Problems shifting gears
 

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to get your thoughts. I'm reasonably new to road cycling and I went out and got this all carbon bike to make me a better cyclist, turns out its just the icing on the cake. Nothing that cant be surpassed by a bit of base training.

I'm having trouble shifting gears when I go up hill and keep trying to change gears while I'm stationary. The chain comes off and I fall over, my jerk mate speed away from me and I know I would probably come last on any kind of race I did because of this.

I know I didn't build up enough of my base fitness on a stationary bike to be able to handle the big hills without worrying about shifting gears and I'm thinking I should probably just give up because its so embarrassing. Does anyone else have this problem? I hear it happens to the pros quite a bit.

Shift early. Don't wait till you're almost stationary.

You might also want to take the bicycle into a shop and have a good bicycle mechanic take a look at it. The chain should not be coming off like that.

Sorry to be harsh, but the problem is that you don't know what you're doing and don't understand your equipment.

Tha's why he's asking a question. Nice job on the the insightful response. OP, there are some good tips here, http://www.intownbicycles.com/how-to...bicycles-gears.

Don't quit out of embarrassment. Everyone started at the beginning despite their attitudes. Just keep plugging away, reading, and asking questions until you figure it out. A year from now you'll either look back and laugh and be riding your a$% off. Or you'll look back with no skills and wonder why you quit cuz you would have been 'there' if you hadn't :)

When you see a hill coming, shift into an easy gear BEFORE the hill. As you start the hill, you may need to shift again BEFORE it gets too hard.
If you have a double crankset (2 rings on the front), be in the Small chainring on the front most of the time. The big ring is for downhill or flat road with the wind at your back.
If you have a triple (3 rings on the front), be in the middle most of the time, and in the small one for steep up hills.

You have to be moving to change gears. That's part one of the problem. I suggest practicing on flat roads until you get comfortable shifting gears. Best of luck!

and pedaling ... not coasting

chain drops happen most often when you try to do it on an uphill, since you're applying so much force to the pedals.

to shift gears when stopped, try this:

hold down the front wheel's brake (left hand)
shift one or two gears (right hand)
tip the bike forward so the rear tire is off the ground and rotate the pedals one revolution (right leg)


other than that, as others have said, shift up to an easy gear before the incline. you can always downshift if it's too easy.