Whilst I'm making myself look dense...

[Elmer Fudd]

You, sir, are a pendant.

 

[frog]

One word:

Sturmey Archer

Rohloff!

 

[frog]

One word:

Sturmey Archer

Rohloff!

 

[Arch]

Rohloff!

Bless you!

 

[Arch]

Rohloff!

Bless you!

 

[frog]

Bless you!

Thank you Auntie Arch

Never find a kleenex when you want one . .

 

[frog]

Bless you!

Thank you Auntie Arch

Never find a kleenex when you want one . .

 

[yenrod]

here's my two pennyworth - feel free to shoot it down at your leasure

Think of the rear cluster as divided into three. If you have 8 then think of 1,2,and 3 as the 'low' group. 4, 5, and 6 as the 'middle' group. 6, 7, 8 as the 'high' group. Biggest cog is 1 and 8 is the smallest. On the front end the little ring looks after the low group, middle the . . etc.

The idea is to keep the chain straight so if you want a low gear for a steep hill you change down to the low group on the back and the small ring. If you want to go faster then change up using the rear cogs only. This will take you happily up to 4 on the back and then the chain will start rubbing on the middle chain ring. At that point you'll need to move onto the middle ring and, to keep the work load down, drop a gear on the back. Same applies to the next ring as well.

Now you're belting along in 8 on the back and the large chain ring. A rapid change down is done on the front ring, to the middle and cog 7 on the back. From here you can drop the gears in pairs because a big push on the lever will move two gears instead of just one. Two big pushes will get you into 3 and there you can either stay with that or go to the inner ring. Clear as mud ain't it.

Knowing what gear you#re in comes with experience. For me it was a quick look down at my feet which showed me what ring I was on and if I had the balamce or time I could look back and get an idea which cog as well. If I didn't have time I'd just check if the chain was running either to the left or the right. If it was to the left then my next change up would be onto a smaller cog, a change down would mean a smaller ring and visa versa for it pointint to the right.

However, you can throw all this out of the window and get yourself a bike with hub gears

 

[yenrod]

here's my two pennyworth - feel free to shoot it down at your leasure

Think of the rear cluster as divided into three. If you have 8 then think of 1,2,and 3 as the 'low' group. 4, 5, and 6 as the 'middle' group. 6, 7, 8 as the 'high' group. Biggest cog is 1 and 8 is the smallest. On the front end the little ring looks after the low group, middle the . . etc.

The idea is to keep the chain straight so if you want a low gear for a steep hill you change down to the low group on the back and the small ring. If you want to go faster then change up using the rear cogs only. This will take you happily up to 4 on the back and then the chain will start rubbing on the middle chain ring. At that point you'll need to move onto the middle ring and, to keep the work load down, drop a gear on the back. Same applies to the next ring as well.

Now you're belting along in 8 on the back and the large chain ring. A rapid change down is done on the front ring, to the middle and cog 7 on the back. From here you can drop the gears in pairs because a big push on the lever will move two gears instead of just one. Two big pushes will get you into 3 and there you can either stay with that or go to the inner ring. Clear as mud ain't it.

Knowing what gear you#re in comes with experience. For me it was a quick look down at my feet which showed me what ring I was on and if I had the balamce or time I could look back and get an idea which cog as well. If I didn't have time I'd just check if the chain was running either to the left or the right. If it was to the left then my next change up would be onto a smaller cog, a change down would mean a smaller ring and visa versa for it pointint to the right.

However, you can throw all this out of the window and get yourself a bike with hub gears

 

[alicat]

Recently while cycling over some quite hilly terrain in the dark I found it difficult to tell what gear I was in by the conventional methods. I kept wishing I had made a mental note of what gear I had started in to judge whether it was better to change a gear at the front or the back. Downtube shifters would have told me by feel.

 

[Dayvo]

You, sir, are a pendant.

And I thought he was just a pedant!
Or is that just me?

 

[Tynan]

blimey, if push comes to shove you're in whatever gear you're in surely, just move up and down as the legs require

 

[Elmer Fudd]

You, sir, are a pendant.

And I thought he was just a pedant!
Or is that just me?

Maybe he's a swinger ??

 

[Arch]

blimey, if push comes to shove you're in whatever gear you're in surely, just move up and down as the legs require

Yes, I have to say, the only reason I really ever need to know what gear I'm in is the point where I'm at risk of trying to change down just one more, and finding that I don't have one more to change down to. At which stage I'm probably about to get off and walk anyway...

 

[John the Monkey]

I think some Shimano STI's have indicators to signal the gear, might be new Tiagra levers?

It's on the new Sora levers too;

Sora 2008

Tiagra 2007

(See "Optical Gear Display Unit" in the specs).