D Shifting Gears - Cannondale SuperSlice Owner's Manual

4.D - SHIFTING GEARS
Your multi-speed bicycle will have a derailleur
drivetrain (see 1. below), an internal gear hub
drivetrain (see 2. below) or, in some special cases, a
combination of the two.
1. How a derailleur drivetrain works
If your bicycle has a derailleur drivetrain, the gear-
changing mechanism will have:
• a rear cassette or freewheel sprocket cluster
• a rear derailleur
• usually a front derailleur
• one or two shifters
• one, two or three front sprockets called
chainrings
• a drive chain
a. Shifting Gears
There are several different types and styles of
shifting controls: levers, twist grips, triggers,
combination shift/brake controls, push-buttons, and
so on. Ask your dealer to explain the type of shifting
controls that are on your bike, and to show you how
they work.
The vocabulary of shifting can be pretty confusing.
A downshift is a shift to a "lower" or "slower" gear,
one which is easier to pedal. An upshift is a shift to
a "higher" or "faster", harder to pedal gear. What's
confusing is that what's happening at the front
derailleur is the opposite of what's happening at the
rear derailleur (for details, read the instructions on
Shifting the Rear Derailleur and Shifting the Front
Derailleur below).
For example, you can select a gear which will make
pedaling easier on a hill (make a downshift) in one
of two ways: shift the chain down the gear "steps" to
a smaller gear at the front, or up the gear "steps" to
a larger gear at the rear. So, at the rear gear cluster,
what is called a downshift looks like an upshift. The
way to keep things straight is to remember that
shifting the chain in towards the centerline of the
bike is for accelerating and climbing and is called a
downshift. Moving the chain out or away from the
centerline of the bike is for speed and is called an
upshift.
Whether upshifting or downshifting, the bicycle
derailleur system design requires that the drive
chain be moving forward and be under at least some
tension. A derailleur will shift only if you are pedaling
forward.
CAUTION
Never move the shifter while pedaling backward,
nor pedal backwards immediately after having
moved the shifter. This could jam the chain and
cause serious damage to the bicycle.
b. Shifting the Rear Derailleur
The rear derailleur is controlled by the right shifter.
The function of the rear derailleur is to move the
drive chain from one gear sprocket to another. The
smaller sprockets on the gear cluster produce higher
gear ratios. Pedaling in the higher gears requires
greater pedaling effort, but takes you a greater
distance with each revolution of the pedal cranks.
The larger sprockets produce lower gear ratios. Using
them requires less pedaling effort, but takes you a
shorter distance with each pedal crank revolution.
Moving the chain from a smaller sprocket of the gear
cluster to a larger sprocket results in a downshift.
Moving the chain from a larger sprocket to a smaller
sprocket results in an upshift. In order for the
derailleur to move the chain from one sprocket to
another, the rider must be pedaling forward.
c. Shifting the Front Derailleur:
The front derailleur, which is controlled by the left
shifter, shifts the chain between the larger and
smaller chainrings. Shifting the chain onto a smaller
chainring makes pedaling easier (a downshift).
Shifting to a larger chainring makes pedaling harder
(an upshift).
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