How to use Hub gears

[mastanlem]

Hi being a novice and having ridden mostly cycles with derailler gears, can you please tell me how I have to pedal or not when changing gear.

Thanks Marina

 

[Ian]

Hi Marina, with hub gears you normally have to briefly pause pedalling to change gear, you can move the selector at anytime but the change won't actually take place until pressure on the pedals is eased, the reason being that the internal pawls that do the changing won't easily move while under load.

The big advantage is that unlike derailler gears you can change gear while stationary, making it unnecessary to remember to change down before stopping.

 

[JohnInStockie]

Big tip, originally from Flecc which helped me : whenever you change gear get used to doing a back pedal turn, sort of a 'click' + 'rewind'. Once you get used to it it becomes second nature.

John

 

[flecc]

Yes, that slight flick back on the pedals helps speed the change, particularly true with the slower changing hubs like those from SRAM.

The slickest change is from Shimano's Nexus hubs, some models better than others and needing only the barest pause in pedalling.
.

 

[PaulC]

On my Shimano Nexus 4 speed hub I find that it is essential to do a slight back-pedal (as described above) when changing down gears (e.g. 3 ->2) but I don't need to do this back-pedal when I am changing up gears (e.g. 3 ->4).
Paul

 

[mastanlem]

Thanks a lot everyone for the info. This explains why I am having trouble with my Gazelle gears.

Regards Marina