How to Properly Shift Gears on a Bike

Learn the basics of how to shift gear on a bike

Shifting gears involves having more than one gear in a bike as the single gear bike doesn’t need or opt for shifting gears. The number of the speeds or gears a bike offers will come out if the number of front gear rings and the rear gear rings are multiplied. Now the question is how to shift gear on the bike that features multiple gears. This article will describe you the gear shifting process as brief as possible.

Know how to use the shifters:

The key to understanding how to shift gear on a bike lies in knowing the use of gear shifters. Bikes do have tow shifters on the two sides of the handlebars. The front gears follow the signal of the left-hand side shifter and the rear gears follow what command is coming from the shifter on the right side. If you fail to control your hands to act on time, remember the following formula while riding:

Right=Left.

Gear down to ease the speed:

Whenever encountered with a situation when you must lower your gear, change front gear into the smaller one and shift the back one into the bigger gear. There also we can simplify this task with a formula about how to shift gear on a bike:

 

• Gear down into smaller one in the front

• Jump over the bigger one in the back

 

Gear up to pedal fast:

This technique is just the reverse to the process mentioned above. The rider will feel harder to shift to a powerful pedaling and it will drive him to go faster. Here goes the formula:

 

• Gear up a bigger one in the front

• Flip back to a smaller one in the back

 

Earn a firm control on how to shift gear on a bike?

To learn it effective and rapidly, you have to start practicing it. It is difficult at first but if you start by riding on a flat area you can capture the odds easily. Try the shifters on both sides to achieve firm control over the gear up and down. Every time a gear shifts up or down you will hear a rattling sound.

When to shift gears?

The best part of knowing how to shift gear on a bike is to understand clearly when to shift gear. The multiple gearing options in a bike is for pedaling forward without stopping whatever the trail ahead. To have a better understanding of when and where to shift gears, go through the following points.

• Shift on a normal gear when a climb is an upfront
• Gear up for harder pedaling on a flat trail to move along the wind
• Shift on easier gear when a turn is approaching

The cross-chain hassle:

When the chain runs through the front and back gears of the same size, the chain has to bear the toughest stress known to be the cross-chain. It causes the chain expand and makes gear shifting difficult. Then you need a manual shifting if and when necessary.

Conclusion:

Shifting gear is not that tough as it seems to be. Merely going through a well-informed article like this one and a bit practice, can make you an expert on how to shift gear on a bike. But care should be taken while shifting as a silly mistake can cause your chain fall off, slippage, expansion or even break.