Left gear on bike working weirdly

[Anonymous1502]

I have Shimano Claris gearset on my bike I don't know whether this is useful information. I only use the right gears as when I try to shift using the left gears I feel like there is no graduation and that even shifting by 1 gear makes it incredibly hard to pedal and once I tried to change the left gears while cycling down a very steep hill and the pedals became very weird in the sense that the pedals started turning too easily I couldn't really pedal properly at all. I hope this makes sense. Is this how the left gears are meant to be or am I not using them properly? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

That's because on the left you're changing between chain rings, which are a much larger step in teeth than the cassette. Change up on the front and down two gears at the back

 

[Anonymous1502]

That's because on the left you're changing between chain rings, which are a much larger step in teeth than the cassette. Change up on the front and down two gears at the back

When should someone use the left gears?

 

[bikingdad90]

Your doing it in reverse, your supposed to click down the right hand shifter a couple of gears and then click the left shifter into the small ring when going UPHILL not downhill. As the hill gets steeper you click up through the right hand shifter to the bigger cassette rings at the back to make it easier to ride up the hill. When you are coming down the hill you want to be in the big ring at the front (long throw of left shifter) and then work your way down the cogs at the back with a short shift of the right shifters.

 

[MichaelW2]

The two rings at the front give different gear ratios , small is low and big is high. Small is for climbing and headwinds, big is for downhill and tailwinds. Some systems have a middle medium ring.
The two gear ranges have some overlap so when you change the front you have to adjust the rear by a few cogs.
Try to avoid the extreme crossover gears which stress the chain.

 

[Specialeyes]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhOT5GYUZJw

 

[Lovacott]

When should someone use the left gears?

On a level road or downhill, you will probably only use the large chainring on the front. The smaller chainrings will be mainly for climbing hills.

Don't try and change down on the front chainrings when you have a lot of load on the peddles (hill climbing). Also, avoid having the chain run on the right hand chainring on the front and the left hand one on the back (and vice versa).

The best way to get used to what does what, is to go out somewhere quiet and try all of your gear combinations. In time, you won't need to look at your indexing to know what gear you are in

My commute is very hilly and I use all three of my front chainrings at various stages.

 

[DRM]

This is something that takes a while to do properly, as not only do you need to understand how the front and rear gears are used to select an easy or harder gear, but be able to read the lie of the land and be able to select the correct gear before it’s too late and you end up grinding away on an in incline, on approaching an uphill I will simultaneously go from the big front chain ring and also into 1, possibly 2 harder(smaller) gears at the back, then as the hill gets steeper you only have to worry about going to an easier (larger) gear at the back as the pedalling gets harder, it sounds a bit complicated, but once you’ve got it, it makes the uphill bits easier To ride up.

 

[Lovacott]

This is something that takes a while to do properly, as not only do you need to understand how the front and rear gears are used to select an easy or harder gear, but be able to read the lie of the land and be able to select the correct gear before it’s too late and you end up grinding away on an in incline, on approaching an uphill I will simultaneously go from the big front chain ring and also into 1, possibly 2 harder(smaller) gears at the back, then as the hill gets steeper you only have to worry about going to an easier (larger) gear at the back as the pedalling gets harder, it sounds a bit complicated, but once you’ve got it, it makes the uphill bits easier To ride up.

In my case, I've got to know the hills on my route and I've learned where I need to be well in advance. I make my front chainring selection when I'm on the flat and use the rear during the ascent. I know with each hill whether it is doable with the middle front or whether I need to go to the smallest. It's taken me a good few months to fully get the hang of a 21 speed set up (up until this bike, I'd only ever had 5 speed bikes with a single ring on the front).

The hills get easier each time I climb them which is a combination of improved fitness and more intelligent gear selection.

I also haven't thrown the chain or had a chain slip since about a month after I started commuting.