PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

Some people find gears on bikes difficult to understand and use. It is fairly simple in principle. The gears are designed to over come the situation described in Newton’s first law of motion: a body at rest tends to stay at rest. You have only a certain amount of power in your legs. The gears are intended to distribute that power in the best way possible, given the situation (starting, climbing, speed) you face at the moment. You use an easy gear to start, a bigger gear as speed increases (basically, to keep up and get ahead of the spinning of the wheels).

There will be more on this subject posted here in the future. Below is a short tutorial lifted from the Holland’s Bikes website. They’ve got a more detailed explanation, with pictures and drawings, available on their site.

• There's no "right" or "wrong" gear to be in. You shift according to feel. As the terrain changes you  operate the shifters  to make it easier or harder to pedal depending on what feels right to you. Also, bikes aren't like cars. In other words, there's no need to start off in first, shift into second as you pick up speed, then third, etc. On a bicycle, you find the best gear for where you're riding by shifting until it feels right to you. With experience this gets easy and becomes almost second nature.
• You have to be pedaling in order to shift, however, it's important to ease the pressure off the pedals when you shift. This is easy when you're heading downhill or rolling along the flats, however, approaching an uphill you'll need to anticipate the need to shift, pedal a few times so you build up a little speed, and you can then ease off the pedal pressure and shift into an easier gear.
• In general, you operate one shift lever at a time, and shift across one cog or chainring at a time (some shifting systems let you shift across multiple cogs if needed). Move the right shifter to make small adjustments in how easy and hard it is to pedal. It controls shifts across the cogs on the rear wheel and there are usually 8, 9 or 10 cogs meaning relatively small steps and changes in effort with each shift. Conversely, you operate the left shifter to make large adjustments in how easy/hard it is to pedal. It shifts across the 2 or 3 chainrings on the crankset (what the pedals are attached to), which vary significantly in size and make a large difference in pedaling effort with each shift.
• It's best to avoid shifting into what's known as the "crossover gears." These are when the chain is on the smallest cog and the smallest chainring and when it's on the largest/largest combination. In these positions an extreme angle is set up, which can lead to noise and accelerated wear. While nothing will break if you shift into these extreme gears, it's best to avoid them as much as possible.
• Unless you ride where it's flat and you don't need to shift very much, you should shift a lot to keep yourself pedaling easily and comfortably no matter what the terrain's like. Think of yourself as the bike's engine and try to maintain a steady pedaling speed with your legs and change gears anytime your legs feel like they're being slowed down or spinning too rapidly. Good cyclists are always shifting to keep their effort steady and easy and you should, too. And remember that you can't hurt the bike by shifting it! If you have any questions about all of this, just let us know and we'll explain on the phone or demonstrate here in the shop. Shifting is fun!

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