Ever hear that “click-click-click-click” sound when you shift gears, and then you wait and wait for the bike to actually shift gears? Chances are you could use a course called Shifting 101. Welcome to class, I will be your professor. My hope is that reading this will save you much of the trouble I had as a new cyclist.

Bike Shifting 101

The first thing you should know is that your bicycle probably has sufficient gearing for the terrain where you live. Your local bike shop will be able to change out any parts on your bicycle that do not accommodate the kind of riding you do on the terrain where you live. You obviously don’t need a wide range of climbing gears if you live in south Florida, nor do you want a very tight grouping of gears on your cassette with standard cranks if you live in the mountains of Colorado. Don’t worry, most problems can be solved or at least greatly improved with a new cassette. And you’re lucky, cassettes are fairly inexpensive compared to other parts of your bike. Assuming you have the gears you need on your machine, you should be able to find a gear for all the terrains and speeds you desire to tackle.

One of the best tips I can give you is to use a cadence sensor. It’s a common feature among cyclometers, but not one that is used often enough. Most beginning cyclists only pay attention to how fast they are riding, and I used to be one of them. It took a couple seasons of riding seriously before anyone told me to ride smarter and keep a higher cadence. I began to target a cadence at or above 80 rpm, and all of a sudden my average speed jumped up. Before, I would grind out my biggest gear combination and burn my legs up to ride ever so briefly at 20 mph. Riding with a higher cadence in an easier gear, it just comes naturally.

Here is a test to find your ideal cadence. Find somewhere you can ride several laps in a fairly short amount of time, preferably flat and no more than a couple miles each lap. Also, try to find a place that you can ride start to finish without any interruptions–no stop signs or traffic lights that can interfere with your time. Ride your first lap in the largest gearing you have. Try to ride as fast as you possibly can. If you picked a short enough course, you shouldn’t fatigue too much by the time you finish. Record the time it took you to ride your course and reset your stopwatch, as well as your average speed and cadence if you have cyclometer. For the next lap, shift two gears lower that is, a smaller cog on the rear wheel. Ride the same course, trying to go as fast as you can without shifting from this gear. I would be willing to bet that this lap will be faster than the first. Record all the data you obtained from your cyclometer–time, speed, and cadence. Take the third lap, and this time shift down two more gears. This lap, do the same thing you did on the first two: ride as fast as you can and don’t shift out of this gear. Record your data when you get finished. The third lap will obviously be the highest cadence, and very possibly the fastest of the three laps. Here is an example of the numbers you could have recorded.

Lap

Time

Speed

Cadence

1

3:15

18.46

68

2

2:55

20.57

80

3

2:50

21.17

86

I based these numbers on a one-mile lap. I would recommend that the best gearing, and the best cadence, for the flat ground is the combination you rode with on the third lap. From personal experience, I can also tell you that your legs and cardiovascular system can better handle the stress applied by the third ride than either of the first two. Having this information in hand, I would target a cadence at or around 85 rpm all the time. And you also know what gear you should be using. Your legs will begin to get accustomed to turning the cranks at 85 rpm, and ideally, you will use all the gears you have to keep your legs turning the same speed all the time. When you start going up a hill, you will want to keep shifting down until you find a gear that you can easily turn at your target of 85 rpm. If you are grinding out 65 rpm, shift down! If you’re spinning at 120 rpm, you shifted down too far–shift up!

When you tell your bike to shift gears, you’ll find it more efficient if you ease up on the pedals until the chain drops. It also helps if your chain is properly lubricated. Also, you want to avoid “crossing your chain”. The more your chain is positioned in a straight line, the better it will perform. What this means in the real world is that when you are riding in the large outside chainring, you should not shift all the way to your smallest inside cogs. The same is true when riding in the small inner chainring, it is good to avoid the highest outer couple cogs. If your gears frequently jam or you drop the chain from the cranks very often, your shifting may be at fault.

I promise you much more efficient, hassle-free riding if you practice these couple things. Your bike and your body will respond better if you practice these few principles on your next ride. You may just find that your bike shifts better and the chain falls off less often. You may also find your legs feel better when you get in from the next ride, and it may just be faster than the last ride