[Closed] Downshift vs. upshift terminology

Anyone who uses it in the latter sense belongs here:

I've never noticed anyone using "downshift" to go to a higher gear.

Down = lower, everything else is wrong. There's no interchangability in bikes any more than there is in cars, it's just that more people get it wrong.

"Down the block" doesn't even make any sense unless you're riding on a wall of death, and even then only half the time.

I can’t get my brain to say the right thing every time. All I can think of is how the chain goes ‘down’ onto a smaller cog*. I know it’s wrong. I’ve tried to change. I can’t help it.

*’Cog’ used only to further annoy any pedants in the room.

Aye, but what about changing to a smaller gear?

I blame rapid rise for the confusion..... No one knows where they are going anymore haha

Or when the smaller the gear, the bigger it is (physically) and the bigger it is, the smaller it is. Cricket doesn’t compete!

Or when the smaller the gear, the bigger it is (physically) and the bigger it is, the smaller it is. Cricket doesn’t compete!

Engineering and maths are to blame for that one..... PESKY Pi

I’ve never noticed anyone using “downshift” to go to a higher gear.

Have you never seen American fliers?!

Aye, but what about changing to a smaller gear?

Front or back?

I've always remembered it as 1 is the slowest gear so you shift up to second, third and so on and down from third to second etc. Works for every machine. It's the fact that the chain moves from larger to physically smaller gears that confuses people that don't understand gear ratios, not a problem for front gears though as faster = bigger.

I consider myself reasonably mechanically inclined and TBH I can see an argument for either way of describing the changing of (derailleur) gears...

My own instinct is to go with lower ratio/easier gears = lower value and thus you move 'up' from easier into higher/harder ratios.

But then I'm sure many people watching a rear derailleur move a chain from a bigger sprocket to a smaller one might well describe that action as 'moving down' the cassette, and would doubtless apply a similar understanding to a front derailleur and chainrings which of course are doing just that, they'd always be half 'right' I suppose...

I suppose you could remove confusion by just resorting to completely different terminology. Rather than refering to it as shifting 'up/down' say 'easier/harder'?

Alternativly always say it 'wrong' and use it as a handy way to identify pedantic arses you don't want to spend time riding bicycles with 😉

And then there's the "lefty loosely, righty tightly" mnemonic...

What is moving left or right?

Alternativly always say it ‘wrong’ and use it as a handy way to identify pedantic arses you don’t want to spend time riding bicycles with 😉

Ah, but which way is right/wrong ?

😉

I think the high/low gear terminology just came from vehicle speed. High gear is one that gives high speed, low gear is one that gives low speed. Gear ratios are calculated as driven gear/driver gear, so a lower ratio gives a higher gear.

It's just a convention, it's not correct in any technical sense, just that everybody uses it that way so we need to stick with the convention if we want other people to understand what we're talking about.

Down a gear is to an easier gear
Down a sprocket is to a smaller sprocket.

In the latter the chain is physically moving down a cassette . What’s the issue?

For hub gears, only the first is used.

I was just surprised by such basic confusion. "Down" without further qualification should mean to an easier gear, but it seems some get it mixed up and others mean "down a sprocket". Both groups include authors on top websites/magazines.