Recumbent - Question about climbing

I don't ride a recumbent myself but have met a couple that just got a tandem recumbent. He says that he rides his single recumbent all the time.

His wife is just getting into riding, apparently doesn't ride her single upright much. Today they said they wanted to go with myself and a friend and try and tackle a VERY steep hill. My friend and I ride crossbikes. I really didn't think they would be able to make it, no matter what kind of shape he is in.

Sure enough, about 1/2 up the hill (I was already at the top and waiting), he calls me and says they can't make it, he needs to get lower gearing (42) and his wife isn't in shape. He said if he was on his single recumbent he would have been able to make it.

They are planning on going to The Great Western Bike Rally in Paso Robles next month and I can't see them riding all those hills.

The last pitch of this hill was probably around 10% grade. Could they (if she was in shape) be able to make a grade like that. I know that recumbents are very slow up a hill, but what is the maximum grade they can climb?

sure they can climb it if they are in shape and have the right gearing. with a bent, you have to maintain enough speed to keep upright. i've never seen a track stand on a bent--but who knows?

I know bents are slow up hills depending on the engine but I am just south of you and I have not found any hills I can't climb yet. I am slow on the climb but I have set my bents up for climbing. Largest grade so far has been 16% and am glad it was short. No reason they shouldn't be able to climb with low gears. You did not say what their gear range was. I run 48/39/26 on my two wheelers with a 11/32 cassette and 48/39/24 on the trike with a 12/34 cassette. Sounds like they might need to work on the engine a little and adjust their gears.

I have climbed up to 16% grade with no issues on my recumbents with a low of 20 gear inches gearing wise. Climbing on a recumbent is mostly a matter of the engine and experience.

I've got a 24" low gear on my lowracer, and I can winch myself right up a 20% grade. I get passed, but I'm not the slowest one.

I've done a 21% with a 30 in front, 32 in back. I can do 15% right up until my aerobic capacity gives out. When I run with the pack, I've in the top third up the hill. Rcumbent can surely climb. If you need proof, look up the standing records for the heart of the south 500 and the Hill Country 600k race or the Texas Time Trials.

Now whether your FRIENDS can make it depends more on them than the bike.

Certainly a pair on a tandem, bent or upright, should be better able to climb than any single person. They were probably just in bad shape.

That is, of course, unless you are on one of these:

Now you got me thinking about riding with a level and protractor so I can see what my steepest climbs measure.

Climbing on a recumbent is mostly a matter of the engine and experience.

Absolutely!

After not riding for about a year and a half I decided to get back to ridng my LWB last November. Put in a lot of interval miles on the trainer over the winter. Now out on the road I'm riding better than ever. Average speed is up over anything I was able to do in the past. Hills are still something I'm working on.

I'm in the plains of IL, so major climbs are few. There are some around the river valleys, etc. I don't have a lot of experience with long stretches of steep grades. Never been a good climber.

I've noticed I'm doing better on the hills, but still don't get it right sometimes. Approach is good, but 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up I can lose it. Not strength usually. Just lack of experience and gearing technique. So sweet when I do get it right and still have decent speed riding over the crest of a hill!

Lower gearing may not make up for lack of fitness. There are a couple of very short, really steep hills at the beginning of the River Mountain Trail in Henderson NV. I have seen seasoned, fit recumbent riders walk up the hill because even though they could gear down low enough they couldn't maintain the minimum speed needed to steer in a straight line. If the wife hasn't gotten her "recumbent legs" yet, a month isn't very long to do it.

This spring, I removed my front 24 in. wheel and replaced it with a 20 in. front wheel. That make a BIG difference in my hill-climbing ability. I live in a hilly area. I climb hills much more easily now. I still zigzag climbing the steepest hills, but I only dismount roughly 1 in 7 ascents now, as compared to maybe half of my ascents before.

Proper gearing and fitness is the key to climbing.
My previous bent had 24 inch wheel on back and 20 on the front, like LWB guy! I would kid all my buddies on their uprights that it was engineered this way so as always to be peddling down hill!

This spring, I removed my front 24 in. wheel and replaced it with a 20 in. front wheel. That make a BIG difference in my hill-climbing ability. I live in a hilly area. I climb hills much more easily now. I still zigzag climbing the steepest hills, but I only dismount roughly 1 in 7 ascents now, as compared to maybe half of my ascents before.

Why do you think the smaller front wheel made a difference?

Why do you think the smaller front wheel made a difference?

Smaller wheel requires less energy to accelerate. Climbing hills results in greater speed differential between when power is being put to the pedal and the dead zone when cranks are about horizontal. On slight hills this is not very much as momentum keeps speed relatively even, but as the incline becomes steeper, gravity can really slow things down, even between pedal strokes.

:)ensen.