Struggling with hills

[postman]

Now a confession.If i ever have any spare money.

Chevin Cycles has in their shop the bike for me.

A 64cm----- TREK 1.9 Triple £50 extra.

This is a good bike.So keep training,and tell us how you are doing.

 

[Rider Rich]

I am more than happy with the bike, it fantastic, just what I wanted. Its fast, smooth, well specced etc

I will keep you informed about how the hills are going.

I just wanted to add that am not offended by anything anyone has said, and I dont really want people falling out over it, so lets all smile & get along

 

[MacB]

Because you have to sacrifice smooth steps in the gearing, especially if you are riding 7/8 speeds. For some, the 95% of the time that a lower gear is not needed means that closer gearing gives better cadence control, which is more important to them.

Nope, can't buy that one, you could have a 2 ring set up with the outer ring giving you approx 6 inch spacing and the inner ring an overdrive of 3 lower gears. Choose the exact rings/cogs to match your preferred gearing and it's sorted. I would suggest that more refined cadence control than this is only required if racing, or if you have pretentions to race. I specifically excluded racing from my point as that is a world I'm unfamiliar with and unlikely to ever have an interest in. For commuting, social and general fitness riding 6 inch gaps are easily smooth enough.

But, hey, each to their own

 

[MacB]

I am more than happy with the bike, it fantastic, just what I wanted. Its fast, smooth, well specced etc

I will keep you informed about how the hills are going.

I just wanted to add that am not offended by anything anyone has said, and I dont really want people falling out over it, so lets all smile & get along

RR, this isn't falling out, we actually enjoy this kind of bickering

 

[Randochap]

Because you have to sacrifice smooth steps in the gearing, especially if you are riding 7/8 speeds.

Not so. The gearing setup on my rando bikes is very closely spaced, even though relatively wide at around 28-103. In fact, that's my argument for triples on wide-range gearing -- no big jumps.

There is no very wide jump, even on my 8-sp bikes (which, incidentally are a good choice for touring bikes, since sub-9 sp are more durable) that range from 21" to 108"!

Again, we're not talking racing gearing here. Corncobs are for time-trialers.

 

[postman]

Dear Santa,
I have been a good boy.And i only want one pressie.


A 64cm Trek 1.9.

Are you reading this?

 

[Randochap]

RR, this isn't falling out, we actually enjoy this kind of bickering

Yep, RR. Read the opening paragraph (and, hopefully all the rest) of VeloWeb's gearing page:

"If you already think cyclists are an argumentative lot, just bring up the subject of suitable sprockets ... but advisedly not at the same time as lighting, or steel frames versus carbon fibre!"

 

[Rider Rich]

Dear Santa,
I have been a good boy.And i only want one pressie.


A 64cm Trek 1.9.

Are you reading this?

Who? Santa or me?

 

[Bigtwin]

Again, we're not talking racing gearing here. Corncobs are for time-trialers.

Your opinion. That of lots of others who don't race differ.

I have 15 bikes. Fixed, SS, 7, 8, 9, 10 rears, single, double and triple fronts, corncob to wide spread rears. And two bents, but we'll ignore those.

Using the triple on road around here is completely un-necessary. Unless you want to spend all day riding the biggest hills until you bonk.

Corn cobs are NOT just for TT use, that's just absurd. If you don't need anything other than one, they are great to ride. My ride today was done on a 8 speed corncob double through rolling hills with a few out of the saddle climbs, it was perfect for the job.

 

[MacB]

I have 15 bikes. .

well, you should have said that first, all the OP needs is another 14 bikes then

 

[peanut]

Bodyweight doesn't really come into the equation. Now that's going to start a healthy discussion.

jimbo you can apply all the formulae and scientific theory you like but the bottom line is , in the real world of cycling, weight matters more than you could possibly imagine.

I weigh 68lbs or 28kg more than you and I am very unfit.
Try lifting a bag of cement or an Alsation dog and placing it onto your top tube and see how far up any hill you can cycle .

Your formula never take into account cardio vascular fitness and strength

 

[Randochap]

Your opinion.

Of course it's my opinion. I wrote it.

 

[Randochap]

There is a subtext to this thread (shared by more than a few others) I believe is this:

How many times does a young (or self-possessed) salesperson in a shop, rather than listening to and ascertaining the needs of a customer, project their own interests and conceits onto the process and sell the buyer an inappropriate bike or wrongly geared bike?

If I were to ignore that this is the beginners forum, I might come here and say "Hey, I just rode 600 kilometres in 35hrs, with a lowest gear of 27", HTFU." Or, "I use a corncob and just stand up for the hills."

That's no help.

I will concede there might be an occasion when an unfit newbie gets a racing bike, suffers through and becomes a successful racer. Wouldn't that be a story, if that was the case with the OP.

But is that what he wants? Only he can answer that?

Most often here we see people who get into cycling because they want to lose a few pounds and recapture the sense of exploration and freedom they felt as a child.

There is no rule that says one must endure the kind of suffering we obsessive types enjoy to have a bit of fun on two wheels. That's why low gears were invented.

Too often, green cyclists are treated the same here as they were by the posturing salesperson who ignored the obvious and created the original issue.

 

[peanut]

I will just keep at it for now, and try and improve my fitness.

I dont really want to have to spend extra cash on making changes to the bike at the moment, Im the one that needs changing, and with time I hope to get there!

Cheers

Richard

Hi Richard welcome to the forum.
Please don't let this bickering put you off. It kicks off everytime someone knew to cycling asks for advice about gears or hill climbing.Its an argument without end but unfortunately it is all to easy to lose sight of the original question and help the person who started the thread.

Like you I am a heavy at 17stone and having just come back to cycling I am struggling on anything resembling an incline.
Knowing how hard it is to excess lose fat and put on some muscle and improve cardio vascular fitness I devised a simple program . Something similar might help you.

I decided to improve my hill climbing and lose weight quickly to do short intensive rides of approx 30-40 minutes 2-3 times per week over hilly routes and keep a record on a spreadsheet.

I used googlemaps to make 5-6 local loops around my home of about 6-10 miles each but as hilly as possible.

The result of this was that however busy my workload I could always find half an hour for a quick ride several times a week and the intensity of a 30 minute hilly ride was more demanding than 1.5 hours 20 mile at easy riding pace.

I have similar gearing to you however initially I added a 27 tooth sprocket to my cassette and removed the 14t . This is only worth an extra 3" but psychologically it is a useful extra bail-out gear to keep in reserve for emergences.

Good luck, keep us informed of your progress

 

[Randochap]

well, you should have said that first, all the OP needs is another 14 bikes then

I need another 8!