bovinda said:
I guess I'm just worried about inadvertently stretching my chain out by crossing my gears. Sometimes I find I've shifted most of the way up on my rear before I shift out of first on my front, for example. How do you guys avoid that? Is it just experience?
i dont have indicators and always know what gear im in.. it should never, ever be necessary to look down. you only have to remember what your left shifter is in, the rest is logical and habit.
you only have 3 clicks on the left shifter. if you're in the smallest ring up front (first click) you should be in the biggest ring out back. theres not much need for any gear spread at all in the small ring.. so only use the biggest and second biggest rear gears.
so now you know if you're in 1st up front, you're on one of the two big gears out back.
so if its a hard climb, you're always in small up front big out back. if thats too easy, shift your left up to the middle ring. you can use any and all gear combos in the middle ring..
if you're spinning too fast, click the right shifter down a gear.. keep doing that until you have no more gears. this puts you in the middle front small rear combo, which is a smooth shift to the big ring.
if it gets harder, click the right shifter up until you're out of gears. if its still too hard you can shift your front to the small ring, and you already know the rear is in the big gear too, which is a smooth shift to the small ring.
you never need to hop from the big front small rear to the small front small rear because you would have first shifted to the middle front ring and shifted through its range.
so the only thing that matters is if you're in 1, 2, or 3. your pedaling effort reminds you what one you're in as well. proper shifting tells you what gear you're in!
its in your best interest to utilize your gear spread properly.. you'll always know you're in the right gear!
Having had other bikes with them, I miss them!
