struggling to climb, gear ratios

moffmcewan

Hi, sorry if i'm in the wrong topic but i am really struggling to climb. Bought a new bike and cycling in a new area. On the route their are 2 CAT 4 climbs, not exactly tour de france but they are killing me. Almost track standing as i just can't turn the pedals, i have been advised to maybe change my gear ratio set-up to be more "climb friendly".

My current ratio is cassette: Shimano 105 5700 11-28 Crankset Shimano R600 34/50

Can anyone give me a straight answer to anything that may help these hills more achievable as many post i read are confusing with many contradictions.

Thank-you to anyone who takes the time to read and reply

Kendal Black Drop

A good place to start would be looking at the Help I need smaller gears - what can I do? A GUIDE thread in the Road Beginners section.

rolf_f

To be honest, 34-28 is a ratio that a lot of people on here will (misguidedly IMO) say is too soft and that you can climb anything on 34-25 and all the extra teeth make you slower. As it happens, they don't - they just put you in a more appropriate cadence so the gears you have should be fine.

Anyway, 34-28 is about as far as you can go without putting MTB cassettes on and a long cage rear mech. For very tough rides I tend to use a 13-29 cassette (29 being the limit on Campag) and find that on steep climbs it is a) easier and b) much faster - and I think I'm really fairly good at hills. Normally I use 11 or 12-25 cassettes for typical Yorkshire hillyness.

So really, you should give yourself time to develop the climbing skills - it's hard at first for everyone but you will get there. As long as you are actually getting up the hills without getting off and walking, you will be improving on every climb. And much of it is about self belief - knowing you can get up and then knowing you can get up in less time than it took you last time.

arlowood

As Rolf F has already said your lowest gear (34 / 28) should get you up most climbs. It's really all down to fitness - with practice and perseverance you should get there.

As an interim measure you could swap your 11-28 cassette for a 12-30 Tiagra cassette. They're pretty cheap at around £26 and the 34/30 lowest ratio will give you that little extra that should help with the worst hills.

This is the route I took and found it really helpful in giving me a bit more confidence when faced with a 15 - 20% "wall". My fitness has now improved so that I rarely if ever resort to the 30 tooth ring but it's a comfort to know it's there.

FYI I didn't need to do anything other than swap the cassette - no new chain, rear mech, etc needed.

One other factor that will help is if you shed a few lbs weight - the biggest factor on any climb is the weight you're dragging northwards - most of which is your bodyweight.

clickshots

Is the bike and/or rider (no offense intended!) particularly heavy? Maybe you could lose some weight from the bike or something to help? I guess if not then all you can do is keep training and stuff.

I'm not very fit so I need a bike that has very low gears as my parents live in Southern Germany and there are a scary number of 20%+ hills. On my bike I went for a triple (52/39/30) and a 12-27 cassette and so far I've gotten up everything I've pointed at (albeit I might have been going VERY slowly!), including a few 1 in 3's. The only problem is that you'd have to buy a new crankset, derailleur and the left shifter would have to be changed - so it's not a practical solution really. Well not cheap anyway.

macerello

Hi, I've just changed my 12-25 to an 11-28 to try to ease some of the longer climbs. I'm running a 50-34 on the front and this is my first 'proper' road bike. I've been riding as and when I can for a couple of years now, and while I can see huge improvements in stamina and average speeds, I have always struggled on longer climbs to the point where I feel a little restricted when I choose my routes. I'm 40 now and a couple of stone heavier than I could be, so that doesn't help, but the extra gearing has given me some extra confidence. I would say though that the best thing I have done to improve my climbing is to join the gym and do regular spin classes. They are often run as interval training and this has noticeably improved my power and stamina on the climbs. I would just keep at it, it will get easier.

Atb

Mark

willhub

Despite what people may say, a long cage road 105 rear mech will work perfectly fine with a cassette with a 32 on.

wishitwasallflat

If you would prefer to spin (tending to work your cardiovascular system more) rather than grind (works leg muscles and knee joints more) then get a bigger cassette (e.g. 11-32 SRAM PG 1050 or Tiagra 30 max) - yes you would need a long cage rear derailaeur as well but they are way cheaper and easier to fit than replacement knee joints

Gabbo

Bradley Wiggins, albeit an elite cyclist, stands at 190cm (6"3) and weighs merely 150lbs which is about 10 stone 9. Myself on the other hand is about 3cm shorter than Wiggo and weighs just under 90kg (about 198lbs). That's nearly 50lbs heavier than Wiggo himself and I don't consider myself at all overweight or even close to that.

People are too concerned about the performances of their footwear or their components before their own individual performances. I could lose about 2kg from a bike, but 13kg from my body (use to weigh 77kg as a distance runner).

Best of luck!

thinbo

Gabbo wrote:

Bradley Wiggins, albeit an elite cyclist, stands at 190cm (6"3) and weighs merely 150lbs which is about 10 stone 9. Myself on the other hand is about 3cm shorter than Wiggo and weighs just under 90kg (about 198lbs). That's nearly 50lbs heavier than Wiggo himself and I don't consider myself at all overweight or even close to that.

People are too concerned about the performances of their footwear or their components before their own individual performances. I could lose about 2kg from a bike, but 13kg from my body (use to weigh 77kg as a distance runner).

Best of luck!

Bradley Wiggins used a cassette with a 32 tooth sprocket with long pull deraillieur in the Tour for a couple of stages (although I think he still had his usual double on the front)

wishitwasallflat

Thinbo wrote:

Gabbo wrote:

Bradley Wiggins, albeit an elite cyclist, stands at 190cm (6"3) and weighs merely 150lbs which is about 10 stone 9. Myself on the other hand is about 3cm shorter than Wiggo and weighs just under 90kg (about 198lbs). That's nearly 50lbs heavier than Wiggo himself and I don't consider myself at all overweight or even close to that.

People are too concerned about the performances of their footwear or their components before their own individual performances. I could lose about 2kg from a bike, but 13kg from my body (use to weigh 77kg as a distance runner).

Best of luck!

Bradley Wiggins used a cassette with a 32 tooth sprocket with long pull deraillieur in the Tour for a couple of stages (although I think he still had his usual double on the front)

Sounds like the SRAM APEX 34/32 combo which I believe was first used by Alberto Contador in a tdf a few years ago - no shame in spinning up hills at all. Seems unlikely they would stick with std rings at front and go to 32 rear but ...?

Staying in the saddle and spinning is less cool looking but it is more efficient and it makes better sense biomechanically! That said check of the last stage of Vuelta to see Contador illustrate the main drawback in the laat 50m or so!!

ugo.santalucia

If your two cat 4 climbs are walls at 20-25%, then you will struggle with any gear ratio. If they are 10-15%, then it's a problem of fitness rather than gears.
You can go as low as you want, but you'll always need to defy gravity and there is only so slow you can go before becoming unstable. if you don't have the fitness, you can't spin fast while dragging your body up a hill, if you do have the fitness, then you probably also have the muscles to push a normal gear.
I think 34 x 28 is plenty even at beginners level

styxd

Your gear ration are about as climb friendly as they can get. What you really need to do is get fitter. A 34/28 is sufficient enough to get me over any hill (Im not super fit) so it should be for you aswell.

wishitwasallflat

Each to their own of course but I use my 34/32 combo on the steepest bits of steepest hills - when I started (four years ago) sometimes I would go as slow as 3-4 mph - now I rarely drop below 5-6 on the very steepest bits so some progress has been made. I am old and fat (getting thinner) though and want to get as much as I can out of the last few flakes of cartridge still clinging to my knees!

I live in hope that as the weight drops more (still probably about 3 stone to lose!) I won't need it as the gaps on the 11-32 PG 1050 are a bit of a pain in the butt!

durianrider

Contador uses a 34/32.

I can hold 5.88watts per kg for 10 mins. I run a 34/28.

If anyone says compact cranks are for softies, come training with me or Contador and see if you can keep up when the speed drops and you gotta maintain 80+ cadence to hit your watts.

Ive never had a drivers license. Im guilty of thinking 'big gears make you strong!'. I always rode a 39/21. I rode the alps with a 10kg back pack with it. Then I got a power meter and accidentally bought a compact crank. The rest is history. I would recommend a 36 for most people if they want to get better at climbing. I rarely climb under 10kph so a 28 is enough to hit 80+ cadence but if it wasnt, Id grab a 36 no probs.

jgsi

durianrider wrote:

Contador uses a 34/32.

I can hold 5.88watts per kg for 10 mins. I run a 34/28.

If anyone says compact cranks are for softies, come training with me or Contador and see if you can keep up when the speed drops and you gotta maintain 80+ cadence to hit your watts.

Ive never had a drivers license. Im guilty of thinking 'big gears make you strong!'. I always rode a 39/21. I rode the alps with a 10kg back pack with it. Then I got a power meter and accidentally bought a compact crank. The rest is history. I would recommend a 36 for most people if they want to get better at climbing. I rarely climb under 10kph so a 28 is enough to hit 80+ cadence but if it wasnt, Id grab a 36 no probs.

You DO make fair points but seriously fella you come across as a complete twt sometimes.
Let me list a few pointers to help you become less jarring...
Name dropping... stop it
I can do this .. blah blah .. stop it
Drivers license... no one cares stop it
Accidental purchase of compact crank .. no one forced you to fit it .. so stop it
I may have missed other references to your hidden agenda -- anyways stop that as well




apart from that .. excellent post.

barrybridges

To answer the OP, the gear ratio you currently have is already fairly generous, though you can probably make things a little easier by going up to 29 or 30 at the back. That said, it's not going to make a huge, sort-your-problems-out type difference I wouldn't have thought.

As others have said, if you can lighten the load elsewhere then do so, but otherwise it would be helpful to know what sort of gradient you're getting stuck on.

If it's 20% then it's meant to feel like you're pedalling through treacle! If it's 10% then fitness is the issue.

robbo2011

Well I don't mind admitting I use a 34/32 ratio as my bottom gear. It only really comes in handy at gradients above 15%, but I like to sit and spin up hills. Around where I am, I wouldn't want to be without it.

freddiegrubb

Thinking a little outside the box/ I'm not the best on the hills & it's worse when I climb a new one because I don't know what to expect, on the way up I try to memorize landmarks etc. & that gives me an indication of how much more suffering to endure. The next time it's a little easier & gets progressively so, another point which people may beg to differ on is road surface, nearby there is a hill which was hard work- bumpy lumpy potholes you name it, it was there. Now it's been re-surfaced & what a difference I can spin up & hardly feel it, in fact the experience is so good I've been up it twice in 3 days. Deep everlasting joy

fizz

Some excellent points made already. One more I might offer the OP

Don't go balls out at the bottom of the climb, try and make a more measured approach. Get into a gear at the bottom that you think you can maintain all the way up the climb, and try and maintain a steady pace from the bottom to the top.

That way when you get up near the top you should have a little more in left in the tank, rather than having used all your energy up at the bottom of the climb.

As for gears 34 / 28 is a good gear for climbing, the rest is down to fitness but if it helps your mindset then go for the 32 tooth rear as suggsted.

steve6690

I'm a total noob to this and my new bike has a 50/34 front and a 12-30 Tiagra cassette. I started cycling last year and dug my old Claud Butler San Remo out of the garage. It had 52/42 front and 14/28 cassette and I really struggled to climb any kind of a hill at all.
I can recommend the 12-30 Tiagra. I reckon even I could get up most things now.

smidsy

In the above secenario the 42 on the front was the really limiting factor, not the 28 on the rear..

StillGoing

I'm no good at climbing and ever since almost coming to a stop on a hill with a 17% section last year, I opted to go to SRAM Wifli this year and an 11-30 rear cassette with a compact front. I still don't go into the last two sprockets opting to try getting up any hill without using them, but it does mentally give me the reassurance of a bail out gear or two if I'm struggling. The last thing I want to do is avoid hills. You don't get better avoiding them.