When I try to go on inclines over 10% on gravel roads my rear tire starts slipping and I have to get off the bike and walk. However, on paved roads same inclines I can climb just fine. Is it the tire thread? The width? What am I missing? Please help!
I'm using 37 WTB Riddler tires, not worn (happens since day 1). I always remain seated while climbing. I weight 55kg (121 lb).
by ccq10
11 Comments
Try lower the pressure, see if helps. Lower pressure helps traction on loose surfaces
What pressure are you running in the tyres?
You need more power in legs, slips happens you have to power spindle through that
Lower the gear and spin fast and even. Move back onto the saddle, get your weight as far back as possible. More knobs on the tires, wider tires. Skills like finding the hard packed line and accellerate a bit where possible. It may also just be really loose gravel!
Standing or sitting? If you’re using your upper body to lever against handlebars for power and standing up you’re gonna have this problem..
Tyre pressures down more grip. Wider tyre.
Genuinely not an attack, but as a mountain bike coach this sounds more likely to be a skill/ technique issue than a bike issue if you can’t climb on a mere 10% gradient without losing grip. Even slick tyres should be able to cope with that steepness off road to a degree…
I’d suggest looking at climbing technique, particularly gear choices and body positioning firstly and foremostly – get that stuff right before spending money.
Tire pressure and position, cadence and “pedal stroke smoothness” – from these probably the tire pressure is the most important
If your tire pressure is too high, you have too little amount of surface of your tire contacting the ground, also your tire will respond to bumps with “bouncing over them” instead of absorbing and forming around them, giving you little amount of grip
Also when you position yourself to the front of the bike more, you will have less weight on the rear, which can result in less traction
If your cadence is slow, it is hard to give a constant torque to the wheel, which can result to slipping, like when you want to drift with a car, you give a lot of gas so the rear wheel gives away the grip
Pedal stroke smoothness is probably not a correct therm xd but what i want to say with this, if you just put all your power through the pedals at only one point and not constantly throughout the circle (this can be connected with the cadence also – with lower cadence its harder to maintain smooth pedal strokes), you can also spin out
I hope i helped (a lot of my friends had these 4 problems, after addressing them, without changing tires, they can maintain good grip in slippy situations too)
Lower gear and stay seated
Shift more weight towards the rear
If you’re out of the saddle then just dropping your hips back an inch and extending your arms a little so that your body weight moves back over the rear wheel a bit can make all the difference.
If you’re in the saddle and your rear wheel is spinning then can I borrow your FTP please?