D) Shifting Gears - Kona bicycle Owner's Manual

When you apply one or both brakes, the bike begins to
slow, but your body wants to continue at the speed at which
it was going. This causes a transfer of weight to the front
wheel (or, under heavy braking, around the front wheel hub,
which could send you flying over the handlebars).
A wheel with more weight on it will accept greater brake
pressure before lockup; a wheel with less weight will lock
up with less brake pressure. So, as you apply brakes and
your weight is transferred forward, you need to shift your
body toward the rear of the bike, to transfer weight back
on to the rear wheel; and at the same time, you need to
both decrease rear braking and increase front braking
force. This is even more important on descents, because
descents shift weight forward.
Two keys to effective speed control and safe stopping are
controlling wheel lockup and weight transfer. This weight
transfer is even more pronounced if your bike has a front
suspension fork. Front suspension "dips" under braking,
increasing the weight transfer (see also Section 4.F).
Practice braking and weight transfer techniques where
there is no traffic or other hazards and distractions.
Everything changes when you ride on loose surfaces or in
wet weather. It will take longer to stop on loose surfaces
or in wet weather. Tire adhesion is reduced, so the wheels
have less cornering and braking traction and can lock up
with less brake force. Moisture or dirt on the brake pads
reduces their ability to grip. The way to maintain control
on loose or wet surfaces is to go more slowly.

D) SHIFTING GEARS

Your multi-speed bicycle will have a derailleur drivetrain,
an internal gear hub drivetrain or, in some special cases,
a combination of the two.
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1. How a derailleur drivetrain works
If your bicycle has a derailleur drivetrain, the gear-chang-
ing 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 and push-buttons. 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 "slower" gear, one which is
easier to pedal. An upshift is a shift to a "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 on the next page). 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.