Von Cycling: 1st Bike Service / Cross chaining / gears

So another benefit to doing the MC Ride is that I got to ride with bike mechanics.

After the ride, they suggested I bring the bike in to check on the gears. I had experienced some weird gear changing up the first hill but had been unable to explain it to others other than calling it a kachink kachink noise.

It ended up being my first service. There were some adjustments made, including cleaning my pretty filthy chain (I left it too wet once and then rode around Centennial Park, basically picking up grit and flicking it all over my back wheel. :()

Also, it turned out that my derailleur hanger is slightly bent outwards.

This is unusual as usually if the hanger gets bent, it's usually inwards.

However, bending outwards meant that I am cross chaining. Which is often a totally newbie thing.

What is cross chaining?

Cross chaining is when the gear combination you are using, causes the chain to be pulled to either extremes of each gear, causing the chain to be pulled diagonally (rather than running straight).

FRONT

BACK

(image via escapades11.blogspot.com.au)

It puts a bit of pressure on your gearing system and also can making a kinda of grinding sound.

So my husband has been trying to explain this to me for weeks now and I think only last week did I kind of understand how the gears worked, so I'm still struggling to understand it all.

The following is a bit more of a note for me about what I've realised in the last week..

Front gears - the "chain rings" - connected to the pedals

Smaller ring = easier = lower gear = left smaller gear lever

That is, you want to pedal less (smaller circles) for each wheel spin.

These gear changes are quite major.

Back gears - the "cogs" - connected to the back wheel

Larger cog = easier = lower gear = right larger gear lever

That is, you want to have the wheel spin more for each pedal.

These gear changes tend to be minor.

Sheesh - no wonder I was confused!!