I have noticed that my bike sometimes changes gears incredibly smoothly—quietly, quickly, very little 'jolt' through my pedals—while other times I get a rough, clunky change. I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to ensure smooth changes, or at least reduce the rough changes.
I don't think there's any adjustments required, as I've had it serviced a few times, and the gears all work (no jumping between them, no really slow changes).
It's generally not a huge issue (I'm commuting not running time-trials) but it can be a bit of a surprise (never good to have your foot slip) or can sometimes cost a lot of momentum when going up-hill.
I'm still getting used to my slightly wider-spaced chainring (new bike is 34/50, old one was 28/38/48), so shifting on the chainring seems to have the potential for the worst changes, but even shifting up/down the 9-speed cassette varies between smooth and harsh.
So I'm wondering if it's a case of timing the gear-change with my cadence? Or do I need to put more/less force on the pedals before/during the change? Or are there other tricks to it? And when I get to the limits of the cassette, is there a trick to smoothly shifting on the chainring & cassette when going up-hill to avoid a sudden ratio jump and loss of momentum with it?