Gear Shifting Components

Before we go into detail about how to shift gears on your Mountain Bike, it should be first explained what the Mountain Bike Gear Shifting System Components are. This to give you an idea what happens technically if you shift gears; if you understand how the gears work, shifting gears will be something that comes natural instead of a thing that you should memorize.

The crank which is bolted onto the bottom bracket consists of three chain-rings. Chain Rings are bolted into the cranks. They come in three size ranges. The big ring (48-42 teeth), the middle ring (36-32 teeth), and the small or "granny ring" (26-20 teeth).

The "sprockets" or "cogs" are found in the rear hub. Modern sprockets consist of 7-9 size ranges from 36-11 teeth. Normally, the 7 & 9 speed sprockets have the same heavy and light gear. The difference is in the mid-range gears. The 9-speed sprocket has more mid-range speed which lessens the change in speed upon up or down shift.