Recommended lowest gear for 10 - 11 % climb ?

Ezy Rider

I was out today and I rode up a 10 - 11 % hill, my lowest gear is 34 / 25 and I found it hard going to be honest :oops: . Which lowest gear would you guys be using on a climb like this :?:

atakd

As a recent MTB to road convert I have had the same experience - yesterday I rode up a 12.5% hill in my smallest gear,34/27, and found it hard. Other riders suggest I use too tall a gear on the flat and I wonder why I find hills on the road so difficult - I think I'm OK at off road climbs where keeping the front wheel down is more of a problem than running out of steam. I don't stand up when climbing - should I?

arthur_scrimshaw

depends on your fitness, keep at it and it will get easier (or at least you'll get faster and able to push bigger gears) There's a few posts and articles on climbing technique around, try to relax your upper body and sit up, start the hill slowly and try to build up pace towards the top. Don't try to avoid hills!

springtide9

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.
say 53-18 or 19

Wow, that's pretty good going. 53/18 is roughly 21mph at 90rpm :oops:

nakita222

It depends on the length, If short I would most probably blast it in the big ring, 50 - 24 or if it is long spin up in the 34-20

BTW lots of people lie, and you will get people saying things like I use my 53-11 at around 100rpm, when going up 20% grades, I'm not sure about 10%, I usually spin out, and need a 57ring for hills like these. Whereas in reality they would most probably walk up.

Bobbinogs

30/25, which is bottom on my bike with a triple, nice/quicker to spin up without standing. 39/28 on either of my bikes with a standard double but would probably have to stand for bits (and then shift up one cog at the back to prevent too much leverage resulting in wheel spin).

ForumNewbie

I have triple chainset on my Audax and the granny ring enables me to manage to crawl up the odd 20%, or even steeper climb, in the granny ring. If I had a bike with a compact chainset I'd have to pick my routes carefully or I'd probably have to get off and walk on some hills.

Ezy Rider

mine has a compact 50 /34 and 12-25, i suppose having a triple would solve the issue, but i cant warm to those at all. the hill is long enough for me, id guess it is about 1 mile in lenght and when i reached its peak i was sweating profusely . its mindboggling when i think of schleck and contador nailing tourmalet at 14 mph average, a lot of non riders just dont appreciate the fitness of a top cyclist.

chunkytfg

TBH up a 10% climb of say a mile 34-25 should be more than enough.

I weigh 125kg so not exactly a climbers build and will don 8-9% climbs in 34-23 out the saddle just plugging away slowly but leaving a get out gear just incase and have recently climbed my worst climb at 14% in 34-25. It was a real struggle I will admit but I made it up none the less!

Cleat Eastwood

Just out of curiosity were you riding alone or with mates?

I've noticed that people riding alone, well me, tend to try and push on up hills and make harder than it should be. Last year I went up a 14%er (39/25) going at a steady 7mph behind some guy on a mountain bike, when I've done it alone I'm reaching 10mph but feeling shagged at the top.

I think hills are all about finding your own rhythm.

By the way have a look in cake stop at the youtube vids post, someones posted a link to a 'guide' to hill climbing, quite interesting.

infact wait there I'll get it for you....

here you go

Bill Stricklands hill climbing guide

Skerryman

To save the creation of a new thread, I have a related question. Just from riding MTB's and such I know there's certain gear combinations that are not recommended, such as being in the granny ring while on the smallest rear sprocket (and vice versa). Been cycling my road bike for a while now which has a compact double and find myself using the big chain ring more in situations where I used to be using the small one. Just wondering how far up the cassette you can go without putting the rear mech under too much strain. Usually wouldn't go past the 19 or 21 ring (two or three from the top of cassette) is that too far, or do the same rules as above not apply on a compact double?

CiB

Skerryman wrote:

Just wondering how far up the cassette you can go without putting the rear mech under too much strain. Usually wouldn't go past the 19 or 21 ring (two or three from the top of cassette) is that too far, or do the same rules as above not apply on a compact double?

There's no strain on the mech, that just guides the chain to where you want it. Most of the time the mech is just hanging and is nothing more than a glorified chain guide.

Avoid extremes as you've already noted - big to big, small to small. In reality it doesn't make a lot of difference unless you spend all your time in silly gear combos but as a rule which is only there because it's sometimes easy to forget, I tend to avoid being in the first or last three cogs on the cassette from the wrong ring. But as often as not I'll do it anyway. The chain might wear out a few weeks sooner than it would have, but who's to know, or care?

ShutUpLegs

springtide9 wrote:

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.
say 53-18 or 19

Wow, that's pretty good going. 53/18 is roughly 21mph at 90rpm :oops:

A sensible target for the road beginner

Buckled_Rims

I don't know the exact hill % I do, but it'll be fairly accurate.

for 10% I'll be in the 39-21 or 39-19 gearing doing about 12mph.

Yesterday I did a few 20-25% hills in Weardale/Teesdale and I was on the 39-24 or 39-27 doing about 7 to 8.5mph. But it was windy and a bit of drizzle.

Another thing that nobody's mentioned is the road surface. Some are shocking poor and I can struggle up a 10% hill, yet a smoothed tarmac 10% I can shoot up in the big ring (52t)

Pross

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.

say 53-18 or 19

Of course you would - great advice for a beginner! :roll:

If it was any length I would probably be down on around my minimum which is 39 x 25. That said as I'm old and from the 6 speed era I grew up riding relatively high gears on hills, had there been compacts and 10 speed cassettes making larger sprockets a realistic option I would probably have got used to climbing on lower gears with a higher cadence. It also depends how fresh you are and also how far you are riding after the hill. I 'can' get up a 1.5 mile 10% hill in 39 x 19 but my legs would be shot if I had a lot more riding to do.

rbleightonbuzzard

What was the biggest struggle when climbing, your legs or your breathing?

If its your breathing, it might be the case that knocking your speed down 1-2mph sorts you out.

Butterd2

For a 1 mile hill I'd stick to the middle ring so 40/25.
For a 10 mile hill (Tourmalet for example although it's only an average of 8%) I'd be down on the granny ring which is a 26. I rarely use bottom gear 26/25 unless it's silly steep (hit a section of 21% in Kent yesterday) so would probably end up in 26/21 or 26/23 if really blowing.

springtide9

ShutUpLegs wrote:

springtide9 wrote:

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.
say 53-18 or 19

Wow, that's pretty good going. 53/18 is roughly 21mph at 90rpm :oops:

A sensible target for the road beginner

Well have just done the sums...

21mph on a 10% hill works out at roughly 3,300 VAM
Even managing 11.5mph on a 10% hill is still a VAM of around 1,800 (which is what the best Tour riders manage)

Hmm....

cougie

Someones gonna be getting a call from WADA then..........

Pross

springtide9 wrote:

ShutUpLegs wrote:

springtide9 wrote:

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.
say 53-18 or 19

Wow, that's pretty good going. 53/18 is roughly 21mph at 90rpm :oops:

A sensible target for the road beginner

Well have just done the sums...

21mph on a 10% hill works out at roughly 3,300 VAM
Even managing 11.5mph on a 10% hill is still a VAM of around 1,800 (which is what the best Tour riders manage)

Hmm....

and you'd only be doing about 50rpm at that speed!

Ezy Rider

springtide9 wrote:

ShutUpLegs wrote:

springtide9 wrote:

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.
say 53-18 or 19

Wow, that's pretty good going. 53/18 is roughly 21mph at 90rpm :oops:

A sensible target for the road beginner

Well have just done the sums...

21mph on a 10% hill works out at roughly 3,300 VAM
Even managing 11.5mph on a 10% hill is still a VAM of around 1,800 (which is what the best Tour riders manage)

Hmm....

hmmm is what i thought as well

P_Tucker

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.

say 53-18 or 19

Chipper. Near where I work there are some pretty nasty speedbumps - one of them is about 30%. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I took one of those in the 53x11 this morning. 'ave that.

Pross

P_Tucker wrote:

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.

say 53-18 or 19

Chipper. Near where I work there are some pretty nasty speedbumps - one of them is about 30%. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I took one of those in the 53x11 this morning. 'ave that.

You're exaggerating - speed humps are a maximum of 1:10 by legislation and usually more like 1:12 or 1:15. Exposed as a liar!

bompington

There's a 10% climb on my way home from work that I usually take at about 35mph in 53/11












it comes just after a 45mph descent and probably climbs about 5m in total

rolf_f

Pross wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.

say 53-18 or 19

Chipper. Near where I work there are some pretty nasty speedbumps - one of them is about 30%. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I took one of those in the 53x11 this morning. 'ave that.

You're exaggerating - speed humps are a maximum of 1:10 by legislation and usually more like 1:12 or 1:15. Exposed as a liar!

Ahhh, but what if the speed hump is on a 10% slope itself, eh?!!

(in Leeds, we have speed humps so steep I once saw Andy Schleck drop his chain on one!) I take those in 50-11

meanredspider

You lot need to MTFU, I REVERSE up 10% slopes - NO HANDS!

bobtbuilder

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Another thing that nobody's mentioned is the road surface. Some are shocking poor and I can struggle up a 10% hill, yet a smoothed tarmac 10% I can shoot up in the big ring (52t)

This can make a huge difference. On a smooth surface I can keep a rhythm and use a big gear, but on horrible broken surfaces I end up in 34/23 or so.

mclarent

Can't believe this topic has managed to garner 2 pages of responses. Maybe I can generalise an answer for you?

"it depends".

P_Tucker

Pross wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

cadseen wrote:

Well it would depend on how long it is, but generally I would climb a 10% climb on the big ring.

say 53-18 or 19

Chipper. Near where I work there are some pretty nasty speedbumps - one of them is about 30%. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I took one of those in the 53x11 this morning. 'ave that.

You're exaggerating - speed humps are a maximum of 1:10 by legislation and usually more like 1:12 or 1:15. Exposed as a liar!

Dammit. Fine, it was 1:15 and I was in a 39x21. HAPPY NOW?

PhilofCas

As I approached a 10% gradient (having just knocked a 40% one into submission) both wheels fell off, I coasted up the hill (I had it in 58/10 by the way, not that it mattered), sparks were flying off the front forks, I crested the brow of the hill and gently came to a halt thereafter, I walked back for my wheels, secured them back in and continued the rest of my journey, bosh.

P_Tucker

PhilofCas wrote:

As I approached a 10% gradient (having just knocked a 40% one into submission) both wheels fell off, I coasted up the hill (I had it in 58/10 by the way, not that it mattered), sparks were flying off the front forks, I crested the brow of the hill and gently came to a halt thereafter, I walked back for my wheels, secured them back in and continued the rest of my journey, bosh.

Poof. I was doing some sprints this morning, and on every pedal stroke at the 3 o'clock position a new universe was formed, such was the power exerted.

Luckily I had washed my bike just before the ride, thus the frame was able to withstand this. Obv I gave it a once over after the first 5 sprints, just to make sure.