BikesAreCool123

I do it a lot. It never goes smoothly and that’s fine with me, but is it bad for my drivetrain? I've had to adjust my RD a lot recently and I'm wondering if this is part of the reason.

Thanks in advance!
BaC123

marin1

Yes

njkayaker

Why?

Take this as a hint that something is not right (either with technique or equipment).

Your drive train will appreciate changing gears with no load.

asmallsol

Are you having problems when going up or down the cassette? If your having problems shifting under heavy load, you may want just ease off the power, just for a fraction of a second when you shift.

carpediemracing 

When I race I frequently shift under load, out of the saddle. One of my standard things to do is to accelerate out of a turn with my thumb/finger on the shifter and shift if there's a hint that the currently selected gear is wrong. It's also good to throw off people on my wheel who think "Oh, he's in the 14, I'll stay there too" and then I shift on the next downstroke.

Having said that I think I shift without load most of the time.

Nothing wrong with shifting under load. Chain and cassette will wear quicker.

Don't shift the front under load. Even when I "shift under load" I'm actually easing up a hair (like when shifting on a trainer).

cdr

Spreggy

If you're standing going up a hill or something, hammer the pedal extra hard, ease up/soft pedal for a fraction of a second while you shift, and resume pedaling. No biggie.

Szczuldo

it's not hard to easy off a tiny bit or learn to shift when you are at your lowest power output in the stroke. When I sprint, I shift a couple of gears then hammer away. I like to keep my cadence up so sometimes I end up having to shift one more time before the end of my sprint. I'll get that right eventually.

bigtea

+1 it's a technique that you learn. I'm not a racer or sprinter, but I have learned how to upshift and downshift while out of the saddle. It's all in the timing.

BikesAreCool123

Thanks for the help. I only do this while climbing up serious hills. Usually, I'm hammering my way up and then I reach a point where I realize that I've given it all I can in this gear and I need to down shift in order to keep up a good cadence. My RD keeps having problems downshifting in case there is a connection there.

I’ll try to practice the “easing while standing” technique. Thanks again.

Campag4life

Its not the best for the drivetrain. I will share a very special technique I have developed to take the load off the pedals while shifting without sitting back into the saddle. I unclip as I ride standing and then perform a timed donkey kick...sometimes accompanied with a whiney as I unweight the pedals while I shift. For effect, sometimes I throw in a toothy smile to my riding mates. I find this is more efficient and more aero.
It takes practice and only for an advanced rider like myself.

umd

My wife has trouble with this too. In addition to being bad for the drivetrain, it makes it more likely that you will drop the chain. As others have said, try to unweight the pedal a bit, and also anticipate a shift ahead of time. She wasn't too happy with me when I suggested these things as they seemed impossible, but she has since gotten the hang of them.

umd

Hmm, I can't picture that. I'd like to see a video...

dsilver668

I have been trying to get the hang of this as well. I usualy lighting up for one stroke as I shift and it is now much smoother. I have also been dialing in my rear derailure as well so only now does both the front and rear feel like they shift ultra smooth. As far as anticipating the gear it can be tough, but if you are riding over the same roads time and time again like most of us you figure out pretty quickly where you need to be then it is just a mater of figuring out a smooth transision. Worst case hammer down a few strokes to get your speed up then ease of for one or two strokes as you get yourself to the right gear.

mustang1

+1

I shift my tiagra rd + pc850 chain when going uphill and come off the power for a half-second and it shifts great.

These days however my RD is a little off (nothing to do with shifting technique, just the bike fell over on the rd plus needs some cleaning out anyway) so I have to stand for a couple of seconds while changing gear. Soon I'll get annoyed enough with this technique that I'll do something about adjusting that rd.

njkayaker

Here are two things wrong with it:

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People might need to do it once in a while. If they have to do it "a lot", then their techique is weak.

Laplacian

How hard should it be to shift the front derailleur under load? I was going uphill last weekend and I shifted from big to small--I even let up a little bit (but couldn't let up too much or else I would have fallen over). The chain stayed on the big ring. Is this to be expected, or should I be going faster when I shift on an uphill?

My rear derailleur never misses a shift and is always pretty smooth as long as I let up a little bit while going uphill.

kudude

FD under load is bad news. Very easy to drop a chain. Also, there are some cool pictures of a SRAM Red crankset that didn't survive this floating around.

If you're heading up a short hill (think overpass, etc) and know you're not going to finish in the gear you started in, shift BEFORE you bog down to 30 rpm. You'll keep your cadence up and can usually pass all the guys trying to give themselves hernias on the way up.

Bluetick

Really hard to shift the front under load. When your chain is under load the light weight deralier on the front will not push the chain off the big ring or up on the big ring. If you were going slow enough to worry about falling down you should have been in your little chain ring a long time ago.

cccorlew

Having grown up with old friction shifters that flat out can't shift under load I'm in love with being able to shift while standing. But as others point out, you need to soft pedal a bit, and be in touch with your bike. Jezz I hate being next to grinders with no feel for their machines. It just hurts my ears and damages my soul.

Bob Dopolina 

I shift the RD under full load, while out of the saddle, all the time.

I don't unweight the pedals or anything else. I think the timing is the thing to get down. For me I'll shift (have to think about it) just as my right foot is about to hit 3 o'clock. By the time I get my left foot to the top of the stroke the shift should be over.

Front shifting-different story.

Here I give a little extra 'push' on the stroke just before I shift. It is the opposite of easing off but will have the same effect. This isn't any guarantee of a smooth drop to the small ring, however, but it can help.

Shifting is about anticipation. If you are deciding to shift when you actually NEED to it is too late. Don't ride the road you are on. Ride the road that is a few seconds ahead of you. Anticipate what gear you will need to be in in a few seconds and get there.

Shift early. Shift often.

Nachoman

Hahaha I feel the same way about other people's noisy machines. I wonder if there is a way to politely ask someone to quiet down their noisy beast.

pjcampbell

I shift while standing all the time. Not sure what your scenario is but I do it climbing. I push forward, shift and ease WAY off the chain and then ease into it.

Motman320

I noticed that today too. I rode my first road bike, and I could tell I would have to get used to shifting. My long legs tend to squeeze out a lot of torque, and I noticed that I had to let up a bit, shift, then hit it. I actually stripped the 7th gear on my Gary Fisher I push so hard. I've beat the living **** out of that bike though.

Bob Dopolina 

That's not why you wore out the gear. My guess is it's the one you use most.

25 Years of racing and I've never had this problem

You all need to learn how to shift smoothly and efficiently. Perhaps you should start with friction so you can develop good shifting techniques. Once you can do that THEN you can ride your STI or ERGO bike.

sfrider 

It's a matter of timing, and perhaps shift your weight onto the arms a moment to lighten the pedals. I assume this is as you take off on a sprint out of the saddle and not going up a steep hill. In the latter case, the best to do is to unload the pedals by getting perpendicular with the slope, shift, then turn uphill again. Of course, it's better to progressively go into lower gears as you lose speed. So this is mostly in the case of something unexpected, like you have to suddenly stop and find it hard to start up again.