I am not some one who takes to gears  I don't understand how they work!  Even my car is automatic.  So I now have a bike with 3 cogs at the front and 8 cogs at the rear.  Now the nice chap next door says to leave the front in the middle one.  But I'm never quite sure what to do with the rear ones .  And tend to pedal in the same gear All The Time!  Can someone point me at an article or something ... please.  It sounds a really silly question  and I think I should know what to do.

Thanks in advance. 

i took my mum for a ride yesterday and she was exactly the same

rather than reading theory, I would suggest you go to a nice flat grassy park somewhere and try changing them to see what happens. the important thing is to keep pedalling when you change gears as otherwise the chain can't move to the different cog. if you start in the middle gear at the front, then try moving one position/click on the back shifter and see if it gets easier or harder.  then try another click after it has all settled down. stick to just moving one gear at a time, bikes don't cope well with trying to change too many gears at once.

once you've worked out the back gears, put them in a middle-ish gear and try changing the front gears. the front gears make more difference than the back ones, the biggest chain ring is hardest to pedal and the smallest is the easiest to pedal.

have fun

Hi

Your nice chap next door is right - leave the front one in the middle and forget about them and concentrate on getting the hang of the rear ones first.

If you are lucky you will have little indicators (or numbers) on the handlebars that tell you which gear you are in - then write against them easy and hard ('E' or 'H' written/scratched/blob of tippex/any other ways that you think may work for you).

Since you are concentrating on the back gears only you only have to worry about the RH side of the gears on the handlebars and forget about the left ones. If you have numbers on the handlebars then 1 is first gear (or the easiest gear) and 8 the hardest.

I know the above may sound difficult to get your head around but that is about as simple as you can make it - the only thing else you can do is practice, practice and a bit more practice - click through to one end of the gears and see what happens then click the other way and see what it does - then practice changing lots to get the hang of it.

Hope this helps you

Helen 

Thanks for the tips.  I know it sounds a silly question.  On Sunday I had my husband following me – yelling press that or that (the bike has two paddles on the RH side; one to change up and the other to change down so he says).  My poor husband  will probably stick Dymo labels on them ‘UP HILL’ and ‘FLAT’ (and ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ on the LH side ones ).  I did cycling proficiency [which our council do] and passed that ... but they didn’t do gears.  Even though my car has paddles gear change I just put it in D.  But I will try and try ... the penny should drop!

Once again thanks.

Well I took to cycling with a bike with full on gears never having had a bike with gears before, ex bf (who's bike it was) would ride alongside and call change when I needed to change, esp if I hadn't changed gear, it did not take to get the hang of it.  But then we only two front chain rings not 3, so it was a case of keep it in one and learn to use the rear gears.  The spare chain ring was only used for a steep hill.

PS JCope what are you? boy or girl, you come on first posting for your "neighbour" now you reveal yourself as a girlie with husband, much confused!!!!!

Sharon, it's quite simple. Julie is a girl, but I registered on here in her name, and have now passed control over to next door. The only reason I can still post is that Julie is still using my original password.

I'm the nice bloke next door who is remaining anonymous. (TT bests 10 miles - 21.03, 25 miles - 53.12, 30 miles - 1.03.14, 50 miles - 1.48.53).

Oh God so there's 2 of you posting, help .........

You're not really Colin are you??????

Impressive times, managed a 26 (just) by being towed round a 2-up 10 last night. 

"Oh God so there's 2 of you posting, help ........."  Not any more  - I've changed my password before I get told off

No the nice chap isn't a Colin.    

Glad we've got that sorted.

Now I'm assuming you have Shimano gears in which case the following might help  it's got pictures and everything....http://pedalpowerct.com/page.cfm?pageID=170

Just keep trying as people have already said find a quiet space preferably grassy and don't worry about the front chainring for the moment.

Shall I suggest a rapid rise rear mech?

 Use thumb = hard to pedal use "the first finger after the thumb"  = easier...