indyfabz

It's like a car. 1 is lower than 3.

And the smaller the ring you are in in the front, the lower the gear. The larger the cog you are in in the back, the lower the gear. Thus, your lowest gear is the smallest ring in the front and the largest cog in the back. Largest front and smallest back is your highest gear.

Note that some ring-cog combinations may produce the same gears. E.g., the middle ring in the front and the next to largest cog in the back might be the same gear as the smallest ring in the front and the next to smallest cog in the back.

To cut down on drivetrain wear, what you ideally want to do is to avoid combinations that put you chain further away from a straight line as possible. E.g., the largest ring in the front and the largest cog in the back.