Gearing Question

[HellFireX12]

When some one is talking about a race bike of theirs and they say the gearing is lets say +1, -4 does this mean 1 up on the shifter and 4 down (backwards shifting) or does it mean +1 tooth on the front sprocket, -4 on the back??

[bigusnicus]

Usually they are talking about the number of teeth on the sprockets.