When climbing I'm in the second lowest gear. First gear I wouldn't be able to pedal unless sitting down. I have hydraulic Tektro brakes. I took it into the LBS and he said everything was just fine and he took it for a spin as well. So I guess it's just me. I thought I was in good shape on my last 50 mile trip around the hills in Seattle. It's funny though, when I told him I get delays in shifting on one gear occasionally, he had the bike on the repair stand and went thru all of them and nothing happened. Kind of like when you take your car in for repair of something and the mechanic can't repeat what you experienced. One salesman also told me not to expect my hybrid to keep pace with road bikes. I said that was sure evident. The only time I passed a road bike was when the rider was texting on her phone while riding.

Lars