How To Use Bicycle Gears More Effectively: Tips And Tricks
Who doesn’t like to drive on terrains? Almost everybody does.
If you wish to drive on antithetic terrains, you would probably have shifted from one gear to another.
To change the gears is quite important in order to maintain the speed as well as the balance of the bicycle.
It is advisable for the rider to keep changing the gear at the perfect time.
By doing so, it aids in not only increasing the life span of the gears but also for the chain of the bicycle.
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A bicycle has antithetic gears depending on the place you wish to ride, be it on the hill or level flat grounds or the rough terrains.
With the Help of, which Lever, You Can Switch Between Gears?
In a bicycle, which comprises of the derailleur gears, the gears can be shifted by using the levers. The levers that can be used are as described below:
- The left-hand lever: The left-hand shifter helps in controlling and regulating the front derailleur.
This also directs the chain above the chainrings, which are in the close proximity of the pedals. Lastly, it assists in rendering huge hops in the gears.
- The right-hand lever: The right-hand shifter is useful in managing the back derailleur. Also, it helps in directing the chain, which is situated right above the rear cogs.
Which Gear Should Be Used One?
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It is quite necessary to use the right and the perfect gear while riding on antithetic types of the lands.
By doing so, it helps the rider to maintain not only the pedaling speed but also the balance of the bicycle.
High Gear
High gear is also referred to as a ‘big gear’ by most of the cyclists around the world. It is considered to be the best-suited one when one is either riding at high speed or is descending down through a hill top.
The high gear or a big gear can be obtained with the proper blend of biggest front chain ring size and the smallest back sprocket.
Low Gear
The low gear is most suitable when the cyclist has to ride upwards on a steep hill or on a rough and an uneven terrain.
The blend of the smallest front chainring and the biggest back cog size leads to the lowest gear.
It is not always necessary that a bicycle, which has many gears, proves to be good and efficient always.
It might be possible that even though the bicycle has many gears, it might not have the vital gears and hence, proving itself to be not efficient.
The efficiency of the bicycle completely depends on the right gears that are placed properly in the bicycle. Not to be overlooked, more gears do have a plus point.
They have a wider scope to find the required and the proper pedaling speed to the rider while driving the bicycle.
A number of gears always lead to a smoother and more accurate change of them, which results in the efficient and increased pedaling speed.
Different Types of Gears
There are many antithetic assortments of gears that are attached to the bicycle.
These gears function for many different things for, which they are made. Some of the many gears are as explained below in brief:
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1. Standard Double
A Standard double set up gear is generally the first choice that a cyclist makes for the racing purpose.
It supplies the biggest chain ring sizes for the largest gears that help the cyclist to keep pedaling with ease even when the speed of the bicycle is high.
In this set-up usually, two chain rings are placed at the front along with other 11 cogs at the back, which makes it as a desirable choice for racing.
If a cyclist is looking for low gears then at that time standard double does not prove to be an appropriate choice.
2. Triple
A Triple gear is generally preferred by those cyclists who look out for a bail-out option.
The cyclists who generally and regularly ride in the hilly areas mostly opt for the triple gear.
It is even beneficial when the bags are quite heavy and when riding opposite to gravity becomes too much complicated.
A triple gear contains three chain rings. The third chain ring is generally 30t or smaller than that.
When it is paired with a big ratio back cassette, it offers low gear, which is necessary while climbing steep hills.
3. Compact
A compact is also a Standard double, but its size is smaller as compared to it. This is why it is called compact.
The sizes of both the chainrings are decreased, which in turn minimizes the gear ratio crossways the series.
It is one of the most popular gears and is highly preferred as the minimization in gearing towards the lower end is appropriate to attempt climbs like Alpine climbs, and the top gear is not much affected, which permits the cyclist to keep up a good pace of speed while riding downwards.
4. SRAM Apex
After compact gears, the super compact gears came. SRAM Apex is the first ever super compact gear.
It has a compact double chainset and uses a significant designed back derailleur and big ratio cassette of 11-36t to gradually decrease the gearing.
It is beneficial not only to provide an additional base gear, lower than a triple but along with it offers and the same or bigger top gear than triple gear.
It is lighter and better looking than triple gear.
Photo Credit: http://www.cxmagazine.com/sram-apex-components-add-white-option-2012
Conclusion
Bicycle gears are quite difficult to handle, especially when you are a fresher.
Before taking a trip down the road, you should probably be aware regarding all the tips and the tricks on handling the gears by own.
We hope that the above-provided information was quite beneficial to you and acts like a guide on the tips and tricks for the cycle gears. Do leave your comments and suggestions in the suggestion box below.