How do I shift my bike, and where can I ride it?

October 22, 2008 9:42 AM

I am the owner of a LeMond bike. It has been sitting in my living room for the better part of the last year.

I don't know how to ride it. Specifically, the shifting system confuses me. I'm not sure what to do with all those gears on both the front and back wheels. The bike is a LeMond Tourmalet and the shifting system is Shimano Tiagra.

I live in a mostly suburban Californian city that isn't really bike-friendly. I'm not sure where I could go to ride it in order to get a good ride. Part of my goal for riding is to use it as part of a fitness program. It doesn't fit easily in my car, but I can get it in there if I need to, to get to a good path.

I'm new to all of this so if I left out any important details, apologies.

posted by digitaldraco to sports, hobbies, & recreation (19 comments total)

Use Google maps with street view to plan out some potential routes.

Don't over think the shifting. Just because there are x number of possible gears doesn't mean you have to use them all. I have 24 speeds on my Gary Fisher Wingra, and 90% of the time only use 5 of them.

Way smarter people than me will be along with great info soon, but there's my 2 cents.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 9:50 AM on October 22, 2008

For the back wheel, smaller gears make it harder to pedal, but give you increased power to go faster. For the front, it's the opposite. Left gear shift operates front. Keep froint gear in middle or largest gear ring, and make small adjustments with rear gears. Shift to easier gear if too hard to pedal. For right gear shift lever, pushing black part drops chain to smaller (harder) gear, pushing bigger metal lever does opposite. Email me (addy in profile) if you have more questions - I just got a bike with similar shifting system.
posted by cahlers at 9:50 AM on October 22, 2008

Well, some experimentation is certainly in order, but a good reference for basic information is BicycleTutor.com, which has great instructional videos, like this one for gear-shifting. Also, Sheldon Brown's site has some great information.
posted by zachxman at 9:51 AM on October 22, 2008

Word. The shifting thing will come with saddle time. You'll figure it out. It's one of those nice, repetitive things that our bodies are really good at figuring out how to do efficiently. Just remember that you want the pedals doing a full rotation 60 or more times per minute in order to be most efficient.

Your best bet is to read about Effective Cycling, and then just get out and ride. On the road. With the cars. I know it sounds nuts, but it's less dangerous than being out of shape, by a long shot.
posted by paanta at 9:56 AM on October 22, 2008

You have sti (index) shifters. Tiagra is your "gruppo".

You shift whenever you need to make pedaling easier. It doesn't take long to get used to. Shifting the lever on the right side makes smaller gains. You shouldn't need to shift the left often, but it works in the same way, for the big chains.

You can check out bikely.com and other such sites for good riding in your area.
posted by loriginedumonde at 9:58 AM on October 22, 2008

Do most of your shifting with the back one. Think about keeping a fairly steady cadence. If it's too easy to pedal, move it to a harder (i.e., smaller) rear gear. If it's too hard to pedal (like, say, if you're going up a hill), move it to an easier (i.e., larger) rear gear.

Does it have three chainrings in the front, or two? Use the big one in the front when you want to ride fast. The rest of the time, use the little/middle chainring. If you're ever riding up a hill that's so long/steep that you can't pedal, use the third/smallest chainring, if you have one.
posted by box at 10:02 AM on October 22, 2008

Find a parking lot that is empty at night. Take your bike there and ride around. Just play with the gearing.

90% of the time, you'll want to leave your bike on the small chainring (the chainrings are the gears attached to your cranks). Think of this as your "low range" and the big chainring as your "high range." Just play around with the control for the rear derailleur, which is on your right hand.

If you want to get more into it, you can calculate your gear ratio by dividing the number of teeth on your chainring by the number of teeth on your rear cog. I've made a spreadsheet showing all your ratios below. Across the top, you see your two chainring's tooth counts, along the left column you see the tooth count for each cog in your rear cluster. The values in the table follow the U.S. cycling custom of representing the gear ratio as "gear inches", which is the ratio multiplied by the wheel diameter (long story, goes back to the days of high-wheelers). You'll see that your low range and high range overlap quite a bit. For most level riding, you should find that your 39x14 – 39x17 are comfortable gears to be in.

    53      39
12  119.25  87.75
13  110.08  81.00
14  102.21  75.21
15  95.40   70.20
17  84.18   61.94
19  75.32   55.42
21  68.14   50.14
23  62.22   45.78
26  55.04   40.50

posted by adamrice at 10:12 AM on October 22, 2008

Sheldon Brown (a legend) has just about everything that you'd ever need to know about cycling on his website. Start with his beginner section.
posted by TurkishGolds at 10:16 AM on October 22, 2008

It's time to do some laps in an empty parking lot.

Ride with your hands "on the hoods" instead of "in the drops". I see so many novice riders hunched waaay over uncomfortably because they think that they have to ride with their hands way down on the bottom of the handlebars. Grasp the brake/shifter levers ("brifters") from the top and start pedaling.

You pull back on the big lever to brake.

You push the big lever in to shift one way. Just give it a tiny push, just a click.

You push the little lever in to shift back the other way. Just a little push, no major heaving.

Keep pedaling while you shift, to urge the chain to do what you want.

As other people have mentioned, you won't need to use the one in front very often at first. In fact you can completely ignore it until you get comfortable with the one in the back.

Practice for fifteen minutes and it will be second nature.
posted by gyusan at 10:19 AM on October 22, 2008

Also, fit is going to end up being crucial to your enjoyment. Make sure that the seat is adjusted to the proper height, and that the bike is actually a good size for you. If it's not the correct size bike, you're never going to enjoy it. Sheldon discusses frame size at length, but this is one of those issues that you might be better off taking up with your local bike shop.
posted by TurkishGolds at 10:21 AM on October 22, 2008

Seconding just taking the bike out ride. You'll get accustomed to road riding quickly and I suspect that you'll discover routes that bring you to quieter roads that let you get some exercise without having to buy a bike rack and drive it somewhere. The bulk of my riding is in suburban, not super bike friendly areas and just "hey I wonder where that road goes" has given me good options to ride day in and day out.

If you think you'll be riding a lot of hills and you only have 2 front chainrings, consider switching to a "compact crankset". Your bike link says you have a "53/39 road double" which is best for fast riding over flat terrain. Mere mortals riding hills will today most often get a compact crank (typically 50/34) which gives a much easier time going uphill. If you're not sure, either or both of rings will probably have a teeth count stamped into it. If you already have 3 front rings (50/40/30 maybe), you have tons of low gear choices.
posted by turbodog at 10:32 AM on October 22, 2008

At this point, don't worry about how to shift, gear ratios, or anything like that. Shift to an easier gear when it gets too hard to pedal, shift to a harder gear when your hips start rocking back and forth, and you'll be fine.

Overthinking is an easy way to kill enjoyment at first. All that information about gear ratios and "correct" shift patterns isn't going anywhere - take a few months to get fluent with your bike first before diving into all that stuff.
posted by pdb at 10:39 AM on October 22, 2008

Just ride. For most standard-issue bikes, a good gear to be in when you're hopping on tends to be around the middle ring of the back cog, small ring of the front cog.

If you want to see how the gears work before you start riding, just get someone to hold the bike, back wheel off the ground, and turn the pedals. (You might be able to do it yourself, but it runs the risk of being whacked with a pedal.) Once you've got a bit of momentum going, move the shifters and see how hopping from ring to ring affects the speed at which the back wheel turns. That's yer gearing. (One proviso: you shouldn't ride with 'small front, small back' and 'big front, big back', because the skewed chain angle can promote wear; you can get a similar ratio from different combinations.)

Put a few miles on it, and then you can start thinking about cadence, cranksets and other esoterica.
posted by holgate at 10:52 AM on October 22, 2008

At this point, don't worry about how to shift, gear ratios, or anything like that. Shift to an easier gear when it gets too hard to pedal, shift to a harder gear when your hips start rocking back and forth, and you'll be fine.

Overthinking is an easy way to kill enjoyment at first. All that information about gear ratios and "correct" shift patterns isn't going anywhere - take a few months to get fluent with your bike first before diving into all that stuff.

Excellent advice. With the info here you will know how to operate the shifters, and in one half hour ride will have them mastered. The only other thing to really think about is keeping a good and relatively constant cadence. As a beginner you should shoot for something like 75 to 80 rpm (each foot goes around 80 times in one minute) and if you get more experienced and in shape more like 90 rpm. (No, you don't want to be constantly counting this out. Just get used to what it feels like and you will know when you are spinning too slowly). As it gets harder to maintain the cadence, shift. Don't be afraid to shift frequently to adjust to small hills and dips, that is what those fancy integrated shifters are for.
posted by caddis at 10:53 AM on October 22, 2008

Just to explain the 'gears to avoid thing' some more, we're talking about the overlap on adamrice's chart upthread. The bottom couple of combinations on the left-hand column (big front, big back) are better served by 'small front, middle back', and the top couple of combinations on the right-hand column (small front, small back) are better served by 'big front, middle back'.

To analogise in terms of a car, you can drive at 40mph in second gear, but you shouldn't.
posted by holgate at 10:59 AM on October 22, 2008

Since it sounds like you are concerned about getting enough use out of it, I recommend looking into a bike trainer so you can ride in your house. This is handy for pre-dawn post-dusk rides and in winter. I have no idea if you have a real winter where you are, but this is sometimes the only way I can get a ride in here in New England.
posted by smalls at 11:08 AM on October 22, 2008

Remember that it is okay if you drop a chain during the process of learning to shift. It happened several times to me when I was learning and I just had to get off the bike, put the chain back on, and then get back on the bike!

After I learned to use my gears I learned that I love climbing hills.
posted by collocation at 11:10 AM on October 22, 2008

You can put your bike in your car. Your bike surely has wheels that are quick release, meaning you flip the skewer and the wheel comes out of the fork or rear stays. Have someone show you how to correctly open and close the quick releases.

What I would stress is that cycling is something learned in the doing. Asking about it on the web will yield nothing close to what you'll learn by getting out there and figuring it out. Don't be afraid to look like an idiot. Whatever mistakes you made are ones that we've all made. Sometimes more than once.

If you have a question, find a friend or acquaintance who rides. They will proabably to give you advice.

If you want to ride even occasionally, you will need to buy a helmet (that helmet from junior high needs to be tossed), a pump, the basic tools (tire levers, hex wrench), spare tubes, and lube.

Collocation failed to mention that if you "drop" your chain, to get it back on, shift the front (left) shifter to the big chain ring. 9 times out of 10, this will fix the problem, and you won't have to get your hands greasy.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:40 PM on October 22, 2008

You are all awesome and I am working my way through the wealth of knowledge, insight and webpages you've provided. Thank you!

I did not see much advice or opinions about where to ride, or what kind of routes would provide a good workout. Do I need to find a place that has hills for me to climb or can just riding in general be beneficial? I know with running/walking that in order to really get a benefit from it you need to get your heart rate up. I'm assuming the same is true for cycling.
posted by digitaldraco at 9:53 AM on October 25, 2008