hills

[Kiwiavenger]

could always just try swapping the cassette out depending on wether your rear derallier can take it to make it a little easier in the short term!
my lowest gear is currently 39/26 which will get me up anything up to 13% (havent tried any steeper!) im currently 6'2" and 16st 11, i used to have to push up hills until i got used to them!

 

[ColinJ]

At 23 years old you should be roaring up hills.
The biggest factor involved in climbing is personal fitness and body weight - I don't know how fit you are, but you say you weigh 105 kilos at 5ft 9. Andy Schleck (a pro racer and one of the best climbers in the world) is 6ft 1 and weighs 68 kilos.
Just get out and ride and ride, don't worry about your equipment.

And after you have got fed up with trying to follow that advice, get yourself a bike with some nice low gears and use them until you are actually fit enough to get up the hills on higher gears! Unless you enjoy a good stroll with your bike, of course ...

 

[stephen.rooke]

i love to just get out and ride but i would also like to get home form work . when im on my days off i drive to the bottom of the hill and ride 15/20miles then drive back up

 

[stephen.rooke]

is the carerra tdf any good for hills, i love the look of the bike

 

[ColinJ]

That hill isn't very steep overall but it does have a couple of short steeper sections at about 10%, a significant gradient which lower gears would help you tackle. As indeed, would improved fitness and a lower body weight! Chicken and egg though, isn't it? I think you'd enjoy your cycling more if your gearing was appropriate to your fitness level and then you'd do more of it and get fitter, faster.

 

[stephen.rooke]

thanks colin, im really love cycling at the moment and already improved lots, i could barely ride a few miles without stopping a few weeks ago, now im managing 10/20mi rides regularly

 

[tyred]

i love to just get out and ride but i would also like to get home form work . when im on my days off i drive to the bottom of the hill and ride 15/20miles then drive back up

If you feel comfortable on the bike and enjoy riding it in other respects apart from the gearing, I would find a cheapish chainset with a small inner ring on ebay and fit that. Your bike is most probably square taper, there are plenty out there, look for something like 34/46, that should work well on a bike of that weight. A crank removal tool is the only specialist tool you require, you will have it for future use, you will learn about bike maintenance and will make your bike much more useful without spending any great fortune.

 

[raindog]

And after you have got fed up with trying to follow that advice, get yourself a bike with some nice low gears and use them until you are actually fit enough to get up the hills on higher gears! Unless you enjoy a good stroll with your bike, of course ...

Fair enough, I was assuming he had mountain bike type gearing, although 52/42 was pretty standard on racing bikes when I was a lad and I used to ride all over Derbyshire in them days. Mind you, my bike weighed probably around 11 kilos.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

dont know if this helps but in 1st gear, it uses 42 teeth on the front and 24 on the back, im a noob with this stuff

That is quite high. That gives a figure of approximately 46 gear inches.

Replacing the freewheel (it's most likely to be a screw on freewheel on that bike) with a 14 to 28 tooth one will reduce your lowest gear to approximately 39 gear inches which will make it easier. Whether it's easy enough is another matter.

Changing to a 30-42-52 triple chainset as well would give a lowest gear of about 28 gear inches (that'll get you up most hills) but by this point it's getting expensive so you may not think it is worth it.

 

[ColinJ]

thanks colin, im really love cycling at the moment and already improved lots, i could barely ride a few miles without stopping a few weeks ago, now im managing 10/20mi rides regularly

Well, if you are getting out regularly then raindog's advice will eventually pay off, but you might enjoy the process more with lower gears for the hills. I suppose it depends how many hills you do. Round here, they are relentless and being overgeared is no fun at all. Unless you ride fixed of course, in which case (apparently!) - it is ...

That TDF bike has a 39/26 bottom gear which would be fairly low for a fit rider, but not super-low, and for an unfit rider I wouldn't call it low at all! I'm using a 30/28 bottom gear which is nearly 30% lower than that.

 

[ColinJ]

Fair enough, I was assuming he had mountain bike type gearing, although 52/42 was pretty standard on racing bikes when I was a lad and I used to ride all over Derbyshire in them days. Mind you, my bike weighed probably around 11 kilos.

And I bet you didn't weigh 16.5 stone (105 kg) either!

 

[lavoisier]

If it's any help I struggle with hills. What I tend to do is go up as far as I can then stop and get my breath back then continue up the hill without walking but doing it in stages. The next time I try to go a little bit further than previously, even if it's just a few yards and wait to get my breath back again. It all feels like progress and I have cracked one or two hills I struggled with a few weeks ago like that. Good luck.

 

[broomwagon]

For a start get some weight off, you're too feckin' heavy fella. I'm the same height as you and weigh just under 12st. I lost a stone when I started cycling again, combining road work with several sessions on the turbo a week, which I still keep up. Personally, these days I've got a triple on the front, 50, 39 and 30, (as opposed to a 52-42 in the past), with a 9 speed 11-25 block on the back and having returned to the saddle after a few years off the bike, it's become invaluable to me. At 53 years of age, I can't dance up them hills like I used to , but I still get up them comfortably and after lots of hill work, find them ok with the triple on. Normally I don't tend to use it but it's nice to know it's there

 

[Nosaj]

That is quite a sharp kick up at the mile mark. I am not at all technical so I couldn't tell you how many inches my lowest gear is. I have a compact double (50/34 I believe but I may be wrong). I live in a fairly flat area so it suits me well. However I was in the cotswolds a couple of weeks ago and as the weather was bad we had quite slippery roads my lowest gear resulted in a bit of rear wheel spin on the very steepest sections and I had to walk up. In the dry I would have been fine. I also wanted to reach for a lower gear or two on occassion particularly towards the end of the ride. You have a typical racing double which means that you have much higher gearing, which in turn relates to a hard time on the hills. Ideally and if you do live in a very hilly area you should swap to a triple or at least a compact double. The problem is of course that swapping group sets on your current steed could mean that you end up spending more on that than the cost of your bike.

I started off on a cheapo road bike with a double put up with for about around a year before I moved up a little. I wasn't that much lighter than you either at the time. Hills do get more "do-able" with time regardless of what gears you have. I did walk up a couple to start but after a few weeks I eventually learn't to put it in the lowest gear and just grind up and provided it was not stupid steep for a long while I was OK.

It all depends longer term on the type of riding you want to do so think long and hard before you make any investment. If you want to race or TT then you really do need a higher geared bike. If you want to tour/ carry luggage/ have no way to avoid steep hills / like your knees to stay in their sockets go for a triple. IMHO a compact double is a sort of compromise between the two I do find it quite hard to spin out on the flat in the highest gear and could do with a lower gear now and again.