Really proud dad yesterday… my 7yr daughter rode her new Frog Bike on a 7 mile enduro (fuelled by a double flake ice cream stop). Probably doesn’t seem far to a lot of kids but her last bike was a “Disney Princess”, weighed an absolute ton and she barely rode it apart from near the house.

We’re having a bit of difficulty explaining the concept of gears to her though, at the moment she is doing great riding it as a SS but obviously I want her to get full use of the bike… any tips from parents who’ve had similar issues with youngsters?

Our 6yo can change gears well enough, but she seems to have trouble assessing her actual speed, and thinks pedalling fast equates to going fast.

I just told her that the higher numbers on the shifter make it harder to pedal but you go faster, and the lower numbers easier. I sometimes shout a number out to her as we approach hills.

It’s all rather difficult though as she only wants to go on flat trails with slight inclines, and all she does is hammer flat out in whatever gear until she tires or gets too far away from us. Higher gears just means that happens sooner on the hills!

My experience is that it just takes time.

Worth checking that she can easily change gear, some kids shifters are really tough to change gear, and if that is the case, they just won’t bother.

Pretty much the same as Molgrips.

Yesterday was gear “1” down the hill and on the way up was 4 or 5 and really pushing it hard and then stopping and complaining about being tired :0)

Trying to convince her a bigger gear is more stable downhill/flat seems pointless but I’ll keep on trying.

Good luck.

For some reason my wife struggles with gears on a bike, despite the fact that she drives a manual car, and insists on struggling with a high gear uphill instead of changing down.

I’ve tried explaining but…

😉

Same with my lad, I shout the number to him and he changes to that gear – otherwise he tends to stay in 1 gear and spin like a madman.

GrahamS – Member

Good luck.

For some reason my wife struggles with gears on a bike, despite the fact that she drives a manual car, and insists on struggling with a high gear uphill instead of changing down.

My wife is exactly the same. Even on the flat, I’ll be spinning along middle ring/middle cassette and she’ll be churning away on the big ring/2 from bottom on the cassette.

And she’ll moan that she can’t get up a hill, but say that changing gear is stupid and she might as well walk if she’s gonna be spinning her legs 10 to the dozen!

My sister has recently bought a road bike and was also moaning about gears. She moans that they are complicated and she doesn’t understand them, then moans that it’s boring when I try to explain them – I only get about 5 words in. She doesn’t understand why they have to ‘work in opposite directions’……

Sounds like trying to explain anything to my sales director.
He asks a vaguely technical question that he really isn’t interested in hearing the answer to, you can see his eyes just glaze over when you try and explain……

That’s just sales directors in general. Our’s starts a conversation knowing what answer he wants and just keeps going until he thinks he’s got there.
Great at sales but rubbish in other areas.

The bigger the number the faster you have to go, so on the flat and downhill use big numbers, and going up (where you go slow) use small. I really wouldn’t bother with any more technical an explanation at that age!

I tell mine what they need to do until they get the logic.

For example: Right finger, right thumb for MTB gears and right finger or right hand for road STI shifters.

Have noticed in our family that girls and gears are not compatible, a bit like they are with heating controls and working the TV

I tell mine what they need to do until they get the logic.

For example: Right finger, right thumb for MTB gears and right finger or right hand for road STI shifters.

Have noticed in our family that girls and gears are not compatible, a bit like they are with heating controls and working the TV

This sounds very familiar…

I have had more success with my Missus describing the action she needs i.e. “push with your Right Thumb” or “click with your left index finger now.” but she’s still not entirely sure what she’s doing and has to ask repeatedly for confirmation of the instruction, then confuses left and right and stops at the bottom of a hill, in the wrong gear…

Our eldest is Five, and I’m just sticking to a SS bike and flat routes for now, really not sure when the best time to introduce the concept of a multi-speed drivetrain to her would be, she’s not unlike her mother with these sort of things…

I reckon the absolute best thing you could get for technophobic women and children would be a Nuvinci hub/shifter but it’s quite a pricey way to address a user related issue…

cheers guys, lots of good info.

think I’ll stay SS for a bit and then start “shouting” numbers at her. :o)

Use only the rear – forget front.

Go for ‘easier’ and ‘faster’, not numbers.

Our 6 year old has gears on his frog. Trying to get him to spin not grind is a battle.
Just keep gently reminding him what to do.

Three thumb clicks now….etc.

Lego

As in nothing explains it as well as seeing / tinkering first hand – bunch of axles, different sized cogs / sprockets and time to play…

ride her off your wheel

don’t wait at the top

she’ll learn

#olskool

I have tried to tell my lads that the easier gears are for when you go uphill and the harder ones are for going faster. Trouble is – they see no reason to make hills easier if they can just stay in a hard gear and go up hills fast.

My attempt at getting them to slow down (so that I can keep up) by changing gear has failed. I just have to accept that.

scaredypants – I saw you riding round Grizedale ‘with’ your son once. You’re a swine.

ninkynonk – Member

Really proud dad yesterday… my 7yr daughter rode

So what have you done with the other one?!

Do you need SwissNige to show them how gears work 😉

BTW that sounds a bit wrong 😮

ride her off your wheel

don’t wait at the top

she’ll learn

😆

Don’t take too long with this. Once they become a gf/wife they won’t understand why gears work. So that might give you 10 or 15 years. Pushing it!
With a triple I ‘ll the wife that the middle ring is for most use, the big one for downs and the little for up. Sort of works except she “forgets”. But then she “forgets” anything I tell her. The trick with a wife is to get a mate to tell her. All wives respond to anyone but the husband.

+1 on the Lego 😀

My nephew (13 and pretty awesome on a BMX) has difficulty getting his head round using the cassette for most things and tends to use the front three (basic starter MTB but not BSO) as his gears when we go out for rides. That’ll sharp change when we (me and him) build him a nice 1x during the summer hols for doing well at school. Evolve or die (but in a nice way)! 😆

edit- and FFS, I know some of the advice/warnings 😯 is tongue in cheek, but not all women are all fluffy kittens and nail varnish, you know? Don’t give up, me and my sis didn’t have a dad at home growing up but my mam made sure we could do loads of stuff that we might need to and now my sis is in the same boat so I’m trying to make sure her kids can do stuff they might need to- it’s going ok so far! 😀

My wife is exactly the same.

Ditto.

1* drivetrain and gripshift…. 🙂

^ this absolutely

Then try explaining about easing off a bit to let the gears change smoothly.

I find bellowing ‘Are you in Granny yet?’ as you approach the start of the climb is the best way to gain her attention, and impress nearby ramblers.

not all women are all fluffy kittens and nail varnish

Indeed, but many of us got married before realising how important basic gear operating ability was in a spouse.

😉

😆 😉

Another xEleventy here wrt to my wife. I’ve moved her to a 2x drivetrain now (mainly ‘cos the bits came up cheap) with instructions to stay on the big ring. She doesn’t ride anything more than towpaths/bridleways so that should be fine.

She also gets very confused with the brakes and keeps asking which one she’s meant to use.

Indeed, but many of us got married before realising how important basic gear operating ability was in a spouse.

we were out at the weekend riding to the pub. Awful grating noise coming from the front mech so I said she needed to “do something” with the front gearshifter. Seems I’m eligible for a Nobel prize for this knowledge 8)

ANyway, what I’m saying is, some of us got married before realising how important trimming was in a spouse 😉

You lot are awfully sexist but I’m sure you will be glad to know that they say even worse things about men over on Mumsnet…

A good tip for trigger shifting (RH) is “Use your thumb to hitch a lift up the hill” whilst miming a hitchhiker

It’s quite the phenomenon. My partner is utterly competent at all things but bike gears might as well be higher maths in Urdu. She had a bike growing up and I questioned what was done with the gears then, “it was ridden in the gear it came in”. Apparently this was the case for all her friends, hills hard or walking, flat easy, downhill freewheel. None of them cared in the slightest that there were buttons to change this situation.

I’ve taped over the left shifter, I’m not going there again.

What I don’t understand is how do these gearophobes cope with driving a manual car?

I once had a boyfriend who tried to explain to me how to use the gears when we went for a bike ride… I knew exactly what I was doing and my bike was my sole transport and we (me and the bike , not the bofriend) went everywhere together.

What I don’t understand is how do these gearophobes cope with driving a manual car?

You have to be 17 to drive.

I may have skipped part of this thread.

Trouble is – they see no reason to make hills easier if they can just stay in a hard gear and go up hills fast.

This is fair, why sit and spin when you can stand and sprint?

My wife also struggled with gears on her road bike though she is there now. The way we got there was to be pretty basic, the left hand is “easy” or “hard”, the right hand fine tunes how easy/hard. I’ve give up trying to explain bad gear choices (small/small or big/big) and have just accepted I’ll need to replace the drive train more regularly.

What I don’t understand is how do these gearophobes cope with driving a manual car?

She holds and Auto Licence only and despite making vague comments about learning to drive a manual at some point I seriously doubt she’ll ever bother.
She’s not all “Kittens and nail varnish” she simply lacks all mechanical sympathy and/or understanding, but I know men with similar “Shortcomings” all part of life’s rich tapestry…