Buyer's Guide: Best Women's Bikes With Gears

Many bikes have a least one gear. And if you’ve never ridden with multiple gears, you may wonder what all the fuss is about. But multispeed bicycles offer some great advantages that are worth considering. Before you go out and buy a new model, check out this short guide. You'll learn about some of the best women's bikes with gears plus how to make the most of the benefits that come with them.

Sixthreezero's Bestselling Women's Bikes With Gears

Many women’s bikes from sixthreezero come in multiple speeds. But what does that mean? You see, each bike with gears pairs left and right-hand shifters with rear ringsets to create a certain number of speeds. The left shifter changes ringsets by moving the bike’s chain onto a different ring – the one next to the pedals. The right shifter switches the ring on the rear wheel.

If you have a 21-speed bike like sixthreezero’s popular Around the Block, you can see how this works. A bicycle with this setup have three front gears and seven rear gears. Larger gears are assigned to the lower numbers – one, two or three. The fourth, fifth, sixths and seventh cogs are smaller and enable you to go faster. Changing to a higher gear speeds up your pedaling cadence, while lower gears slow that cadence. And that’s what affects your ease or difficulty in pedaling.

How To Ride a Bike With Gears

Before you purchase your new bike, it’s helpful to learn how to ride a bike with gears. It’s worth looking at its gear setup in advance. Let’s take a look at the seven-speed EVRYJourney as an example. Many seven speeds are ideal for riding on more challenging terrain. In this case, there’s one sprocket next to the pedals. There are also seven reverse sprockets, and you shift with a single gear lever.

By shifting gears, you can adapt to changes such as hills, bumps and inclines. Lower gears are for easier pedaling, while higher gears are ideal when you’re going down hills. You can think of it this way: shift down when going uphill and shift up when going downhill.

As you’re riding, you’ll want to think about the terrain ahead and shift gears before it changes. And if you’re on a bike with multiple ringsets next to the pedals, shift the front gears first. Rear gear shifts help you fine-tune your pedaling cadence. Don’t forget to pedal continuously while shifting – you’ll avoid the chance of your chain jumping gears or falling off entirely.

Why Bikes With Gears Are Better 

Now that you’ve seen a basic overview of how bike gears work, it’s worth taking a look at their benefits. If you’re on a bike without gears, you have no way to maintain a good pedaling speed over changing ground. To go uphill, for example, you’ll have to put in much more effort to pedal and generate enough force to advance up the incline – and that can wear you out pretty quickly.

As mentioned earlier, shifting gears allows you to adjust your pedaling cadence so you can more easily handle differences in terrain. To ascend a hill, you don’t have to pedal until your legs feel like they’ll fall off. All you do is just shift down to a lower gear.

What To Consider While Bike Shopping

When looking for your new bike, you should think about a few key factors: your body size, terrain type, riding frequency and health needs. Check out the specs of each model as you evaluate it. Sixthreezero offers this information with each of its bikes – maximum height and weight supported, recommended terrain and typical riding pace. Don’t forget to choose a bike with the best number of gears to handle your riding style.