So recently I have taken by casual bike riding to a different level, longer more challenging rides as well as using my bike for transport. It is a hardtail mountain bike. In Coming months I will purchase a mid level road bike. It has standard gearing, compact with a 32 cassette.

The lowest gearing on my mountain bike is 22 chainring with a 32 cassette, there is a 10% gradient hill that I always ride up, and the only way I can is by using the low gear.

To put in perspective
My mountain bike gearing is 0.69
The road bike gearing is 1.06

That is a significant difference, now before anyone suggests, I have put my mountain bike into a 34 chain ring and a 32 cassete, to simulate the road bikes gearing, this makes the climb extremely difficult.

So my question is how do people climb these big hills with the standard gearing on a road bike, am I just really weak or will a road bike be that much easier on a climb.

I have exact same setup as you said on my mtb (22/32) and my road bike (34/32). Yes it's a little harder with road bike but the weight difference and riding position sorting out that difference.

There is a local climb that i ride very often (%7 avg. 6.5km) and i'm 8 minutes faster with my road bike than my mtb.

My MTB is 13.5kg and my road bike is 8kg.

I even climbed it yesterday with mtb and sh*t was so cold my hands almost froze during descent.

34/32 is a really low gear for a road bike, you should be able to climb virtually any paved road on that. Steep hills are tough, that's all there is to it.

As for how weak you are, I really couldn't say...

[QUOTE=Robius;18364954

There is a local climb that i ride very often (%7 avg. 6.5km) and i'm 8 minutes faster with my road bike than my mtb.

My MTB is 13.5kg and my road bike is 8kg.

[/QUOTE]


This sounds promising as the weight difference of my bike now and my soon to be new road bike are about the same.
Thanks for your response.

There will be discussions about spinning vs standing.

I tend to stand up and gain power with cleats attached to the pedals and pulling up on hill climbs. My power drops off a lot with simple "flats". I'll hit short segments with up to about 15% using 2:1 gearing.

Road bike has a bit greater wheel diameter than a 26" wheel MTB. So 34/32 on the road bike and MTB will not be the same gear ratio (in gear inches). The road bike gearing will be "harder", or "faster" with the same chainring combination.

Gearing explained:
Bicycle gear ratios - speeds, gear inches

If your MTB has a shock absorber fork that isn't locked out, then climbing with a road bike that has a stiff fork will be probably manageable - because bouncing of the shock absorber drains a lot of effort put into pedalling, making climbing harder.

If your MTB has a fork with a lockout, or a stiff fork, then climbing with a lot faster road gearing will be harder - in spite of a few kg lighter bicycle. You are climbing with rider+bicycle+luggage weight. Even a 4 kg lighter bicycle is just about 5% decrease in overall weight.

[QUOTE=Slaninar;18364996 The road bike gearing will be "harder", or "faster" with the same chainring combination.

.[/QUOTE]

Really, I thought with the 9.42 inches more in one wheel revolution (from the 29 inch Road bike wheel compared to the 26 inch MTB wheel), you would gain this distance for "free".

The road bike gearing is designed to provide the low you need for most any asphalt paved surface. Below that gear is walking.

Yes, because rolling resistance. Given the same gear-inches and the same slope, a smooth paved road is significantly easier to climb with slick tires than a lumpy dirt trail with knobbies.

Hardly. How can anyone use a 22-32 on a MTB then? I've done just that climbing steep hills on the road (in the snow) and that was definitely faster than walking.

To the OP, if you know you need easier gearing try to find a road bike with a triple (plenty still out there) and the same cassette (32T large cog). You can swap the 30T small ring on the triple for a 28, 26, or even 24T chainring to get all the help you need. Yes, climbing is easier on a road bike than a MTB but you are still fighting gravity and most of that fight is against your own body weight. Walking sucks and long distance riding is fun. When you are spent at the end of a long ride, you'll be happy you have a few extra low gears, even if you rarely ever need them.

Easy. MTB is designed for off road, not on road. Grades and surface irregularities make the extreme lows of mtb bikes necessary. I don't ride in the snow and suggest others refrain from riding in the snow on roads used by passenger cars.

You might think about buying a frame and building up a bike with the gearing you want. There are nice "touring" triples with a 26 small ring. Combine with a 32 or 34 mtb rear setup and you would probably have plenty of gear, both directions. Would require a little more thought than a off the shelf bike.

My point is that if someone can climb that slowly offroad, there's no reason one can't do the same on a road. 22/24/26/28-32 low gear is still better than walking.

That's great. I'll continue to enjoy it when I get the opportunity.

There are some real limitations regarding triples that should be kept in mind. None of the "top" Shimano groups (DA, Ultegra, 105) are currently sold in a triple configuration. That means that in order to shift a triple with any of these groups will require an entirely different shifting option (dual action levers are not available in "recent" groups* for triples). That's a practical consideration to keep in mind for anyone in the market for a new bike and desiring a triple in the front.

* Tiagra and Sora continue to be available as a triple.

* I'm not sure I agree with this. There's a point of no return on gearing. When spinning is actually more work than walking. I'd keep the set up light and just grind over those steep grades. Frankly, grinding over grades is about what "racing" (OP's mid-level road bike) bikes were designed to do. Agreed, touring gears offer the ability to haul considerable weight up steep grades but wasn't intended as a road bike alternative. (Not that it couldn't be used that way.)

* I just don't want you to get hurt. How's the braking in the snow? I always thought, as a boy, that the braking sucked. Haha

I think you will be fine. I had the same fear when I first got started with road cycling, I even got a triple chainring. Ended up not even using the small ring and now I'm just carrying the extra weight. -.-

This is correct and it would require some creative choice of parts if you really need that low gearing on a road bike. Possibilities would be bar end shifters, Campy 11 shifters with Shimano 9 speed rear, older parts, etc. As I mentioned, requires more thought but can be done with good results.

There's walking and then there's walking.
On a road bike anyway.. a 34/32 combo at a 60rpm cadence would be the same as walking a 12minute/mile pace. The 22/32 would be equivalent at same RPM as a 19-minute/mile pace. I think the gist of the argument is that on a paved road, it's not too difficult to walk an eg. 12-minute mile, while walking up singletrack at a 19-minute/mile pace might be about the same difficulty level.

I don't mean to suggest that compact gearing is equivalent to a triple road setup but I am surprised to hear suggestions that a triple be combined with a cassette having a 32 low or being dropped below 30T in the front. These gearing combinations, the ones that surprise me, will create a spread of large jumps. Compact doubles get away with the 11-32 cassette range by accessing a greater than average number of cogs in the back.

When I assembled my Kuota, I used Ultegra 6700 with a triple (52/42/30) and 12-25 10-speed cassette (12,13,14,15,16,17,19,21,23,25). The cogs are fairly evenly spaced with 23 and 25 as climbing gears. With a low gear of 31.5 gear inches (30X25), it is just slightly higher that the 27.9 gear inches available on the compact (34X32). On both bikes the intent is the same, to provide a group of closely spaced gears from which to choose a spinning gear. Touring gears typically offer a big range of gears but at the cost of 1 or more of the spinning gears.

How much 'lighter' is a double set up versus triple? Hint: not much, if at all, depending on the triple crank. Certainly nowhere near the difference in weight of a heavy guy vs. a skinny cyclist. Touring gearing is useful for those heavier guys, or skinny guys who feel heavy because they've been riding hard all day. Racing? What's that? I just ride my road bikes for the fun of it. The OP didn't mention racing in the least.

Perhaps you may prefer to push a bike up a steep grade, but I'd rather keep pedaling. Easier on the ego if nothing else.

Braking is fine. I use studded tires. Hard pack is tons of fun though it gets a little hairy going downhill in deeper snow, but I enjoy the challenge. Helps build bike handling skills

1. I have a triple chain-set on my Sora-equipped road bike. It's lowest gear is 30-28. (I don't do math, but i'd guess that a 34-32 is similar to 30-28). I ride in group rides with people who mostly have compact, or even full-sized chain-sets...on down-hills & flats a lot of them are faster than me. On climbs it evens out a bit, and they are envying my low gearing. (of course, these climbs are not bad...6-7% over 1-2 miles each.

2. I have another short training hill that I use on my own: 10-12% average over .4 miles. I definitely use my lowest gear here, and am glad to have it. I would have to get significantly more fit to be convinced to move to a double compact (34 small ring with 28 cassette). It is a bit of work, but I don't feel any need for, say another 20 tooth difference so I can spin like crazy. If I ease off a bit and just accept that I'm going slow, I'm fine.

3. I moved to this bike from a hybrid that was 5lbs heavier, but had a 28 small chain-ring with a 28 big gear in the back. So not a huge difference...but the road bike is way faster and easier up the hills.

4. Braking on the snow is the BEST PART about winter riding, if I remember my childhood and teen years correctly! Great fun to get up to full speed and slam on the brakes!

Claris, Sora, and Tiagra all offer triples and all use the same dual shift the same way as 105, Ultegra, and Dura Ace. Nothing wrong with any of those groups, unless you 'need' to spend at the top.

Campy Athena is also available as a triple group: Campagnolo 2015 Athena Black 11 Spd Triple Groupset at Ribble Cycles

Haha, I like to ski too!

Can you walk a 12-19 minute mile pushing a bike up a steep grade?

I've got no bones about Claris, Sora, and Tiagra. But, correct me if I'm wrong, only Tiagra is available with 10-speeds. Noteable because dropping from 10-speeds to 9 or 8 will create more gaps and fewer spinning gears. Possibly worth the trade off.

The other side of the equation is marketing, where new road bikes are almost exclusively sold with compact doubles. The trend severely limits one's "out of the box" choices of either gearing and/or frame.