A 10-speed bike has two sprockets, or chain wheels, connected to the pedal crank arms near the middle of the bike and five sprockets attached to the rear wheel hub. Your left-hand shifter controls the bicycle chain’s position on the front sprockets, while the right-hand shifter controls chain position on the rear sprockets. Many bike shifters are numbered so that you can clearly see which number gear you’re in with each shifter. As the chain moves closer to the middle of the bike on either or both sprocket sets, the pedaling gets progressively easier and the gears are numbered lower.
Step 1
Pedal your bike briskly. You can’t shift gears unless you’re pedaling.
Step 2
Ease up on pedal tension just before shifting. According to Intown Bicycles, this makes shifting quieter and smoother, reducing wear on your bike’s drive train.
Step 3
Move a lever shifter forward or back, or twist a grip shifter forward or back, to select the appropriate gear. Adjust just one shifter at a time. Shift to a higher gear to increase pedal tension and a lower gear to decrease it. Try to use first gear on the left with the low-numbered gears on the right-hand shifter and second gear on the left with high numbers on the right-hand shifter for smoother shifting and reduced wear on the chain.
Step 4
Continue pedaling. You may hear a brief clicking sound as the chain shifts from one sprocket to the other. For the smoothest adjustments, adjust one gear at a time, letting the chain seat on each new sprocket before making the next adjustment.
Step 5
Shift into low gear just before stopping. This makes getting started again much easier, since you’ll be able to exert more power on the pedals.
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