Hi

[boyabouttown]

hello, joined to pick all your brains when i need help.
decided to quit smoking on friday afternoon (after 30 years), bought a nicotine inhalator, then walked into decathlon and bought a bike (last rode a bike about 35 years ago, raleigh chopper)
i plan to use it for commuting but not been on it yet, now for my first daft question;
if the twist grip gears go up to no.7 then i pressume i push the the clicky button thingy to go to gears 8-14 but will i have to bring the twist grip back to no.1 at the same time. any help appreciated before i get on and go over the handlebars.

 

[HLaB]

Hiya,

I dont know what the clicky button thing is but you can shift through gears 1-7 with the chain on the smaller chairing at the front you can then shift to the larger chain ring perhaps by the Clicky button thing to get 8-14. It'll not cause you to go over the handle bars but the thing to remember is that if you've shifted through 1-7 and thrn change to the larger chain ring you'll get a high gear (14) which will be hard to pedal and you will need to change down gradually 1 on the shifter (gear 8). Visa versa if you shift down (14-8) on the larger chainring and then shift to the smaller ring you'll get a gear that can be too easy to pedal (gear 1) and it'll feel like you're pushing nothing. I prefer to keep the shifting of rings at the front momentarily sepparate from shifting gears at the back and also like to shift my chain rings early when in gear 2 or 3/ 5or 6 rather than at the extremes (1 and 8).

I hope that helps,

and welcome

 

[boyabouttown]

cheers, think it helps, suppose i will learn through practice. i take it you wouldn't use all 21 gears on a 2 mile trip to work anyway.

 

[HLaB]

cheers, think it helps, suppose i will learn through practice. i take it you wouldn't use all 21 gears on a 2 mile trip to work anyway.

Unless it is a prticularly hilly 2 miles I would avoid shifting chain ring and sit in the middle one and use the gears 8-14. But as you say its a thing you learn with practice. You really want to avoid having the chain at extreme angles anyway (so that rules out big ring to big cassette, 15th and small ring to small cassette, 7).

 

[boyabouttown]

thanks, i will start in the middle as you suggested. i do understand what you are saying about the front chain ring being diagonal to back ones, although my bike only has one chain ring. just can't get my head round the fact that you can't go from 7 to 8 or 14 to 15 or vice versa.
cheers for the advice, nice to find a site where people will help ( i ride lambrettas and vespas and the forums i view are sometimes very elitist) and not look down on people (me) who struggle to understand the most basic things.
thanks again