Mountain Bike Gear Shifting Examples

• The Heaviest Gear Ratio
  This is the big ring (48 teeth) combined with the smallest sprocket (11 teeth). This actually means that for every 1 revolution of your leg, it will make the rear wheel rotate 4.36 times (48 ÷ 11 = 4.36). This will achieve relatively high speed which is good for downhills.


• The Lightest Gear Ratio
  This is the small chainring (20 teeth) combined with the biggest sprocket (36 teeth). This will give you a revolutionary ratio of 0.55 to one revolution of pedal. This ratio is used in climbing really steep mountains or hills.


• Shifting gear
  Shift the gear 1-3 noches at a time rather from smallest to biggest in one motion. However, systems like the RapidFire system only allows up to 3 noches up per shift so that would be guide enough.


• Don't use the big plate with the biggest sprocket and the small plate with the smallest sprocket. This will cause the chain to have a "cross-over" effect which will either cause strain on the chain and or make it too loose respectively.


• When using the middle plate, the complete range of the sprockets can be used.


• Lastly, anticipate the terrain and shift in advance. This will help in having continuous momentum. Example, when approaching a climb, you can start shifting to a lower gear. You wouldn't want to get caught with a heavy gear at the start of a climb. This will make you loose momentum and may cause you to be left behind thus forcing you to apply more effort than needed in the first place.