smallest will be the lowest gear

of the 7 cogs on the wheel the largest is the lowest gear

so if the small cog on the peadal is selected and the large one on the wheel is selected this will be the lowest gear on the bike
(steep hills)

so if large cog on the peadal is selected and the smallest on the wheel, this is the highest gear (flat)

the rest in between are variations hope this helps

[gardener]

Thanks Pete. What I don't know is what to switch from at either end of the middle range. I am using the middle of the three cogs, in conjunction with all of the other seven. What I don't know is how I switch to using the the smallest or largest of the three. When do I do it? How do I do it?

OK, see here, if I use red number for the three-cogs, and blue for the seven cogs.

Right, I'm cycling along a flattish bit quite happily using 2 and 5
Path gets a bit steeper so go to 2 and 4
then 2 and 3
then 2 and 2
then 2 and 1

but WHAT THEN? Do the gear combinations overlap in some way? I can't possible switch from 2 and 1 to 1 and 7 in one go.

[gardener]

I just found a site which claimed to tell you about shifting gears on a bike. It says that you hardly ever need to use the three front gears. And most experinced riders pick one and stay in it for 90% of the time. What it doesn't tell you is which of the back gears you should be using when you decide to change to a different front gear. Surely this is not a difficult question?

[gardener]

Right then. Thanks to Youtube I now know that the smallest front cog is called the Granny Gear and only used for climbing hills. Well, we have some of those here.
And as I thought biggest cog on back and smallest on front is not a happy combination. So is the trick to switch to the smallest front cog when using something like 4 on the back gears?
How does that 1 and 4 compare to the 2 and 4 combination? It will feel like a lower gear won't it? So don't you have to instantly shift up on the back gear if you want to maintain the same pedalling?

[peterd]

it all depends on how many teeth the cogs have on front and back you will have to experiment with it to find out what most comfortable and easiest for you personally but you have the basic idea so know to gain the experience

20km ride weekend ?

[Antie Em]

Still don't understand - only had three on my Raleigh 20

[peterd]

Still don't understand - only had three on my Raleigh 20

wheels or gears

[Jimmy]

I had no saddle gears brakes or tyres on my first bike.

[peterd]

I had no saddle gears brakes or tyres on my first bike.

had saddle and tyres no brakes only shoe leather use to go down to the tip get the old bikes and build one from the parts
bet u wouldnt see kids doing that now

[gardener]

Still don't understand - only had three on my Raleigh 20

I told the guy at the bike shop that my first bike (a Raleigh) came complete with a handbook of instructions about how to take it to bits, service it, adjust the gears etc.
Then I asked if they had a booklet for my new bike. he looked at me as though I was a crazy woman/foreigner/foreign woman and said "Try looking on Youtube"

And really Pete, you still haven't answered my question. I don't think you know

[peterd]

the ratio of gears work on the teeth on the cogs, so if you had 1 and 7 selected or 2 and 1 i wouldnt know but 1and 7 sould be the lower gear

the bigger the gear on the front with plenty of teeth ie 45 and the smallest on the back ie 5 you got a ratio of 1 to 9 so every time you turn the pedal one full circle the back wheel will go round 9 times

[Antie Em]

Still don't understand - only had three on my Raleigh 20

wheels or gears

Gears Pete. Had this bike in the lovely summer of 76 - I was working at Securicor in Smethwick at the time, so used to cycle to work in shorts and sun top and take more suitable clothes in my bag. I kept it in the garage where they unloaded the cash from the CIT vans. One day when I walked in with my bike, one of the drivers was backing his van up to the loading bay, was too busy watching me and backed his van into a wall. I was told not to go into the garage again unless I was suitably dressed

[MarkCDodd]

I remember bein confused whenI went from three gears to 5 on my Dragster bicycle in the late 70's....

Of the 21 gears on my mountain bike I only ever use four or five.