changing into lower gear going uphill.
- Thread starter Salty seadog
- Start date
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Berk on a Bike
Veteran
- Location
- Yorkshire
What's worse is going to change down while climbing a hill and realising there's no "down" left...
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
One particular Incline hereabouts (small hill, quite sharp), I'll often attack (well I used to anyway) out of the saddle and to maintain a good cadence will happily shift down while still out the saddle. You do unload the pressure on the pedals for a brief second, but its almost instinctive...I couldnt explain exactly when.
Mugshot
Cracking a solo.
I do this, perhaps a little too often, even though I know I'm in bottom gear I'll push the levers every now and then just to make sure, it's pure desperation
Shut Up Legs
Down Under Member
To the OP: it's not impossible to change down gears when you're already on the steeper part of the hill. You just need to (a) stop moving; (b) move the shifter to the required position; then (c) hold the back wheel up and rotate the pedals. I've had to do that on rare occasions when I didn't change gears soon enough before a steep hill.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
It is pretty hard to get going again if you stop on a hill steeper than (say) 15%!
You might be able to start off heading across the road if it is wide enough, or maybe go a few yards down a side street or farm track to get a run at it, but standing starts are tough on the steep stuff.
Shut Up Legs
Down Under Member
I never disputed that, I was only giving the OP more information on changing gears on uphills.
Oh the simplicity of riding fixed wheel
Yep, nothing like having the worries of gear selection taken away from you!
Tbh, depending on the incline, there are times I prefer climbing on fixed.
You should've tried it with non-indexed simplex gears that used to take a good mile to find the next cog. Try riding hard up a hill, trying to ease off whilst having one hand on the bars and one on the downtube lever trying to coax it into gear, now that was an art and you really did need to be in the right gear for the hill before you got there. Still, proves even indexed brifters have their limitations.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
I've ridden a few events where people haven't a clue about changing gear.
Come to a hill and there is an all mighty clatter of gears crunching and grinding. Click click with my gears before you hit the gradient not after.
Come to a hill and there is an all mighty clatter of gears crunching and grinding. Click click with my gears before you hit the gradient not after.
I remember in the days of the down tube shifters, I could change the gears with my knees. Also amusing changing a club mates gear at an inappropriate moment by knocking the lever forwards.
Can you imagine launching an attack back in them there days? Talk about telegraph your intentions!
My first racer, a Raleigh junior pro or somesuch name, had downtube shifters. Looking back, I don't recall me cursing the shifting then, but I bought an old racer a couple of years back (a Raleigh Competition) and that takes some thought. I'll still instinctively reach for thumb shifters when riding it.
Shift some of your weight to your back foot, you don't need to put all those 95kg through the chain
