Hills and bike types

[Moby Jones]

I am going to be visiting some bike shops soon to start looking for my new bike. I will be using it everyday to travel to and from work. My commute does take me up some pretty long steep hills. What should i be looking for in a good bike to get me up all those hills, ie gearing

 

[Fozz]

a motorbike.......


sorry

couldn`t resist......

 

[steve52]

a tripple nothing less will do, dont be talked into a compact like i was

 

[Fozz]

i agree!!!! A Triumph Daytona is a triple........




i`ll get me coat............

 

[HLaB]

Its a bit of an open ended question the OP. IMO it all depends on the length, your personal fitness, ambition etc. A compact will suffice for practically any climb but if you feel that they are long and hard and you just want to get from A to B you're probably better with a tripple.

 

[corshamjim]

I am going to be visiting some bike shops soon to start looking for my new bike. I will be using it everyday to travel to and from work. My commute does take me up some pretty long steep hills. What should i be looking for in a good bike to get me up all those hills, ie gearing

A lot depends on what sort of cost you were thinking?

At the fairly low cost end, I'd look for 21 or 24 gears. Something like the Trek 7.3 FX has a good range of gears and is a very popular all-rounder. For an extra £50 there's a disc-brake version if that appeals to you.

If money is no object you can go one of two ways - light-weight or low-maintenance.

 

[Rouge Penguin]

Buy a double and work on the hills, after a coupe of weeks they'll be small bumps. Hills are best climbed twice!!

 

[Fozz]

the more you ride, the easier it gets. The first week may well be purgatory but by the end of the second you`ll be able to do the route on a Raleigh Chopper.....

 

[Rebel Ian]

Bear in mind that the lowest gear of a compact and triple will be very similar and that's the only one that matters if the hills are that bad. Lots of the gears between the highest and lowest will be duplicates anyway.

 

[Banjo]

If you get a triple roadbike and want to get over steep hills ask for a 28 tooth largest sprocket on your rear cassette.

Most roadbikes seem to come with 23 or 25 off the shelf if its a deal buster I am sure the shop could change it for you as they could then sell the unused one they took off.

I can ride my triple roadbike up almost any hill on my 25 but not when tired, then that little bit of extra gearing would be a godsend.

The trade off is that your other gears will then be slightly more widely spaced ie there will be a bigger step up /down with each gear change. Personally I can live with that.

 

[asterix]

My Roberts was designed for hill climbing. The rear triangle is stiff (not much BB flex) and it keeps its line well when I am out of the saddle climbing. It is a triple and boy was I grateful in the Pyrennees.

 

[chillyuk]

There are a couple of climbs I have been unable to manage for over a year on my hybrid with a triple. I give them a try every now and then but always get defeated and end up pushing my bike up. Having just got my roadbike with a double I tried one of the hills yesterday and went straight up. It made me work hard but I made it all the way. I guess it would be even more embarrassing pushing a road bike rather than a pannier clad hybrid.

 

[Moby Jones]

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry if i sound really thick but when you guys say things like "get a bike with a triple or double" what exactly do you mean. Are you refering to the chainset or Cassette?????

 

[chillyuk]

Double or triple refers to the chainset. You can have two chainwheels or three. The triple normally has a very small chainwheel as one of the three, commonly known as a granny gear, which gives you a very low gear for climbing very steep hills.

 

[Fozz]

Double or triple refers to the chainset. You can have two chainwheels or three. The triple normally has a very small chainwheel as one of the three, commonly known as a granny gear, which gives you a very low gear for climbing very steep hills.

or going very slow whilst pedeling really fast........