Who ever heard of \”good\” derailment? We don\’t want trains to derail, because it can be a major disaster if they do!

A bicycle chain is quite another matter. We want it to \”derail\”, i.e. be able to shift from one gear to another. If it couldn\’t, we\’d be stuck with single-gear bicycles; or maybe fixies. That\’s good derailment.

I\’m not nearly advanced enough to sense when my bicycles\’ derailers need adjusting; unless the chain hesitates and clatters like crazy when I try to shift gears. Someone once showed me how to adjust the rear derailer, and I watched one or two YouTube videos about it; but I don\’t dare try it on my own.

Because I use the rear shifter so much more, it\’s easy for the front derailer to get pushed to the back of my mind. That doesn\’t mean the front derailer isn\’t important; because it is. Having the big ring lets me ride at, say, 14 mph at a lower cadence than I\’d need if I stayed on the small ring.

On my road bike, to shift to the big ring, I have to push the shifting lever hard and hold it for several seconds. (The bike shop says that\’s normal for my bicycle). If I don\’t, the chain doesn\’t make it on to the big ring; and when I try to shift back to the small ring, the chain comes off, and I have to stop and put it back on. Fortunately it isn\’t hard to do, but I can never get all the oil off my hands.

So, as long as our derailers are properly adjusted, our gears can stay on track, and we can enjoy the ride!