Road bars when climbing

dweben

Greetings all,

I'm not really a beginner, but am having continued issues when climbing on the road bike. I've many years experience on the hardtail mtb and prefer standing when romping up hills when I can, and this carries over to my road riding (I find it's easier on my dodgy knee). I really should be over this by now after 6 months but it's like some sort of mental block. :shock:

However, unlike my mtb where I can grab the bar ends with much gusto, I find despite 6 months of road riding I still can't get a real grip on road bars due to the hoods being in the way -- I have one or two fingers above it, and the others below. I find this really messes about with me gripping the bars and takes my concentration and power away from the pedals.

Has anyone else come across this kind of thing? If so what's the cure?? It's driving me nuts! I'd love some bar ends bolted to the side of my road bars, or some TT bars for the side bar things! :evil:

Paul

springtide9

Use the hoods like they are bar ends

andrewjoseph

As above, or you can use the drops, or on the tops.

I find climbing on the mtb quite different to the road bike. On steep technical climbs, I will be pulling down hard on the mtb bars to keep the front end down and to help transmit power to the pedals.

Most road climbs I try not to use my upper body, light grip on tops or hoods.

When I'm standing to 'honk' I'm holding around the hoods as if they were bar ends and pulling up on the bars. I rarely do this on a climb though.

MountainMonster

I find to truly get the power down, the drops are the best place to be when standing. It takes a while to get used to it, i've had my road bike for about 2 months, with lots of ride time in there, and i'm still not 100% comfortable. I have more of a problem descending in the drops though.....

Some people in this world really are just a 1 side of the sport types of people, and you could be just much more comfortable on the MTB than on road bike. Maybe try just adjusting the drops a little bit to get the right position that you are comfortable with, and go from there.

Chris James

Hold the hoods, not the bars.

Monty Dog

If you can't grip the hoods comfortably, then adjust the bars or hoods to allow you to do so - many bikes are set up with the hoods as the natural hand position, with occasional forays onto the drops of tops being the norm. Whilst you can climb with your hands on the drops, it's quite a 'deep' position and employs a lot of core muscle strength, so is something you'll need to work at.

nferrar

How do you even manage to have your hand that splayed that you can get one or two fingers about the hoods and rest below?

P_Tucker

nferrar wrote:

How do you even manage to have your hand that splayed that you can get one or two fingers about the hoods and rest below?

Easily, and I have tiny girlish hands.

springtide9

P_Tucker wrote:

nferrar wrote:

How do you even manage to have your hand that splayed that you can get one or two fingers about the hoods and rest below?

Easily, and I have tiny girlish hands.

And don't forget a finger or two for the top of the brakes
[edit.. not the most powerful, but usually enough]

dweben

Thanks for the replies. I've tried holding the hoods before but never quite got on with -- will give it a go again! I actually find my commuter bike (mtb with rigid forks and small flat bars/bar ends) the most efficient bike to climb with.. I tried the drops for climbing but found it just made breathing a little too difficult.

Maybe if I have a go with shifting the hoods forward on the bars so that when climbing so they're a bit flatter and more forward? Does mean a little fettling with the bar tape which'll be new to me, but happy to give it a go. Not sure how that'd work with the brakes... silly idea pulling the blooming lever at the pivot point anyway. Hmm, or rotating the whole bar assembly around and down a bit... feeling a test & fettle ride coming on.

Oh, and I have 17 fingers on each hand, helps with gripping everything.

Paul