Newbie - Down tube shifter levers use. Help please

[AndyCouchman]

Hi all

Im effectively a newbie, returning to cycling after 37 years!
Ive bought a temporary bike to get my cycling legs and its fitted with down tube shifter leavers.
As I understand it:


Rear gears - the highest number of teeth ie biggest ring = 1st gear, with the right lever fully back
Front gears - the lowest number of teeth, ie smallest ring of the two = 1st gear, with the left lever fully forward.

Its been suggested that I leave the front gears in first and just get used to using the rear gears / right lever.

After getting used to the gears as above, when would I use the front lever to change from 1st to 2nd ???

Thanks

Andy

[Pneumant]

Gears are selected according to your chosen speed/terrain/fitness level. If slogging it you are in too high a gear! As you have been advised - if you haven't cycled for some time then you will have to 'find your legs' so to speak, you will definitely benefit by selecting (and keeping in) low gears and spinning, getting used to pedalling in circles again. After this anything goes regarding gears. Good luck

[TrevA]

A lot depends on what the front chain rings are ( how many teeth) I presume it only has 2 rings at the front, some bikes have 3rings. If 52 outer, 39 inner, then you'll want to spend most of your time on the inner ring. If the inner ring is smaller, 34 rings are popular now, then you may find that you run out of gears on the inner ring and have to use the outer. It's best not to use the extremes - inner ring, outermost cog (cogs at the back) or outer ring and innermost cog, as this puts the chain into a diagonal and puts it under extra strain.

Front ones are called chain rings or just rings and rear ones are called cogs or sprockets.

[mjr]

As others write, it depends if you've two or three front rings, but with two, I usually reckon to change the front ring when I'm about halfway through the rear gears, unless I expect to start changing up again soon (that more often happens when changing down, but can happen the other way too).

[AndyCouchman]

Two front rings

[Brucey]

Its been suggested that I leave the front gears in first and just get used to using the rear gears / right lever.

After getting used to the gears as above, when would I use the front lever to change from 1st to 2nd ???

it depends on the gear ratios you have fitted and what terrain you are riding.

If you count the teeth on your chainrings and sprockets and then take a look here

http://www.gear-calculator.com/?GR=DERS&KB=39,52&RZ=13,15,17,19,21,24,28&UF=2135&TF=90&SL=3.5&UN=MPH

you can see how your gear ranges overlap. The gear calculator (as linked) shows a 39,52 double with a 12-28 7s cassette, with 700 x 25 tyres (which the Germans feel the need to call 28" for some reason best known to themselves,,,). You can change the gear ratios on the calculator, add/remove parts etc by dragging and dropping. [If you struggle with this, post your tooth counts, when size etc and someone will set them up for you.]

You will usually find that the gear range on the small chainring overlaps that of the large chainring, so you can choose when to make 'a double shift' depending on whether you anticipate needing higher or lower ratios in the near future.

What you shouldn't do is to use the small-small or large-large combination regularly; the chain will be running at an extreme angle; this is both bad for the transmission as well as inefficient. In the gear calculator, if you drag the 'chain angle' slider to around two degrees, you will see some of the extreme ratios become greyed out, indicating that their use is not favoured.

hth

cheers

[MikeF]

What you shouldn't do is to use the small-small or large-large combination regularly;

For safety's sake check that it is possible to use large-large. If the chain is too short you will damage the mechanism/bike and possibly you. Test without riding the bike. As Brucey says don't regularly/intentionally use large-large combination.

[mjr]

with 700 x 25 tyres (which the Germans feel the need to call 28" for some reason best known to themselves,,,).

Isn't it our fault, having called them something like 28x1⅝x1" at one time, despite them being smaller diameter than 27x1¼"?