Manual Cannondale 2011 (page 33 of 106) (English)

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PART I

4.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 dierent types and styles of

shifting controls: levers, twist grips, triggers,

combination shift/brake controls, push-buttons, and

so on. 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.

CAUTION

Never move the shifter while pedaling backward,

nor pedal backwards immediately after having

moved the shifter. This could jam the chain and

cause serious damage to the bicycle.

b. Shifting the Rear Derailleur

The rear derailleur is controlled by the right shifter.

The function of the rear derailleur is to move the

drive chain from one gear sprocket to another. The

smaller sprockets on the gear cluster produce higher

gear ratios. Pedaling in the higher gears requires

greater pedaling eort, but takes you a greater

distance with each revolution of the pedal cranks.

The larger sprockets produce lower gear ratios. Using

them requires less pedaling eort, but takes you a

shorter distance with each pedal crank revolution.

Moving the chain from a smaller sprocket of the gear

cluster to a larger sprocket results in a downshift.

Moving the chain from a larger sprocket to a smaller

sprocket results in an upshift. In order for the

derailleur to move the chain from one sprocket to

another, the rider must be pedaling forward.

c. Shifting the Front Derailleur:

The front derailleur, which is controlled by the left

shifter, shifts the chain between the larger and

smaller chainrings. Shifting the chain onto a smaller

chainring makes pedaling easier (a downshift).

Shifting to a larger chainring makes pedaling harder

(an upshift).

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Cannondale 2011 User Manual - German - 104 pages

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Cannondale 2011 Manual

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