It sounds like you have three gears for your left hand, which controls the front gears. Let's start there.
The "L" gear is for going up hills (or otherwise riding slow). The "H" gear is for going down hills (or whenever you're going fast). There's a gear in the middle that's for flat terrain. You won't shift in front very often, just when there's significant changes in terrain. Many people just leave it in the same gear all the time, which might be fine depending on where you ride.
Most of your shifting will be with the right hand, which controls the rear gears. Honestly, though, just do this by feel. If you need a slightly easier gear, shift once with the right hand. If you're going a bit faster and your pedals are spinning too quick, shift once in the other direction. That's all you really need to know to start out.
Not OP but thanks, this makes a lot of sense! So I have a 2x10 set up, and live in a super flat country. I find myself almost exclusively hanging out in the big cog in front and the smallest 5 in the back. Should I get a different set up, or does it make sense (and is it okay) for me to only be using some of the gear range?
It's totally fine. I also live in a super flat place and have 2x12; I essentially never shift in the front and do probably 90% of my riding in three gears in the back (unless the wind is really out of control). And that's even after I swapped out my rear gear setup (cassette) for one with a narrower range.
With flat terrain it's not uncommon to only use a fraction of your bike's gears. You might be able to optimize your gearing a bit by using a smaller cassette with tighter spacing between each gear. Like maybe a 12-25. But it's hard to say if that's worth it without knowing what you already have. There's no problem with just sticking with what you have.
Stop "researching", and just go and "do".
Leave the left hand gears for now. Go and ride, cycle through the right hand gears, you'll figure out the relationship between speed, effort, uphill/downhill etc.
Reading a slab of text isn't going to help you at this stage.
I don't know what you bike says to be honest. Just look at the chain. When it says H, is it big chainring? Then the back, when it says 6 is it the smallest gear? I have 3 bikes and all are different, 2 say nothing and 1 has just numbers.
I assume you have 3 chainrings on the front, hence 18 speeds.
It’s really quite simple. Bigger chainring up front = harder to pedal. Bigger cog on the back = easier to pedal. Try to keep the chain in a roughly straight line (big to small, medium to medium and small to big) and shift to harder/easier gears depending on the terrain.
If a bike has 18 gears I would say that only about half of them would be used. Easy way to get it in your head is to try and keep chain in straight line as possible. So big gear at front would only use 2 or 3 smaller gears at back and similarly small gear at front would use 2 or 3 larger at back.
Then big gear at front, small gear at back for downhill and vice versa for uphill. It becomes second nature after a while.
Put the chain on the big cog at the front and little cog at the back…figure out which side left or right does what but get that setup before starting out.
Ride on a flat road in this configuration and only move the rear cog to make it easier for yourself.
When your legs spin too fast move the rear cog to make it more resistant(harder) till you’re comfortable…you shouldn’t need to look down at this stage, just ride and change the rear cogs gears and figure out if it’s making things harder or easier.
When you get to a hill move the front cog to the smaller one, then proceed to move the rear cog up the cassette(cogs) as required till you get to the easiest gear and run out of gear options…at this point you should be spinning your legs to get up the hill.
Note: if you are in small cog at front with biggest cog at the back too quickly you may feel like you can’t get up the hill, all these moves are to be done in stages and you need to get used to changing to the correct gear at an opportune time so you’re not changing gear while putting power into the pedal stroke.
Good luck!
Ride in whatever gear you want. Whatever is the easiest. That is what they are there for.
Getting up a hill is easiest with the gear in the rear that is the biggest diameter, paired with the one on the front that has the smallest diameter.
Once you can get up hills that way, make it harder on yourself so you can get stronger: try to get up the hill with the chain not on the biggest gear in the back, but the next-biggest gear in the back.
If it's too hard to pedal, shift to an easier gear. If it's too easy to pedal, shift to a harder gear.
Basically, you just need to ride the bike and play around with shifting and figure out the difference between the gears and find what works best for you.
What gear to ride in is highly individual and can change on the conditions -- wind, hills, being tired. It's your first bike, so for now, just ride and figure it out.
The “gears” in the front are not gears, they are chainrings, not trying to be a dick but it’s easier to understand what people are saying if you use the correct terms. Chainrings don’t like to be changed when you are peddling hard, so until you get it down, don’t try changing them going up a hill (there are techniques to do it that you can learn).
The number of "speeds" just refers to the number of different gear combinations you have, so three in the front, multiplied by six in the back, is why it's called an 18-speed.
It sounds like you have three gears for your left hand, which controls the front gears. Let's start there. The "L" gear is for going up hills (or otherwise riding slow). The "H" gear is for going down hills (or whenever you're going fast). There's a gear in the middle that's for flat terrain. You won't shift in front very often, just when there's significant changes in terrain. Many people just leave it in the same gear all the time, which might be fine depending on where you ride. Most of your shifting will be with the right hand, which controls the rear gears. Honestly, though, just do this by feel. If you need a slightly easier gear, shift once with the right hand. If you're going a bit faster and your pedals are spinning too quick, shift once in the other direction. That's all you really need to know to start out.
Not OP but thanks, this makes a lot of sense! So I have a 2x10 set up, and live in a super flat country. I find myself almost exclusively hanging out in the big cog in front and the smallest 5 in the back. Should I get a different set up, or does it make sense (and is it okay) for me to only be using some of the gear range?
It's totally fine. I also live in a super flat place and have 2x12; I essentially never shift in the front and do probably 90% of my riding in three gears in the back (unless the wind is really out of control). And that's even after I swapped out my rear gear setup (cassette) for one with a narrower range.
Ah okay, good to know! Thanks for answering my question :)
With flat terrain it's not uncommon to only use a fraction of your bike's gears. You might be able to optimize your gearing a bit by using a smaller cassette with tighter spacing between each gear. Like maybe a 12-25. But it's hard to say if that's worth it without knowing what you already have. There's no problem with just sticking with what you have.
Stop "researching", and just go and "do". Leave the left hand gears for now. Go and ride, cycle through the right hand gears, you'll figure out the relationship between speed, effort, uphill/downhill etc. Reading a slab of text isn't going to help you at this stage.
Uphill: little in the front bigger on the back
Bigger in the front is H and 6 in the back right?
I don't know what you bike says to be honest. Just look at the chain. When it says H, is it big chainring? Then the back, when it says 6 is it the smallest gear? I have 3 bikes and all are different, 2 say nothing and 1 has just numbers.
You could just turn the knop and see if it gets harder or easier.
I assume you have 3 chainrings on the front, hence 18 speeds. It’s really quite simple. Bigger chainring up front = harder to pedal. Bigger cog on the back = easier to pedal. Try to keep the chain in a roughly straight line (big to small, medium to medium and small to big) and shift to harder/easier gears depending on the terrain.
If a bike has 18 gears I would say that only about half of them would be used. Easy way to get it in your head is to try and keep chain in straight line as possible. So big gear at front would only use 2 or 3 smaller gears at back and similarly small gear at front would use 2 or 3 larger at back. Then big gear at front, small gear at back for downhill and vice versa for uphill. It becomes second nature after a while.
Put the chain on the big cog at the front and little cog at the back…figure out which side left or right does what but get that setup before starting out. Ride on a flat road in this configuration and only move the rear cog to make it easier for yourself. When your legs spin too fast move the rear cog to make it more resistant(harder) till you’re comfortable…you shouldn’t need to look down at this stage, just ride and change the rear cogs gears and figure out if it’s making things harder or easier. When you get to a hill move the front cog to the smaller one, then proceed to move the rear cog up the cassette(cogs) as required till you get to the easiest gear and run out of gear options…at this point you should be spinning your legs to get up the hill. Note: if you are in small cog at front with biggest cog at the back too quickly you may feel like you can’t get up the hill, all these moves are to be done in stages and you need to get used to changing to the correct gear at an opportune time so you’re not changing gear while putting power into the pedal stroke. Good luck!
Ride in whatever gear you want. Whatever is the easiest. That is what they are there for. Getting up a hill is easiest with the gear in the rear that is the biggest diameter, paired with the one on the front that has the smallest diameter. Once you can get up hills that way, make it harder on yourself so you can get stronger: try to get up the hill with the chain not on the biggest gear in the back, but the next-biggest gear in the back.
If it's too hard to pedal, shift to an easier gear. If it's too easy to pedal, shift to a harder gear. Basically, you just need to ride the bike and play around with shifting and figure out the difference between the gears and find what works best for you. What gear to ride in is highly individual and can change on the conditions -- wind, hills, being tired. It's your first bike, so for now, just ride and figure it out.
The “gears” in the front are not gears, they are chainrings, not trying to be a dick but it’s easier to understand what people are saying if you use the correct terms. Chainrings don’t like to be changed when you are peddling hard, so until you get it down, don’t try changing them going up a hill (there are techniques to do it that you can learn).
The number of "speeds" just refers to the number of different gear combinations you have, so three in the front, multiplied by six in the back, is why it's called an 18-speed.