The Bicycle Workshop

When I was nine years old, my brother used to tell me that when he saw me shifting my bike without moving. I never knew what it meant but I imagined little cogs flying off the bike if I pushed on the shift lever too hard. A lot has changed in the last thirty years but that saying still remains.

Today bikes have up to 30 gears. Chains got stronger and thinner and all bikes got a whole lot lighter. But we still have shifters connected to derailleurs via little cables and derailleurs trying to push the chain from one gear to the next. And in most cases, they still wont shift unless your pedaling. So can you still strip your gears? Sort of.

Even a modern derailleur system is archaic. The front derailleur literally smashes into the chain, either knocking it off the gear it’s on so that it lands on a smaller gear or grinding against a bigger gear until it catches and moves onto it. Not too high tech. The rear derailleur is a little more graceful since it lines the chain up to ride on the gear of your choice without all the smashing noises, but it’s still pretty simple. The gears themselves, called chainrings on the front or cogs on the back, now come looking half worn out when they are brand new. Some teeth are all but missing, others look oddly worn or bent. This is the result of very calculated engineering to address the quirks just mentioned. And to be honest, it works quite well. A modern bike will shift exponentially better than a bike of twenty years ago and is extremely efficient. In fact, the bicycle remains the most efficient vehicle ever built. Even more than your shoes.

But there is still room for finesse. And yes, you can still strip your gears. The finesse comes in when you shift and how hard you try. The secret is not to shift while you are pedaling hard. Shift while you are pedaling easy. So don’t shift as you first begin to move. Pedal a few times, even in the wrong gear, then ease up on the pedals for the split second while the chain moves from gear to gear, then pedal hard again. Do this for each gear and you will notice your bike shifts quietly.

As for striping your gears, this really means getting the shifter cable to slip or break. The answer is simply not to push too hard on the shifter. Whether you are stopped or pedaling, just push lightly and it wont break. It also won’t shift when you are stopped but it wont hurt anything if you go easy on it. Now if you push lightly and pedal lightly and it still won’t work, then you have to get it fixed. It could be that some nine year old has come by and stripped your gears!