- There's a familiar sound that echoes around the hillsides.
(bike gears grinding)
Not only does it sound terrible,
but it sounds expensive as well because grinding
and crunching your gears cannot only snap your chain
but also wear out your drive train really quickly.
(upbeat music)
(electronic swooshing)
You really need to check your drive train
and your gearing system before you start to shift properly
because there's things there that can really mess it up.
So if the gears aren't adjusted properly,
either they'll shift down the blocker up, they block
one way but not very well the other.
Something that does happen on some bikes
is your rear mech can slowly wind itself out,
so make sure that bolt's nice and tight.
Also check, even by looking down the back of it
that your mech is straight.
'Cause a bent rear mech or bent hanger
can really make your gears hard work.
Check there's not too much friction in the cable
and your chain is nice and clean and lubed.
(upbeat music)
Getting to know your gearing is going to help you
get smooth shifts out on the trail
because it sounds silly but knowing how much of a jump
there is between your gears, especially if you're running
a one by system like I am,
it's going to help you try and keep a good cadence.
So, you come around a corner, you see a punchy climb,
you're going to have a good idea of how many shifts
you're going to need to get into the gear you need.
And with these one by twelve systems,
especially when you get up to the really low gears,
it's quite a big jump.
So, that goes from a 42, right up to a 50.
So that really is a sort of a gear
for the slowest situation.
So hopefully, with a bit of experience, you'll know
or get a feel for how fast you're going
and what gear you need to be in.
I do quite like the fact that on Shimano shifters,
you can actually shift down the block two at a time.
I do use that quite a lot.
With SRAM you have to get used to
just banging that shifter multiple times.
The perfect shift.
A short poem by Neil Donoghue.
Smooth spinning of the pedals,
a 30% reduction in power,
a click or even two on the shifter.
An instant click, pang, thwack, and boom,
you're powering again, all in less than a second.
(gentle music)
It's a subtle skill but one that I think is really
rewarding because of that really crisp shift
you'll keep good power on the rear wheel,
which means good grip but also speed.
There's a big difference between a horrible sort of thwack
and a proper one where you hear that sort of ping.
Because you keep the power up,
which means it will keep going forward.
So try and get them as smooth as you can and you get that
real nice noise when the chain's also clean and lubed.
(upbeat music)
Climbing is where most stress is put through your gears,
either stood up or sat down, so the really important thing
is try and do one shift at a time.
Try and do two or three, and you'll get a real big crunch.
(upbeat music)
Definitely try and preplan your shifts when climbing.
So look at the trail and try and shift as early
as you can because either you'll grind it to a halt,
or you'll have to do a big shift under a lot of power
and that is a proper recipe for snapping your chain.
(tires crunching)
(upbeat music)
While descending can be a bit easier on your gears
than climbing, there's definitely still
a couple things to remember.
Imagine that you've just climbed up to the top
of a beautiful hill in Italy, flying the gear
and you've decided to bomb down the other side
and forgot to get into a proper gear.
So what can happen then, if you're trying to shift
two or three down the block in one go,
sometimes your chain sort of just drops off the cassette,
and that's when it can get wedged
down between your chains and the cassette.
So it's definitely worth making sure your limit screws
are set because hopefully that should stop that
from happening as well.
But you do also see downhill racers
quite often snap their chains,
and that is because they're not backing off
the power quite enough
or they're just trying to shift in the wrong positions
'cause they're just trying to go as fast they can
and they kind of forget that finesse of backing off
just a little bit on the pedal.
So, trying to make sure you're not putting too much power
through when shifting should hopefully stop you
from snapping your chain.
(upbeat music)
I actually think it's quite an important part
of being really good on a bike is the finesse you lower
your shift in, it's part of reading the trail.
And something I always talk about in skills videos,
but looking around corners, looking down the trail to see
what's coming next, reading the trail.
Breaking and shifting in the right positions.
So you're ready to go, you're at the right cadence
as much as possible.
But also there's little things
like you might even push your shifter a little bit,
sort of a quarter more than you need to,
just to get the chain shifting up,
it's a little bit quicker.
Sometimes you don't need to do that it does depend
on your shifter and rear mech quality and your gear cable
being in really good condition.
But, it's little things like that that really do
make a difference for quick shifts.
(upbeat music)
I hate to go on about it, but definitely,
the condition of your chain, plus your gear cable
will make a big difference how well your bike shifts.
Gear cable is the one thing, it might be gradually
getting worse, you don't really notice this until you jump
on someone else's bike and you think whoa, are your gears
all brand new, 'cause that shift just feels so light.
So, it's something that I think about replacing two
or three times a year.
It depends on the conditions you ride in to be fair.
But hopefully stick a new inner cable in there, lube up
the outer cable a little bit.
I just spray some really light WD-40 through there,
new cable, and it'll feel brilliant.
There's how to change gear like a pro.
Pro's still get it wrong sometimes
and crunch and snap their chains.
If you want some help from GMBN Tech to set up your bike
a little better, then over there for how to change
your gear cable, down there for how to set up your gears.
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