| The joy of the mountain bike is that they | | | | second chain ring is for level, off road |
| come with so many gears that, if you shift | | | | riding (2), and the third, or largest chain |
| into the lowest one, you can ride up a | | | | ring, is good for riding on pavement. |
| mountain with no problem. It may take you all | | | | |
| day, but you can do it. | | | | So if you want to use just those three gears, |
| | | | you can certainly do so. But, using the right |
| It's been a long time since the "10-speed" | | | | hand shifter, you can take advantage of the |
| bike was the ne plus ultra of biking | | | | increments of gears available to you. |
| sophistication when it came to gears. These | | | | |
| days, especially in mountain bikes, you can | | | | Rear Derailleur |
| get anything up to 27 speeds. | | | | |
| | | | The back chain ring is a cog set featuring |
| What are all these gears in aid of? Quite | | | | seven, eight or nine cogs, depending on how |
| simply, they allow you to pedal at the same | | | | many "speeds" you have (21, 24 or 27). Each |
| cadence - regardless of whether you're going | | | | cog is of a different size, and again, the |
| uphill, downhill, or cross country. | | | | smaller size cogs will enable you to pedal |
| | | | very, very easily - but not go very fast, |
| However, the main reason why mountain bikes | | | | while the larger size cogs will allow you to |
| have so many gears is to assist you in | | | | go further with each downward stroke of the |
| climbing up those mountains! | | | | pedal. |
| | | | |
| The main thing to remember when shifting is | | | | The best thing to do is to practice, |
| that you must always shift while pedaling, | | | | practice, practice. Take your bike to a |
| otherwise you'll strip the gears. | | | | parking lot or somewhere where you don't have |
| | | | to worry about people, and shift from one |
| Front Derailleur | | | | gear to another, getting used to each one and |
| | | | how easy or difficult it is to pedal while in |
| The gears are divided into two parts. There | | | | that gear. |
| are three chain rings in the front, which are | | | | |
| controlled by the left hand gear shifter. | | | | People new to biking might be rather wary of |
| That's why there are 3 numbers to choose from | | | | shifting gears. Shifting always was a bit |
| on that gear shifter - to choose which of | | | | problematic during the "old days" - when one |
| three front rings your chain will rest on. | | | | only had a pair of center mounted levels to |
| The "derailleur" attached to the gear shifter | | | | work with, but now gear shifters - the twist |
| moves the chain from one ring to another. | | | | type - are so easy to use that there is no |
| | | | reason to be afraid of shifting. Again, as |
| When the chain is on the smallest of these | | | | long as you're pedaling while you shift, you |
| three chain rings (1), pedaling will be very | | | | won't hurt the gears. |
| easy. This is called the granny gear. The | | | | |