Shifting Gears - Priority Bicycle Owner's Manual

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 (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 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 "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.
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