Webelos Gear Guidance

Before the meeting:

1. Set up meeting space with multigeared bike and room for Cub Scouts to stand around the bike.

During the meeting:

1. Explain to Cub Scouts that gears on a bike allow the rider to keep pedaling at a steady rate whether going uphill or downhill. On a bike that has no gears, every rotation you make with your pedal makes one rotation on the back wheel. Bikes with gears can change the number of rotations you make with your pedals to equal one full rotation of your back tire.
2. Point out the rear cassette. The rear cassette is a group of sprockets at the rear hub of a bicycle that attaches to the freehub and is held in place by a cassette lockring. 
3. Point out the gear shift and explain that lower numbers or lower gears help when the incline is steep. Higher numbers or high gears help when going downhill
4. Flip the bike over. with the wheels up and show them how the gears can change when the pedals move.