D Shifting Gears - Cannondale Bicycle 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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