How To Get Perfect Gear Shifting On Your Road Bike

Poorly shifting gears are very likely to turn your bike ride into a miserable one. The unpredictable feeling as you ride along hoping that the chain falls into place is one that nobody wants to have. Follow Jon’s tips and soon your gears will be running super smooth!

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It's not uncommon for a lever mechanism to just require a good blast out using WD40 or similar, as the intricate inner parts can get gummed up from time to time. Don't get it on rims! Make sure you wipe it from levers and do your best to avoid bar tape too, as you don't want that to be slippery.

You want the outer cable housing to take a direct route as possible to the derailleurs but at the same time, you want to avoid tight bends as this means the inner cable has a harder job to do due to the added friction that is going to occur. Something to consider here is that the outer cable and that it is long enough to give a nice curve into the frame. How do we know, well it needs to be long enough so that you can turn the bars until they touch the top tube, without the cable outer housing preventing it, the same can be said for your brake cables too.

You are going to need the chain and cassette to be in a good state of repair, so no damaged links or stiff links on the chain. Slowly rotate it and look for anything unusual. And that the chain is not worn out, the best thing for that is a chain checker, and that the teeth of the cassette are not shaped like sharks teeth or hooked.

See that your derailleur hanger bolts are snug, as if they are loose then your shifting isn't going to be great. Inspect the rear derailleur cage isn't sloppy with age or abuse, so any excessive movement as well if you try and move from side to side.

Jockey wheels too, they need to have life in them, so not sharp, but actually quite blunt. And the upper jockey wheel needs to be in-line with the sprocket. Adjusting the derailleur screws will move the derailleur into position at either end of the cassette. If when you are in the smallest, in terms of physical size sprocket and the derailleur pulley wheel is too far to the right-hand side, then you will need to turn the H screw in clockwise to move it into place. And if it's too far to the other side, then turn it anticlockwise.

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