Bike Gears

What Is an Internal Geared Bike?

Bikes with internal gears appear trim and clean compared to those with external gears and chains. In these bikes, the gears are contained within a closed gearbox that should never require maintenance. Although the technology has been around for a while, internal-geared bikes are relatively new in the sport of cycling, as of 2011. Their transmissions systems are more similar to cars than those found on external-geared bikes. These low-maintenance bikes provide a sense of simplicity and smooth shifting not found in regular bikes.

All About Bike Gears

How to Adjust the Derailleur on a Mongoose

Mongoose mountain bikes are fitted with Shimano derailleurs that require periodic adjustment to ensure efficient gear changes. The rear derailleur moves the chain to another cassette sprocket and the front derailleur moves the ...

Why Do the Gears on a Ten-Speed Bike Make Cycling Easier?

The gears on a 10-speed bicycle make cycling easier by changing the resistance you encounter while pedaling. Lower gears make pedaling easier during the challenge of riding uphill. Higher gears will make your legs work harder, ...

My Bike Is Stuck in Low Gear

One cause is invasion from an object on the road or a trail. In most instances, barring attempts to shift using force, removing the object allows you to shift gears. Other causes of getting stuck in low gear are a damaged pa

How to Add Gears to Single-Speed Bikes

Anyone with mechanical aptitude and metric tools can add gears to a single-speed bike. The only obstacle you might face is deciding how many to add. If you're entertaining the idea of converting the bike to a contemporary multi...

Fixed-Gear Bike Safety

This means whenever the wheels are rotating, the pedals must also be. Some children's bikes come as fixed-gear bicycles because they are cheaper and simpler in design, but adults also like fixed-gear bicycles, particularly for ...

How to Adjust the Cable in 16-Speed Bikes for Gear Shift

A 16-speed bicycle performs as a road bike because the array of gear options allows you to easily climb steep hills without breaking your cadence, or pedaling speed. Anytime you change up or down a gear with the rear shift cont...

In What Gear Should I Bike?

Despite its health benefits, serious injuries can occur when riders fail to follow safety precautions. The clothing and safety gear worn during a bike ride can mean the difference between a minor scrape and permanent injuries...

How to Stop on a Fixed-Gear Bike

Fixed-gear bikes are a novelty to many people, but they are a popular road bike found in cities across the United States. Fixed gear bikes feature a 1-to-1 ratio between the gears, and unlike many other types of bikes, there is...

What Is a Fixed Gear Bike?

Fixed gear bicycles, or "fixies," have one gear that is mounted to the hub of the rear wheel. What was once the chosen mode of transportation for bike messengers has grown in popularity; now, cyclists of all abilities can have ...

What to Do When My Bike Jumps a Gear?

If the drive chain jumps a gear from hitting an obstruction when you are riding your bike, replacing the chain usually solves the problem. However, sometimes a chain will come off a gear sprocket due to improper adjustment of e...

The Fastest Fixed Gear Bike

Fixed gear bicycles have several advantages over bicycles with gears. Fixed gear bikes are easier and more affordable to maintain. They provide a pure form of cycling that is more efficient and also increases fitness. And they ...

Which Gear Do I Use on a Bike?

The terrain you are traveling on matters. Wind and environment fit into the equation. Even the model of bike makes a difference. Ultimately, it is trial and error that will help most when selecting a gear. Understanding a littl...

Bike Gear Ratios

The current bikes on the market can engage in a variety of obstacles because of their ability to change gear settings and modify how energy is dispersed and applied to the bike. The low gears allow you to ease up on your pedali...

Recommended Gear Ratio for My City Bike

Before choosing the optimal gear ratio for your fixed gear bike, or fixie, consider your needs. If you do most of your riding in a city where hills are common, you will want a different ratio than you would in an area where the...

18 Speed Bike Gear Ratio

Most weekend cyclists don't spend a lot of time thinking about the exact gear ratio available in all 18 speeds of their cruisers or mountain bikes. A full understanding of the science of cycling has little bearing on the enjoym...

How to Convert a 9-Speed Shimano Crank to a 10-Speed

Upgrading your Shimano gear components from a nine-speed to a 10-speed crank requires the Shimano HG-94 chain, part of the Shimano HyperGlide chain series. The HG-94's narrow design can accommodate the 10-speed crank's large ge...

How to Replace Schwinn Gear Cables

Schwinn bicycles with an external gear system use handlebar-mounted grip shifters to activate the derailleurs and change gears. When you twist the shifter, tension is added or relieved from the derailleur, causing it to move th...

How to Calculate Bike Gear Ratios

Modern bikes are able to tackle a variety of obstacles because of their ability to switch gear settings and change how energy is distributed and applied to the bicycle. Low gears allow riders to ease up their pedaling intensity...

Theories of Bike Gear Selection

People have different theories regarding how to select the gear your bike should be in while riding. These theories take into consideration many different factors. One classification of factors incorporates the rider's traits, ...

The Best Shoes for Fixed Gear Bike Riders

Whether you ride without clips or with regular shoes, a pair of shoes is made that will suit your needs. When riding a fixed-gear bike, look for shoes that keep your laces out of the way and for soles that offer good pedal grip.

Bike Gear Shifting Problems

Your bicycle's gear shift system is what keeps you moving along steadily as the terrain changes from uphill to level road to downhill. Without the gear shift, you would have to struggle even more to get up a hill. Your pedaling...

Single-Speed Bike Gear Ratios

In one sense, a single-speed bike is more efficient than a multi-speed bike. While single gears may not afford the ideal gear ratio for all conditions, the drive train is considerably more effective than that of a derailleur bi...

Bike Gear Shifting Difficulties

Troubleshooting is done using a step-by-step procedure that begins with adjusting the shifting cable tension. From that point, each component is scrutinized for proper alignment and compatibility. Bicycle gear systems have typi...

How to Remove Rust From Bike Gears

Steel freewheels or cassettes, two terms for types of gears on your rear wheel, can collect rust in wet or moist conditions. To prevent rust in the first place, store your bike out of the weather and wipe the gears and all stee...

Bike Gear Speed Adjustments

Bicycle gears are designed to make riding on varying terrain easier, often with a click of a lever. Your gears can help save your legs for important sprints or climbs and can aid you in maneuvering over technical terrain. Under...

What Protective Gear Does a Child Need for a Bike?

Equipment is important, but the International Bike Fund stresses first and foremost that a child must know how to ride safely and follow safety rules. Protective gear for a child who is riding a bike comes second. Nevertheless,...

What Is a Fixed-Gear Bike?

The fixed-gear bicycle, also known as a fixie, is quite the rage for Australia's hipster set, says the Aussie newspaper The Age, but the bike's appeal travels beyond Down Under. The fixed-gear bike has many fans in America, acc...

Bike Gear Problems

Bicycle shifting systems are located in spots of the bicycle that receive trauma most often. You can bump your gear shifting system as you put your bicycle into a bike rack, into the back of your truck or in a bicycle crash. Wh...

How to Shift Gears on a Huffy 3-Speed Bike

Bicycle speed options range from single gear bikes to 27-gear bikes, each gear designed to give the rider a better-pedaling experience as he travels along the road. Multiple speed bikes shift gears using a series of levers atta...

How to Replace a Bike Gear

The gears on a bike come in two formats: the cassette and the chain rings. The cassette is the series of gears on the rear wheel assembly. The chain rings are near the pedals. As you ride, rocks and debris can damage the gears ...

Problems With Shimano Gears

When buying a new bicycle, it is wise to find out about problems associated with the particular bicycles you are considering buying. Gear shifting is one area to which you should pay particular attention, since a bike requires ...

How to Put On Bike Protective Gear

Prior to riding your bicycle, it is important that you put on special gear designed to protect your body's vital areas; regardless of your skill or confidence level, accidents beyond your control may still occur. For most rider...

Understanding Bike Gears

Bike gears are the same thing as speeds. A gear or speed is one combination of a rear sprocket and a front chain ring connected by the chain. If a bike has three chain rings on the front and six sprockets on the rear wheel, you...

Bike Gear Types

From humble beginnings of the single gear, direct drive bicycles of yesteryear to the sophisticated derailleur-type road bikes of today, several gear types have come to the forefront and bicycle technology.

How to Skid on a Fixed Gear Bike

A fixed gear refers to one of the most basic bicycle designs. The pedals of the fixed gear will continually spin in a circular motion as the bike moves forwards or backwards. Conventional street bikes allow the rider to coast. ...

The Best Biking Gear Computers

Bicycle computers have come a long way from just telling a person their speed and mileage. You can find computers that will tell you the amount of power you are producing while pedaling, your cadence, heart rate, and even give ...

How to Ride a Gear Bike

When riding your bike, you may come across a hill that is too steep to pedal up or terrain that allows the bike pedals to spin without control from you. If you have a bike with gears, you can use them to make cycling easier and...

How to Set Up Bike Gears

Making that happen, by properly adjusting your front and rear derailleurs, does not require master mechanic skills or a shop full of tools. Knowing how to set your gears up will save you the monetary and time expenditure of hav...

Why Ride a Fixed Gear Bike?

Fixed-gear bicycles have enjoyed a resurgence in the late 20th and early 21st centuries as simple and effective forms of two-wheeled transportation. Fixed-gear fans like the late bike mechanic and writer Sheldon Brown tout the ...

How to Change Bike Gear Cables

Problems in shifting gears on your bike may trace back to either tiny breaks in the shifter cables, general wear or rust if you've been putting on the miles in rainy or humid conditions. Before starting the cable change, clean ...

How to Replace a Bike Gear Cable

While gear cables are made of wear-resistant stainless steel, over time, shifting up and down through the gears while riding your bike can cause gradual wear and tear, This can lead to a gear cable needing replacement. Dependin...

How to Shift a Shimano Nexus Internal Gear Bike

Internal hubs work on a planetary gearing platform, with one fixed gear surrounded by other matching gears. Each of the matching gears represents a speed. While the technology involved in gearing may be complicated, working the...

How to Use a Fixed Gear Bike for Training

Often referred to as fixed-wheel bikes, fixed-gear bicycles are single-gear bicycles that eschew the luxury of the freewheel. Designed for absolute control and maneuverability, fixed-gear bicycles offer no ability to coast or b...

Benefits of Using a Fixed Gear Bike in the Winter

A fixed-gear bicycle has only one gear. It requires the rider to pedal continually with no allowance for coasting during the ride. If the pedaling stops, so does the bike. There are many advantages to training on a fixed gear b...

How to Use Bike Gear Ratios

This is opposite when considering the rear cassette. The smaller the cog on the rear cassette, the further the bike will travel. Chainrings and rear cassettes are often changed depending on the terrain the cyclist is riding. Un...

How to Build a Fixed Gear Bike

Fixed gear bicycles use only two gears, one attached to the right crank arm and the other attached to the right rear hub. This provides a shift-free, direct drive for the bike. Fixed gear bikes are the simplest bikes and the mo...

How to Install Gear Cable on a 3-Speed Bike

Most modern bicycles use multiple gears to handle different cycling conditions. This makes for easier riding on either flat or hilly terrain. Multiple gears on a bicycle is not anything new, however. In fact, three-speed bicycl...

How Does a Bike Gear Work?

The gears on a bicycle are designed to work specifically with a bicycle drive chain. The teeth in the gears are machined so that each tooth fits into the spaces in the chain. As the rider pedals the bicycle, the chain wraps aro...

How to Clean Bike Gears

Cleaning your bike's gears is important for keeping them in good working order. It can also help prevent injury. Follow these easy steps to clean your bicycle's gears at home, and avoid the high cost of paying for the service a...

How to Convert to a Fixed Gear Bike

Converting a multi-speed mountain bike into a single-speed or fixed gear bike requires a few modifications, including removing unneeded components, choosing a desired gear ratio and adjusting the chain. In short, the actual con...

How to Change Bike Gears

Many bicycles are equipped with multiple gears, also known as speeds. Older bikes had five to 10 speeds, while newer bikes may have three, 18, 21, 24 or even 27 speeds. The ability to change gears while riding a bike makes it e...