Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Recreational & Family
Reload this Page >

Best shifting system for inexperienced rider?

Notices
Recreational & Family Ride just to ride? Have a family and want to get them into cycling? Drop in here to discuss recreational and family cycling issues.

Best shifting system for inexperienced rider?

Old 02-07-13, 02:44 PM
  #1  
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
not_jason's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Portland, Maine
Posts: 294

Bikes: '85 Univega Safari-Ten (fixed), '84 Univega Supra-Sport, '85 Univega Gran Turismo, '86 Bianch Giro, '93 Cannondale R300, '68 Raleigh Gran-Prix (S3X fixed), '74 Schwinn Sprint (fixed), '5? Raleigh Lenton, '73 Raleigh Sprite, '36 Three Spires... etc.

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Best shifting system for inexperienced rider?

I am an avid cyclist but my girlfriend is not. I built her a bike last year on a Shogun mixte frame, and made it a single speed according to her request. We went for a few rides and it was all well and good, but she's decided she would like some gears. Right now, I'm either considering doing like a 1x7 set up with a rear derailer or a 3-speed internal gear hub set up. Right now I'm sort of leaning towards a 3 spreed, but I'd appreciate some extra insight. We're mainly going to be doing leisurely 5 to 10 mile circuits on trails.
not_jason is offline  
Old 02-08-13, 07:11 AM
  #2  
tcs
Palmer
 
tcs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 8,579

Bikes: Mike Melton custom, 1982 Stumpjumper, Alex Moulton AM, 2010 Dawes Briercliffe, 2017 Dahon Curl i8, 2021 Motobecane Turino 1x12

Mentioned: 37 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1644 Post(s)
Liked 1,785 Times in 1,041 Posts
Originally Posted by not_jason
Right now I'm sort of leaning towards a 3 speed...
Coming from a 30-speed derailleur drivetrain, three-speeds can be miserable. Coming from a single speed bike, three-speeds are useful and wonderful little mechanisms.

One nice thing about Sturmey-Archer three speeds is the large number of factory shifters they offer: two kinds of twist shifters, two kinds of trigger shifters, a thumb shifter, a bar end shifter, a downtube shifter, a 'stick shift' shifter and a dual paddle shifter.
tcs is online now  
Old 02-08-13, 07:32 AM
  #3  
dbg
Si Senior
 
dbg's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Naperville, Illinois
Posts: 2,669

Bikes: Too Numerous (not)

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 23 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 10 Times in 8 Posts
I knew from the start that my wife would not take well to re-railing a chain over front and rear gear clusters. I guess to some people that seems like madness and chaos. Plus she would never consider looking down at the gears to resolve any questions on gearing or clicking noises, etc So I went with an 8 speed Shimano IGH and she likes it. Plus you can shift any time; moving or standing still.
dbg is offline  
Old 02-08-13, 09:06 AM
  #4  
Carpe Velo
 
Yo Spiff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Posts: 2,520

Bikes: 2000 Bianchi Veloce, '88 Schwinn Prologue, '90 Bianchi Volpe,'94 Yokota Grizzly Peak, Yokota Enterprise, '16 Diamondback Haanjo, '91 Bianchi Boardwalk, Ellsworth cruiser

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Liked 14 Times in 13 Posts
The internally geared hub sounds like a good choice. More than 3 speeds might help to future-proof it in the event that she decides 3 isn't enough at some point.
Yo Spiff is offline  
Old 02-08-13, 09:22 AM
  #5  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 511
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 14 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times in 2 Posts
Internal hub is the easiest. Yoy can shift while the bike is not moving, you can have a chain guard, and they don't get out of adj.

If you go vintage 3 speed you want to use a larger cog. They were originally geared so the middle gear was for flats and then a gear for downhill and uphill the uphill gear really wasn't low enough. If you replace the back cog you get a gear for flats and 2 for going uphills. You end up coasting down hill. I think on a newer bike the chain ring is going to be smaller making this modification less necessary.
Sidney Porter is offline  
Old 02-08-13, 11:43 PM
  #6  
Senior Member
 
Turbo231's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Stettler, Alberta
Posts: 230

Bikes: Trek 800, Free Spirit Town and Country, 80's Norco Nomad

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by dbg
So I went with an 8 speed Shimano IGH and she likes it. Plus you can shift any time; moving or standing still.
Sounds excellent. I would love one but can be hard to find one in the trash pile, I generally run a 6 speed derailleur in the back...a bit complicated but the wide gear spread and cheap price make it fun...non-indexed systems do make noise if not shifted right. No front gear changing is very nice.

My wife has a 1 speed bike I am really looking to putting a 3 speed hub on...glad others are in my spot as well.
Turbo231 is offline  
Old 02-15-13, 03:30 PM
  #7  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Middle of the road, NJ
Posts: 3,137
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 292 Post(s)
Liked 106 Times in 69 Posts
If you go with the 1x7, she will be used to the sound and feel of the shift if she wants to continue, and get a new bike with more gears. You can also change the freewheel\cassette if she wants a closer or wider range of gearing.
You are correct sticking with a single cog up front, theying to learn to shift both when you are starting with a multi gear bike can be a noisy, frustrating challenge.
And some people, such as my wife, the "Queen of Cross Chaining" never really get it.
leob1 is offline  
Old 02-20-13, 11:34 PM
  #8  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Northern Nevada
Posts: 3,811
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
You know, this isn't rocket surgery. Anybody can learn to shift--my kids could both do it when they were five or six.
I like the idea of an IGH because they're simple and bulletproof, but even if she winds up with a triple, just put it on the middle ring and tell her to shift the other one. She'll figure it out. Don't encourage women to be incompetent--society does enough of that.
Velo Dog is offline  
Old 02-20-13, 11:48 PM
  #9  
or tarckeemoon, depending
 
marqueemoon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: the pesto of cities
Posts: 7,020

Bikes: Davidson Impulse, Merckx Titanium AX, Bruce Gordon Rock & Road, Cross Check custom build, On-One Il Pomino, Shawver Cycles cross, Zion 737, Mercian Vincitore, Brompton S1L, Charge Juicer

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Grip Shift.
marqueemoon is offline  
Old 02-21-13, 07:09 AM
  #10  
The Recumbent Quant
 
cplager's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Fairfield, CT
Posts: 3,094

Bikes: 2012 Cruzbike Sofrider, 2013 Cruzigami Mantis, 2016 Folding CruziTandem

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 28 Post(s)
Liked 8 Times in 6 Posts
Originally Posted by marqueemoon
Grip Shift.
My trail-a-bike has a factory installed grip shift so clearly you're not alone here. I think trigger shifters are much easier, but in controlling how many gears are shifted and just shifting.
cplager is offline  
Old 02-21-13, 02:39 PM
  #11  
Senior Member
 
delcrossv's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Scalarville
Posts: 1,457
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Originally Posted by Velo Dog
You know, this isn't rocket surgery. Anybody can learn to shift--my kids could both do it when they were five or six.
I like the idea of an IGH because they're simple and bulletproof, but even if she winds up with a triple, just put it on the middle ring and tell her to shift the other one. She'll figure it out. Don't encourage women to be incompetent--society does enough of that.
That's what I've done with my kids. Start with just the RD then work up to both.
Easiest to hardest in my experience with the kids:
Bar-ends/thumbies
triggers
gripshifters- more a hand strength issue with kids
downtube (although they all wind up using downtube shifters on their road bikes (they're all from the 70's)

No experience with brifters so I can't comment.
delcrossv is offline  
Old 03-27-13, 02:30 PM
  #12  
Senior Member
 
rumrunn6's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 25 miles northwest of Boston
Posts: 29,528

Bikes: Bottecchia Sprint, GT Timberline 29r, Marin Muirwoods 29er, Trek FX Alpha 7.0

Mentioned: 112 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5218 Post(s)
Liked 3,564 Times in 2,331 Posts
yeesh ... girlfriends ... good luck. here's a word of advice though, don't cater to her too much now, cuz it will just get worse
rumrunn6 is offline  
Old 03-27-13, 02:43 PM
  #13  
Bicycle Repair Man !!!
 
Sixty Fiver's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: YEG
Posts: 27,272

Bikes: See my sig...

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 67 Post(s)
Liked 128 Times in 95 Posts
My wife is not a fan of derailleur gears but does not mind the 16 speed (2 by 8) indexed system on her townie... am sure that if I built up an IGH wheel and installed that the smoochies would never end.

She had purchased a new Electra mixte with a 20 speed indexed system and really loved that... the issue with the bike was that it could not be racked on the bus so we returned it and she likes her vintage Peugeot even more.
Sixty Fiver is offline  
Old 05-11-13, 10:59 PM
  #14  
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Posts: 34

Bikes: 2012 Jamis Basanova, 2005 Novara Fusion, 1993 Trek 1100

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I have a bike with an 8 speed internal geared hubs and it shifts very easily when stopped or moving, it has to be the easiest way to shift. However, downside is they add a lot of weight, three speeds are probably lighter, but if your has a lot of hills the 7 or 8 speeds will come in handy. My bike came with a Shimano and it wore out after 6 years (rainy and winter riding). Replaced with Sturmey Archer. If you go this route be careful with gear selection. When I switched hubs I also needed to switch chain rings to compensate.

Good luck!
Engineer is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
jskita
Bicycle Mechanics
2
05-05-19 10:01 AM
lukeC
Bicycle Mechanics
22
07-05-13 03:30 PM
Old_Hat
Bicycle Mechanics
9
12-01-11 07:26 PM
Aaron_F
Commuting
7
05-09-10 09:44 AM
wild animals
Commuting
24
01-22-10 12:44 AM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.