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Down shifters are mounted on the down tube (that connects the front tube with the bottom bracket). They are on their way of becoming obsolete, but are still the cheapest option. They are inconvenient because they require reaching down, which is difficult to do when braking or accelerating hard or riding in difficult situations. A variant that is mounted on the stem is found on very old and cheap bicycles.

Bar-end shifters are mounted at the ends of drop handlebars. I haven’t used them much and find them less convenient than Ergopower and STI brakes because I don’t often keep my hands at the handlebar ends where I can’t reach the brakes. They are popular on touring bicycles.

Campagnolo Ergopower is a system for drop handlebars that integrates the shifting levers with the brake levers. This means you can control everything without moving your hands. There is one lever mounted behind the brake lever that tilts sideways to shift down, and a thumb button on the inner side of the body to shift up. Up to three gears can be shifted down, and any number of of gears can be shifted up with one lever action. The levers become less noisy and hard with time. Both brake and shift cables run along the handlebar under the handlebar tape. This is the system that I prefer. They also come with Campagnolo’s spare parts availability – it’s not going to be a problem to buy and install a replacement spring three years from now, when Shimano won’t even remember what they sold six months ago.

Shimano STI is similar to Ergopower, but there is no thumb button. Up-shifting is done by pushing the brake lever sideways. This is why I prefer Ergopower – it makes me feel more in control because the brake lever doesn’t go in all directions when I hold it with two fingers to be ready to brake. Also, STI has cables connecting to the inside tip of the lever that are not tucked safely out of harm’s way like with Ergopower.

Other types are available for mountainbikes. I have not used them.

On road bikes, the shifter cables run along the down tube, on the left side to the front derailleur and on the right side to the rear derailleur. There is a plastic insert under the bottom bracket that guides the cables. Cables must be bought to match the shifting system used. Ride-on makes special coated cables that run somewhat smoother than regular cables, but don’t really justify the price. Normal cables should be oiled with Teflon oil (which doesn’t gum up with age) before being inserted into the housing.

Shortening the housing is difficult and requires a special tool, or at least a sharp fine metal saw. The housing should be held by a vise. Saw it off very close to the vise grips, then file the sharp edges and smooth out the inner plastic tube. Use metal caps on the ends. Cables are usually too long; cut them with a sharp cutter and either put a cap on the end or solder the end (but don’t use too much solder or they won’t fit through the housing caps). Uncapped unsoldered cables fray.

There are cassettes with eight, nine, or ten cogs on the rear hub (for hub types, see the chapter on wheels). Cassettes with five to seven, and arguable eight, cogs are obsolete. At the time of this writing (2006), nine cogs are still available but fading, and people switch to ten. Ten-cog cassettes require a special narrow chain, and derailleurs and levers may not be compatible, so I recommend going with ten. In most cases, the number of cogs must agree with the type of shift levers; it cannot be upgraded without also replacing the shift lever. Usually cassettes from one vendor cannot be mixed with shift levers from another vendor. There are some exceptions, for example Sachs is said to work with Campagnolo, and Campagnolo sells replacement ratchets to convert levers.

Chains must be the single most neglected part of the typical bicycle. It seems that every other bicycle I see has not been lubricated for years. Unlubricated chains squeak pitifully, make pedaling much harder, and destroy chainwheels and cogs. The problem is that rust and other particles get between the bolts and sleeves of the chain and wear them down, so that the chain gets loose and hence very slightly longer. This means that the distance between two chain links no longer matches the distance between two chainwheel and cog teeth. When this happens only one link connects with a tooth, all others are loose because of the slack. This one tooth takes the entire force and gets worn into a “shark fin” shape. If this shape is pronounced enough, the chain won’t even roll smoothly off the cog or chainwheel; instead the chain will be grabbed by the shark fin.

The insidious part of this is that you don’t notice it until the cogs you use most are already destroyed. Replacing the chain will seem to make matters worse because now all links of the chain get hooked by all the shark fin teeth of the cog simultaneously, which will make the chain skip. This makes the cog unrideable. The only option at this point is to replace all the worn cogs together with the chain.

To prevent this from happening, it is important to lubricate the chain frequently, at least every three weeks or so, more often when riding in wet weather. Before lubricating the chain, it must first be cleaned with an old T-shirt. You can run the chain through the fabric, but it’s really better to clean each link individually. It will only take a few minutes. You should also clean the cogs, chainwheels, and especially both pulleys in the rear derailleur. Then, lubricate the inside liberally, and run the chain through at high speed for some time. Then, wipe off all excess lube. This is important because only the lube inside the chain will do any good, the rest just attracts dirt and increases wear. Ride around the block and wipe off excess lube again.

There is much debate about the best chain lube. You can’t go wrong with synthetic bicycle chain oil, perhaps containing suspended Teflon or other lubricating particles. Don’t use regular (WD-40 or other) machine oil because its viscosity is too low to stay in the chain for very long, and don’t use motor oil because motor oil is designed to work in certain (hot) environments only. Grease doesn’t work too well because it won’t reach the critical parts, you’ll wipe off most of what you apply. This is even more true of wax. Don’t use gasoline to clean your chain, it will remove the factory grease packing of the inner surfaces and you’ll never be able to restore them sufficiently. Chains are not that expensive.