Mountain Bike Gear Shifting Advice and Tips

1. Ease the Pedal Pressure when Shifting Gear
   Remember that when you are planning to shift gear, that it is important to ease the pressure on the pedals. Although modern drivetrains care much less about the pedal pressure, it is still not good for the drivetrain to shift gear at very large pedalling pressures at low cadences. So if you ease the pressure on the pedals, the shifts will be smoother and your chain, cogs and chainrings will last much longer.


2. Shift gear before you ascend or climb a hill/mountain.
   The reason for this is that because you need to avoid shifting gear during your climb as the pedal pressure will be high. And according to the first point made, this is not good for your drivetrain


3. Light Pressure Pedalling when Shifting Front Derailleur
   Light pressure pedalling is even more important if you want a smooth clean shift of your front derailleur. This is because the sizes of the chainrings differ a lot.


4. Dropped Chain? Shift it back!
   When the Chain comes off, very often you can just lightly pedal and shift gear and try to get the chains back on the chain ring. But remember, this is not possible if you are climbing or ascending. Then you have to dismount your bike and put the chain back on manually.


5. Maintain your Drivetrain
   You will enjoy your mountain bike more and longer if your Gear Shifting System works properly. This means that you need to clean the chain, chain rings and the cogs very regularly (especially if you have biked in the mud, gravel, sand etc.). Besides cleaning the chain, you also need to measure the length of the chain once every half year, to check it for stretching.


6. When descending shift the gear to the large chain ring and the medium cog.
   When you are descending or freewheeling, you need to go to a higher gear to keep the chain tight and to prevent the chain from coming off. In addition if you finished descending, you can immediately start mountain biking again.


7. Avoid using Extreme Gear
   Avoid using Extreme Gear. The chain may be either too taut or too slack to work efficiently and even may foul the mechanisms. Also when you hear the chain 'tinkling' or 'crunching' against other parts, shift gear.