Bike Gears: 8 Things You Need To Know | Cycling Weekly

[Applause] there's a lot to think about when you first start cycling but perhaps no sink is as complicated as a bike's gears so if you're wondering how many gears you need what ratios are and how it all translates to you the bike rider then you've come to the right place in this video I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about of bicycles gears but before we get into it do subscribe to cycling weekly YouTube channel for more great informative content a bike's drivetrain is made up of a dizzying array of parts starting at the front end you have the shifters now these can be made up like big hoods such as on this road bike or flat bar shifters such as on a mountain bike or a hybrid bike moving back down the bike you will also have a cassette or a freewheel this is made up of a different size collection of sprockets you will also have 1 2 or free chain rings these things are connected by the chain underneath success you will find the rear derailleur and above the chain rings you will find the front derailleur and these are called doraleous because they literally derail the chain from one sprocket to the other the derailleur is are controlled by the shifters and when you click a shifter it adds tension to a cable which stretches a spring and moves a'dreea up the sprocket clicking that shifter down again will de-stress the spring moving the driller back down the cassette at higher price points you will start to find electronic gears now these use electronic cables in the case of Shimano or Campagnolo or are completely wireless in the case of SRAM these tend to shift a bit quicker and more cleanly cassettes will typically have anywhere between 5 and 13 sprockets so to calculate how many gears your bike has you want to take those sprockets and multiply them by the number of chain rings you have this is known as the speed of your bike so this bike has ten sprockets on the back and two chain rings on the front so it is a 20 speed by top gear bottom gear high gear low gear it can all get a little bit disorientating when it comes to working out which gears make it harder or easier to pedal ensure a high gear is the same thing as a big gear and you get this by combining your largest chainring where's your smallest sprocket and this is optimal for riding downhill you will get the lowest or smaller scre in your bike by combining the smallest chainring with the largest sprocket and this is best for cycling uphill or climbing it's basically the same way that car gears work however a high gear and a low gear is only half the story and bike gear ratios are where things get even trickier in short our bikes gear ratios is how many times the rear wheel would rotate for one turn of the crank you'll calculate your gear ratios by taking what number sprocket you're in on the cassette and dividing it by what chain ring you are in so if you're in a 34 2 sprocket and a 34 tooth pain ring then that would be a ratio of 1 and this would be optimal for riding uphill however if you were riding downhill or you're riding on the flat then riding the bike in a higher gear ratio would allow you to add more power despite your speed for example sitting in the 11 to Spock it and the 52 chain ring will give you a ratio of 4 point 5 5 so in this sense the larger the chain rings and the smaller sprocket the harder is to pedal and the larger the sprocket the smaller the chain ring the easier it is to pedal gear over that is something to consider and this is where the gear combination you are in can give you the same ratio as a different one now what you should always be looking for when it comes to gears on your bike is a close and even space progression of gears on the rear wheel well this will come down to the type of riding that you like doing if you love climbing or going uphill then you might want a bike that offers you smaller gear ratios to make it easier this would look like a 50:34 compact crank set at the front and a cassette that goes up to a 30 a 32 or even a 34 to 2 sprocket now if you live somewhere flat you might go for a semi compact crank set and this would be at 50 to 36 or a standard crank set which would be a 5339 and the largest sprocket you might want to pair it with on the cassette would be a 28 the final piece of the puzzle is to know how to use all of that information when you are out riding the bike typically you would change gears to keep your pedaling speed comfortable now pedaling speed or cadence as it's known is typically around 80 to 90 rpm although it is really dependent on how comfortable you feel as the bike rider seeing as gears are all about efficiency you should shift to a high gear when you're pedaling downhill and you would do this by shifting into the smaller sprockets on the set and you should shift into a low gear when you're pedaling uphill and this would be into the largest Rockets on the cassette now when you get to either end of the cassette you should shift up or down on the front for a bigger change in the gears you would try maintain a fast cadence on the approach to the climb so we'd recommend shifting out of the big ring early and then moderating the gears on the rear alone however before you shift at the front you should try and move into the middle of the cassette so as to not suddenly be left spinning when you shift down on the front and lose all of your momentum so fine balance that can be difficult to get and practice makes perfect now getting gear changes correct can take a lot of practice but there are some things you can do to improve first is to avoid cross-training now this is where you would be in the big chain ring on the front and the larger sprocket on the rear or on the smallest chainring on the front and the smaller sprocket on the rear now this can accelerate the wear on your chain and lead to you having to replace parts more quickly you should always try and shift gears on the front before you hit the extreme ends of the cassette the first reasons that your gears my crunch is because they are dirty so if you look at your drivetrain and it is covered in black gunk then we'd recommend getting some degreaser and scrubbing the chain and the cassette before rinsing now once you've done this be sure to reapply some Lube to prevent water ingressing into it and causing it to rust rust can seriously accelerate the wear of your parts which will cost you a pretty package when you come to replace them if your chain won't stay in place on the rear and is skipping around a lot or it potentially falls off the back of the cassette or off the front of the cassette then you'll need to index your gears now we've done a video on this before which will link to in the description below but in short you basically need to adjust the high and the low screws on each derailleur to make sure it's not moving the chain too far in either direction now this can be something of a fine art so if you are struggling we do recommend you take it down to your local bike shop now we hope this video has been helpful and if you have enjoyed it and do give it a like and subscribe to cycling weekly YouTube channel for more great content if you do have any further questions about your drivetrain or about your bicycles gears in general then be sure to leave them in the comment section below and we'll do our best answer now we'll be back soon with more great content and we'll see you then moving back down the bike you will also have a cassette or a free route moving back down the bike you will also have a cassette or a free read oh so you need to be valid in some something dynamic I can never be a news reader [Applause]

Channel: Cycling Weekly

Views: 150,362

Keywords: cycling weekly, cycling, cycling weekly magazine, road bike, road cycling, bike gears explained, bike gears not shifting, bike gears slipping, bicycle gears explained, bicycle gears for beginners, bicycle gears not shifting, cycling for beginners, road bike gears explained, road bike gears for beginners, road bike gears slipping, bike groupsets explained, bike groupset guide, how to change gears on a bike, how to change gears on a mountain bike, bike shifters explained

Id: e5s4TdWbdK0

Length: 8min 17sec (497 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 07 2020