Question about gears and hills

[LilBolt]

Whew! What a relief. The good thing is that you are obviously very motivated right now...you are going to be very prepared for a great summer of riding. Enjoy.

[tribogota]

I wanted to get a bike that would make it 'easier' to get up hills, my coach told me, "doesn't matter what bike you have, it is still your legs", I got a compact, and alas, he is right, I still have to use my legs to climb

[VeloVT]

Also, not to hijack, but have you been fit? If not, it might be worth it to get fit several months before your ride (you want to allow time for your body to adjust and for tweaking). Maybe the seat angle is throwing me off, but the front end set up looks unusual to me. You have an adjustable stem, right? It looks like it's actually a fairly long stem, but the angle is adjusted up very high/with lots of spacers. Is this the best position for you, or was the bike set up more or less like that when you got it? Also, it's hard to tell because the bars (and front wheel) are turned towards the fence a bit, but those bars look really wide and the hoods perhaps a little low. Again hard to tell because of the angle of the picture, but I might consider rotating the bars up a hair as well. Some adjustments in that area might add to your comfort and efficiency.

[hayleymajayley]

Wow, um it was more or less adjusted like that when I got it. I think the only thing that was adjusted for me was the seat post. It's possible that it was adjusted for someone else, as someone had purchased the bike and then returned it, which is how I got such a good deal on it :] I suppose I might just spring for the money and go get fit, I had been thinking about it, but I think it's like 125 bucks at the only place I know of! Is that normal or kind of pricey? I pretty much know nothing about how it should be adjusted or even how it CAN be adjusted, I just started riding last summer, and haven't really read up on any of this stuff!

[VeloVT]

I think that's fairly typical... sometimes you can find them for less. However, if you have a friend who is somewhat knowledgeable and one of you has a trainer, he or she can probably take a look at you on the bike and get a decent ballpark idea of whether you need to make any adjustments. Proper setback on the seat is really important to look at too.

Edit: did you buy the bike at a shop? Usually they will include at least a cursory fit for free. It's worth asking. A cursory fit should look at more than just the seatpost, too -- it should involve putting you on a trainer and looking at reach, setback etc, and recommending component changes if necessary. It might be 35 minutes instead of an hour and a half or so you'd get if you paid, but it should get you somewhere close to where you should be.

I guess one thing I was wondering... and not seeing you on the bike, I might be completely off base... but the bars are up so high with the spacers and angle on the adjustable stem, yet the stem looks longish... and this makes me wonder if the stem is really too long and they attempted to make the bars feel closer to you by bringing them way up. If this is true, you might get a better fit with a considerably shorter stem with some rise (but probably less than your stem is adjusted to now), and with fewer spacers. However, this is COMPLETELY HYPOTHETICAL, not having seen you on the bike. Another possibility is that the bike was way too small for whoever bought it initially, and that setup was a stopgap measure (if the frame is too small, once the saddle is where it needs to be the front end can be too low). Anyway, it's good to re-evaluate whether the setup is working for you, or whether it could be improved with some adjustments and/or a different stem.

[sundial]

I've done 19% a grade paved hill with everything--a 23# comfort road bike, a 25# full suspension mtb, and a 17# speedy bike. It's a matter of training really. I think you will eventually climb anything once you are well into the season of your riding.

[LilBolt]

$125 is right in the range for a fit. When you go to Cycle U for your Road 101, chat with them about fittings. The nice thing about having Cycle U do it is they don't sell bikes...so they focus on working with what you have, unless, of course, it flat out won't work. Having a good position on the bike will make those hills much easier to climb (my attempt to bring the thread back to your original question).