How to calculate the steepest hill you can climb
Posted on October 26, 2023
Riding up hills is perhaps one of the most common topics we hear discussed on our cycling tours. Often the conversation is started by a guest who is riding one our hire bikes as they find the gear ratios on Mulga’s hire bike make it easier to climb up hills than their own, so they want to know more.
When you buy a new bike you can always request the shop change the gear ratios to suit your riding style and the terrain where you ride, you are not confined to the gear ratios provided by the manufacturer which are mostly set for gentle terrain.
When we purchased our hire bikes we replaced the gearing on some of the bikes to provide an easier hill climbing option.
This is the gearing setup we use on our hire and personal bikes:
- Mulga’s Hire bikes: Triple front crank: 26, 36, 48 teeth; 9 speed rear cassette 11-36 teeth
- Denise’s Bombtrack Beyond: Double front crank: 26, 39 teeth; 10 speed rear cassette 11-36 teeth
- Mark’s Surly Ogre: Triple front crank: 26, 36, 48 teeth; 10 speed rear cassette 11-36 teeth
If you want to understand what gear choices may be best for your bike this video by @Cyclingabout explains how to determine the best gear ratios for your bike.
When riding unsupported we both ride very heavily loaded bikes and the above gearing ratios allow us to ride up most hills fully loaded*. Nevertheless, on some very steep climbs our minds will always be strongly disagreeing with @Cyclingabout's video that “Hills are not harder than cycling on the flat”.
Incidentally we also dislike cycling long distances on the flat as the lack of downhill provides no relief from pedaling, whereas we do very much enjoy the rewards of a fast long downhill run.
* It is extremely rare for us to get off and push our loaded bikes up hills as pushing a loaded bike is often far harder than riding it. But it would be dishonest to leave the impression we have never got off and pushed but this certainly has only been a handful of hills in the last 15 years. …. we do not count the number of times we stop to look at the view or take a photo. ;-}