Mountain Bike Gear Lever Position

First gear is the lowest gear and the easiest for climbing hills.

Mountain bike gear lever position. Some bikes operate with grip shifters or a dial that is located to the inside of where you place your hands. With your bike upright on flat ground kneel down so that you are at eye level with your handlebar. Adjust them so that the lever more or less falls in line with the angle of your arms from your torso as you sit on the bike in your normal riding position to prevent strain on your wrists. Getting to know your bike s gears.

The brake levers on both road gravel and mountain bikes are mobile and can be adjusted to impact not only wrist position but also reach. Mountain bikes like any other type of bike brake lever position is imperative when establishing a neutral wrist position. For most mountain and hybrid style bikes with flat bars you shift the gears by using set paddles that you operate with your thumb. The biggest thing about positioning the shifter and the same goes for a dropper post remote is finding a place on the handlebar that you can reach both shift paddles without having to re grip your hand on the bar.

Most multispeed bikes possess seven gears but may have up to nine. Positioning your gear lever to 1 moves your drive chain to the largest sprocket on the rear cassette. Most new mountain bikes are outfitted with a 1x drivetrain so you only have to worry about the rear shifter. Next check to see if you can operate the shift levers comfortably with your thumbs.

More importantly but you probably already know this is that the brake lever should be positioned so that when you re sitting in a normal position with your fingers following the same line as your arm the lever lies on that plane. Shift levers adjust the same way as brake levers. Place your hands in a natural position on the bar grips with fingers cradling the brake levers. Basically your wrist hasn t had to twist up or down so your fingers lie on the lever.

Loosen the bolts and move the shifters twisting them and or sliding them inward or outward until they reach your most comfortable shifting position. A bike with 30 or more gears is not an indication of a machine designed to break the land speed record any more than a bike with only a single gear assuming similar ratios. To operate the shifters you push the lever sideways until you hear a click. Lever or brake placement much like the rotation the goal is a neutral wrist position.

Via the allen bolt that holds their clamps. If your drive chain is on the smallest sprocket which is the hardest gear.