this dont seem right

[luplowe]

hello all, jus signed up n all that.

Ive just bought a roadbike and I'm a little confused.

Am i right in thinking that if i click the right hand sti lever that controls the rear cog in wards that should move up a gear , i.e if I'm on the flat not going particulary fast and i click the brake lever to wards the center of the bike a few times it would become harder to pedal. thats the way i see it .. but with my bike its the opposite clicking the gear lever itself seems to move it down the gears and the black lever behind moves it up if I'm going along and i click the black lever a few times it gets harder to pedal is this right?, am i just a burk?? i guess either way i gota know..


thanks for reading..

regards lup

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Sounds right to me. The smaller lever should move the chain to a smaller cog. The left hand small lever makes it easier to pedal and the right hand smaller lever makes it harder to pedal. You'll get used to it.
Welcome along, by the way.

 

[kyuss]

Sounds right to me too.

As RT says it's the opposite way round on the left hand lever.

 

[beancounter]

I'm not buying all these "I'm a beginner how do I use these gears / brakes / pedals" posts.

I think they're wind ups. It's a bicycle ffs not Apollo 13.

bc

 

[alecstilleyedye]

I'm not buying all these "I'm a beginner how do I use these gears / brakes / pedals" posts.

I think they're wind ups. It's a bicycle ffs not Apollo 13.

bc

glad to know there are people out there who were experts from day one

 

[domtyler]

I'm not buying all these "I'm a beginner how do I use these gears / brakes / pedals" posts.

I think they're wind ups. It's a bicycle ffs not Apollo 13.

bc

And here was me thinking that the beginners board was where beginners could come and ask advice without fear of receiving a load of condescending comments in response!

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

You fool, Dom!

 

[Andy in Sig]

I think the bottom line is that as long as the gears change smoothly it must be working correctly, even if the allocation of the levers seems counter intuitive. In other words, as somebody has said: don't worry you'll soon get used to it.

 

[iacula]

I'm not buying all these "I'm a beginner how do I use these gears / brakes / pedals" posts.

I think they're wind ups. It's a bicycle ffs not Apollo 13.

If they're "mystery shoppers" then you're all doing pretty well methinks.

 

[malkie]

The way I taught myself to remember it when I started riding again in Feb this year was ... the bigger lever gets you a bigger cog . Obviously works for left and right hand .

Might sound thick but as one of nature`s drummers I need all the help I can get ...

 

[Paulus]

Welcome luplowe. With road gears it can take a little time to work out the operation of the gearing, but once you have got it they are so easy.

 

[luplowe]

Ok cheers all thanks for the replies.. ill stick with it-

 

[dantheman]

noticed that the gears on my new bike worked the opposite to what i expected too, but after less than two weeks, was used to it and was changing correctly and then afterwards thinking about it! - easy to get used to.. and as it has been said, as long as they change smmothly, theres no problem..

 

[goo_mason]

Road bike gears confused me for a while when I moved from my MTB to my SCR2 in April, but once I realised 'small lever/small cog, big lever/big cog' I stopped having to think about it.

Still occasionally get thrown by the front derailleur needing two clicks per change though - I've been assuming that's normal for Tiagra gears. It's so that you have a 'trim' function to stop chain-rub on the cage, as far as I know.

(Cue rush of experts to tell me that it's not.... )