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shifter design which they believe will give the best results on your bike.
The different types of shifters and their operation are illustrated in
figures 18A through 18H. Identify the shifters on
your
bike before
reading on.
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 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.
fig. 18H
u p s h i f t
d o w n
s h i f t
u p
s h i f t
d o w n
s h i f t
u p
s h i f t
d o w n
s h i f t
u p
s h i f t
d o w n
s h i f t
d o w n
s h i f t
u p
s h i f t
d o w n s h i f t
u p s h i f t
d o w n s h i f t
u p
s h i f t
u p s h i f t
d o w n
s h i f t
fig. 18E
fig. 18F
fig. 18G
