How To Change The Gearing On Your Bike!

The optimum gear choice all comes down to the rider. You might find yourself wanting to change the gear ratios on your bike. In this video, Alex talks you through the process and all the pitfalls to look out for.

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Have you ever changed the gearing on your bike? Let us know in the comments 👇

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[gcntech]

Have you ever changed the gearing on your bike? ⚙

[werdsmyth]

Worth remembering to advise people to put their bike in smallest gear at the back before trying to take off the rear wheel. I've had many bike chums come unstuck at this step 1 because their chain is too far up the block and, therefore, they cannot even get the rear wheel off.

[SnowDog]

Something to also consider for increasing cassette size would be the rear derailleur capacity and max cog size. Short derailleur cages won’t be able to handle the larger cassette sizes and would require a new derailleur.

As for the ranges you asked for on our bikes, I run 50/34 chainrings with 10-speed 11-36t cassette. At 190 lbs with the hilly terrain in southern Oregon, I’ll take all the climbing help I can get!

[FoxFox-ic]

Don’t shorten your chain when you only go 4 teeth smaller. If you want to change back you have got to ad chain links. I run two wheelsets. One with a 11-40. The other with a 11-34 cassette. Chain and rear derailler are dialed in for the 11-40. No need to change it for the 11-34.

[stevebarnes]

Thank you for yet another ( which I need) but much clearer explaination of adjusting the rear derailleur... that thing seems impossible for me.
Bravo!

[kurre_kallkvist]

11-speed 50-36 by 11-32 for summer road riding, currently 6-speed 52-42 by 14-24 on my commuter... Planning to swap that one to 8-speed 44-34 by 13-32 to better suit my typical commuting pace.

[andrewblakesley]

Many times. It's no issue when you have bar end shifters. Gearing for a long >25° climb, gearing for touring, gearing for mixed road, gearing for winter and summer. You can choose heavier stronger chains for high stress or high load (8 or 9s) and lighter running gear for summer (10 or 11s). Best of all you can run rim or mechanical brakes. Of course, you're not stuck with only one brand.

[mattszrejter]

Thanks for the video! I’m literally waiting on installing my new cassette. I’ve upgraded from Ultregra 11-speed mechanical 11-30 to Ultregra 12-speed Di2 11-30. But I feel like now that I’ve got that extra gear ⚙️ I might as well make it easier for me to climb, rather than having closer gears. So I’m opting for the 12-speed 11-34.

[stephenmorris]

Very interesting. Had a problem with a cassette lock ring a few months ago. Through mistake and expense learned that lock rings should go on easily, some are worn out, and persisting will cross thread your hub. An expensive lesson.

[juliagriffiths]

Helpful and timely. Thank you. My winter project is to change my rear cassette from an 11-32 to an 11-34 and I need to change the front derailleur. Long story. Anyway, this video helped fill in the gaps in my knowledge re chain length and that b limit screw. Thanks 🙏

[joegamas]

I absolutely love this types of videos, Thank you Alex…I have learned so much from you I greatly appreciated it 🙏🙏🙏

[paulcollingridge]

I like to fit a new chain with every cassette. If it is an older cassette I will always replace the 11t cog that wears most

[rbonn]

This was great...always wanted to know how to swap out a cassette.

[DavidGrant-gx]

Love the videos! Can we have a video on how to fill a water bottle please? A step by step breakdown of all the steps would really help, as the water keeps missing the bottle every time I try. Thank you 😊

[bikecommuter]

I saw a bike tech use a piece of plastic pipe taking the cassette off he just slip it into the opening after taking the lock ring off and slid the whole thing off very slick.

[zedtony]

I'm glad you removed one full link since it was over sized before you went to a smaller cassette.

[timoakley]

I always change the gears . As standard almost all bikes come with too high gearing .
So 1. A 46/30 grx crank on. Thats better than a 10% improvement. 2. An 11 to 36 block to replace the standard 11 to 32.
Together a 25% improvement . Hooray .

[cxbkpmf]

The cassette lockring threads are very fine, fine enough that they are easily cross threaded. To prevent this, always use the lockring tool as Alex does.

[Taz]

I've already got the tools and know how to swap cassettes, but seeing what's needed as far as chain length changes is nice because I'm about to make a similar switch for next spring. Going from 11-32 to 11-30, which after watching the video essentially means I don't need to shorten my chain (though I will put a new chain because my entire drivetrain is due for replacing anyway) but could probably go a link or 2 shorter if I want buttery smooth shifting

[nwimpney]

I'd leave the chain alone if you're going to a smaller cassette. assuming it had the capacity for smally-smalls to not be baggy before, it'll still be fine now, even if it's not as tight as possible on biggy-big, and if you want to change it back later, your chain won't be too short.