Front wheel slippage when climbing

Andy said:

I ride a 63cm Cannondale R800 04, and find it almost completely
impossible to keep the front wheel on the ground going up anything much
steeper than a 10% gradient. I don't have the strength to spin up those
kinds of lumps with my current gears, so I end up pulling too hard on
the hoods during my downstroke and pulling an unintentional wheelie until
I fall off.

I'm guessing that as the gradient begins to negate the angle of the
seatstays my centre of balance gets close enough to the rear axle to turn
the bike into a unicycle. I've found hunching down as low as possible and
grabbing a vertical-ish bit of the drops gives some respite, but this
isn't necessarily the most comfortable position for me.

Can anyone confirm/deny what's happening here? And does anyone have any
tips that don't involve strapping weights to my front fork?

You have to stand up. This sometimes gives the opposite problem in that
the rear wheel spins - but this is only usually a problem on very slick
roads in the rain, or off-road.

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:430869f6.0@entanet...

Quoted message said:

Andy said:

I ride a 63cm Cannondale R800 04, and find it almost completely
impossible to keep the front wheel on the ground going up anything much
steeper than a 10% gradient. I don't have the strength to spin up those
kinds of lumps with my current gears, so I end up pulling too hard on
the hoods during my downstroke and pulling an unintentional wheelie

until

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I fall off.

Quoted message said:

You have to stand up. This sometimes gives the opposite problem in that
the rear wheel spins - but this is only usually a problem on very slick
roads in the rain, or off-road.

Either that or you'll really have to get lower gears which may be kinder to
your knees in the long run.
The cheapest way is to replace the rear cassette but this will only allow a
27 max rear cog, IIRC, and yours may already be a 25 so not a lot of
difference.
Assuming you have a double chainring (rather than a triple) another cheap
fix is to buy a mtb cassette with up to a 34 max cog and an mtb rear mech to
keep the top pulley from engaging the large cog. These needn't be high end
ones if money is tight.
You will most likely have to lengthen the chain.
The drawback with this solution is the greater gaps between ratios which may
not be to your liking, if that's the case you'll have to convert to a triple
which will cost a lot more I think.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=1186
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=443
--
Pete
http:[email hidden]/P

Andy said:

I ride a 63cm Cannondale R800 04, and find it almost completely
impossible to keep the front wheel on the ground going up anything much
steeper than a 10% gradient. I don't have the strength to spin up those
kinds of lumps with my current gears, so I end up pulling too hard on
the hoods during my downstroke and pulling an unintentional wheelie until
I fall off.

I'm guessing that as the gradient begins to negate the angle of the
seatstays my centre of balance gets close enough to the rear axle to turn
the bike into a unicycle. I've found hunching down as low as possible and
grabbing a vertical-ish bit of the drops gives some respite, but this
isn't necessarily the most comfortable position for me.

Can anyone confirm/deny what's happening here? And does anyone have any
tips that don't involve strapping weights to my front fork?

Its one of those things you have to learn to do. If you want to stay
seated you need to get your weight forward on the saddle, bend forward
to get weight on the front wheel, pedal smoothly and bend your elbows so
that your forearms are horizontal. It usually is a lot steeper than 1
in 10 before any of those become a problem for me.

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

in message <[email hidden]>, Andy

(') said:

I ride a 63cm Cannondale R800 04, and find it almost completely
impossible to keep the front wheel on the ground going up anything much
steeper than a 10% gradient. I don't have the strength to spin up those
kinds of lumps with my current gears, so I end up pulling too hard on
the hoods during my downstroke and pulling an unintentional wheelie
until I fall off.

I'm guessing that as the gradient begins to negate the angle of the
seatstays my centre of balance gets close enough to the rear axle to
turn the bike into a unicycle. I've found hunching down as low as
possible and grabbing a vertical-ish bit of the drops gives some
respite, but this isn't necessarily the most comfortable position for
me.

Can anyone confirm/deny what's happening here? And does anyone have any
tips that don't involve strapping weights to my front fork?

You're broadly right, but it's made worse by honking in the saddle. If
you can't spin smoothly because your gears are too high (something I
also experience on my road bike on very steep hills) get out of the
saddle. This moves your weight forward and will help keep the front
wheel down. It still helps to try to pedal as smoothly as possible,
though, because it's the acceleration on the downstroke which tends to
lift the front wheel. Clipless pedals (if you don't already use them)
will help.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Semper in faecibus sumus, sole profundum variat.