Advocacy & Safety - Stopping and Gears

When stopping at a light, do you shift your gears down before you stop so it's easier to start or do you just muscle through when the light turns green?

muscle

Usually I'll shift down a couple of gears depending on condition. If it's a busy intersection I want to scoot through, I'll definately shift down. If it's a country road, I usually muscle through.

L8R

Shift down a couple. It's gotten to be a habit.

I generally shift down to a gear I can muscle out of. If you are coming to a stop from 25mph, that can be a hard gear to accelerate out of.

I always shift down a few gears. As a minimum I take it off the big ring.

Downshift. It's a really valuable habit to develop if you ride in traffic, because there are situations (I'm thinking left turn from a left-turn lane) where maximum acceleration is important.

RichC

Downshift it's easier on the drivetrain and the knees

At least take it out of the big ring
Joe

I didn't use to downshift and got caught in couple of unpleasant moments in the traffic, up hill, that taught me to downshift at least one speed on the back or more, depending on the slope of the road.

I downshift to my 46 x 24 and hold position about 1-2 meters behind the stop line on the pavement, and when the light is about to turn green, I use my little bit of rolling space to get clipped in for a nice fast launch. Since I'm already in the big ring, there's no floundering from one chainring to the other... just keep punching that little thumb button on my cheapie 7-speed STI shift lever :)

Usually shift down a gear or two. It's easier on the knees on the way out.

I always downshift. Typically I select the middle ring and the largest or next-to-largest cog. That means 36/26 on the commuter or 34/25 on the tourer. When I tow a heavy load, I'll probably downshift to the largest ring (32 on the tourer).

If you try to start a few times a bike with loaded panniers _and_ two kids in tow, you will quickly learn to downshift!

I always downshift before a stop. My knees thank me for it.

Well my fixed gear will not shift, so I just stand and muscle it up to speed.

Dave

If you have an internal hub gear like the 7 speed Nexus, it's not even an issue. Downshifting on a hub geared bike is easy and won't damage the cassette since there isn't one.

When I commute with my 3 speed, I don't shift down at the light since 2nd gear (direct drive) is set low enough that I can make most rolling hills without having to shift to 1st. I only shift to 1st gear if the grade is VERY high.

Originally posted by theshinu
When stopping at a light, do you shift your gears down before you stop so it's easier to start or do you just muscle through when the light turns green?
I try to time my arrival at lights so that I hit them when they are green. Of course, this never seems to happen. ;)

If I think I might stop, I shift all the way down.

If I can plan ahead, I shift to the small (road) or middle (mountain) chainring and one of the middle or larger cogs. In practice, a gear in the 50s facilitates a fast start-up in traffic. If I have to stop abruptly in a tall gear, with my left foot on the ground, I simply back the right pedal to the top of its stroke, set up a gear change on one or both levers, lift the rear wheel, and pedal foward. At a red light, I can work down the cogset in two or three such operations.

Because I am ususally in traffic I always shift down. It just becomes a habit even when I am not in traffic.

Yep, shifting down is a habit with me, too. After all the years of riding in city traffic, shifting just comes naturally.

I ride 4 different bikes on a regular basis, and the gears are as different as they could possibly be. On three of my bikes I always stop on the middle chainring and largest cog - that's a much higher gear on the two road bikes than on the "city bike". My other bike has tighter gearing, and I generally drop down to the smallest chainring. If I'm going up a steep hill, I may shift to a granny gear on the road bikes.

Ocassionally I'll mess up, though. I'll nearly always get on the large cog. The "worst case" is if I forget I'm on the large chainring. I wind up on the largest chainring and largest cog, which puts a good deal of stress on the chain. I hate it when that happens. :D

Originally posted by theshinu
When stopping at a light, do you shift your gears down before you stop so it's easier to start or do you just muscle through when the light turns green?

Depends...
most of the time I shift down, but when required to make a quick stop, then no chance to do it.

Cool question :)

Thanks for your help. I guess there's no technically correct way to stop. So I'll just keep shifting down.

With front brake on right it's easy for me: brake and drop a chain ring: 1 shift, several gears dropped, easy get away.