Gearing For Draycott Steep 1.9 km @ 11.4%

I was out for a ride yesterday, a few of the old school riders were saying I dont know why I needed the 28t granny ring, "they had toured with ladened panniers with bigger gearing"

Funny, how I was ahead most of them up a five minute climb on my 28t chain ring and 32t sprocket.

I ride draycott from time to time, when i'm feeling particularly masochistic. I'm 93kg and reasonably fit (3rd cat racer sort of fit). I've done it on 36/28 on my race bike but to be honest it's not a lot of fun; I prefer doing it on my Tripster that has a 40/36 bottom gear so i can sit and grind up the majority of it. Even then, I'm out of the saddle for the really steep bit. 

If you enjoy it, head over to the Quantocks and try Crowcombe, which is even more of a bitch of a climb

I went with a MTB crankset, 40/28. I love the 28, allows Climbing of the very steepest gradients. I found that the 40 ring just wasn't big enough for slight declines for powering down. I fitted a 44t outer ring which allows a greater top speed whilst keeping cadence under 100rpm. I completed my first of the year 100 mile sportives on my 40 mm G-Ones, it was great, lovely smooth ride, fast(for me@>17mph) and gearing to get up all the steep bits with relative ease

I was only doing the calculations for the middle ring but mistakenly multiplied by 29 not 27. The relative ratios still give an impression of the different ratios though. Oops...

Just to add... I've just dome two sportives on my heavy winter bike and they both had a huge climb that was really hard work so I've just ordered a 12-30 Miche to replace the 11-28 Shimano.

Sportives! That's why I'm looking. The last two I've done have had massive climbs on and were done on my winter bike which weighs at least 12 KG .

I changed my cassette to 11-32 for the Tour de Yorkshire sportive and was very grateful of the lower gears on the long steep climbs. The only adjustment that I had to make was to the B screw to increase the gap to the derailleur. I aslo replaced that screw with a longer bolt with an hex head as the normal Shimano cross head ones aren't very good.

I'll switch back to my 11-28 cassette for my normal riding that only has short steep climbs.

Ahem... Back to Excel...

So, Current crankset with 11-32:              94.9 - 32.6

50/34 crankset with current cassette:    89.6 - 35.2

​So keeping your crankset and replacing the cassette, you get a lower bottom gear and wider range of gears overall although the jumps will be bigger.

Just been playing with Excel (because I'm also looking at lowering my gearing) and these are the gear ranges with various combo's - cassettes are 11 speed:

34 ring, Shimano 11-28: 89.6 - 35.2

34 ring, Miche Light 12-30: 82.2 - 32.9

33 ring, Shimano 11-28: 87.0 - 34.2

32 ring, Shimano 11-28: 84.4 - 33.1

​So it looks like replacing your 34 tooth ring with a 32 tooth ring would give you a similar effect to replacing your 11-28 cassette with a Miche Light 12-30 and save a chunk of weight (and cost!) at the same time.

And the cheaper option without having to worry about if you have to change your rear mech, chain length and have a wider range cassette with the bigger jups you may only need to use once in a blue moon is to simply buy a 33 inner ring *. It also means you get to use those small sprockets that get barely any use.

*TA Zephyr is £25

A Shimano 105 11-32 is just over £30, not that much to spend. You may end up using it more often in the future.

I wouldn't change it for a one off but I'm only 62kg and a tightwad (although a slightly older one)  

Your purpose also has a bearing, eg is it pure leisure for instance and you can go at your own pace. Good Luck

Lot's of questions to consider on this.........

What are you riding for?

Simply leisure, then get the best gearing you can in the most cost effective way you can. If you are 'training' or challenging yourself then take the bike as it is and see how you get on.

It is impossible to give great advice on an internet forum as nobody knows your fitness level, ability or bike handling skills. All we can do is try to prompt thought processes that will get you to make the right decision for you.

I mention bike handling because one thing that should not be underestimated is the challenge of going up steep inclines slowly. This year i have set myself the goal of being able to trackstand, so my slow/ static bike handling has really improved. While grinding my way up Haresfield Beacon a couple of weeks ago in the 39/25 i really needed that bike handling to stay upright. If you are confident of keeping balance and not having to panic unclip at very low cadence then your gearing will be ok. Bail out at low speed and it's impossible to get going again on the steep stuff.

There are some cracking climbs out that way. Give the Old Bristol Road out of Wells a try and Burrington Combe is a good climb without the traffic of Cheddar.

I would head over to the quantocks rather than the mendips some great climbs and the roads are a bit quieter 

They also do a 13-30 with a 16T... (Primato Light)

13-14-15-16-17-19-21-23-25-27-30

If it's 10sp there's no 16 on a 12-29. There is on a 12-27 though

I've always run 11-28 but noticed that Miche do a 12-29 with the fabled 16 tooth cog that everyone loves. The second this cassette is toast, I'm going Miche .

I'm sure you'll make it up, but it will be a lot easier and more fun on a 32t.

I can never understand the machismo surrounding being in too high a gear on hills.  

A bigger issue for me is that if you are doing a hillier ride than you are used to, then the cumulative effort of grinding away in too high a gear up hills will cause undue fatigue and at worst, injury ...maybe a knee or tendon, but I am also reminded of an occasion many moons ago when I was on a steep hill at the end of a long ride, out of the saddle, both quads cramped, I failed to unclip and was dumped in the road!

Well this thread has made me feel better. 

My commute has a 4.7km hill climb ranging 5 to 9% (about 1km is 9%). I've no idea what my weight is, no idea what my power output is and I can only vaguely remember I'm not yet 50.

Generally I'll ride up it in 39/26.

Occasionally if I've got shopping in my rucksack or two laptops perhaps instead of one, I'll use the 30t inner. 

I wouldn't worry about a 1.9km long climb. You'll be fine.

I ride a 52/36 and 11-28, did the tour de Yorkshire sportive this weekend. The first half of the climb out Pately Bridge averaged just over 10% for 1.5km, in the 36-28 my avg cadence was 64 and my NP was 328w to keep that gear turning over.. I weight 72kg.

I do most of my riding around south Bristol and the Mendips and ridden that a few times. It's certainly one of the harder climbs around there. If you're not used to steep climbs, there's plenty of other options that kick up to similar gradients but not so sustained.

You can see more detail of that climb on here https://veloviewer.com/segment/659038

Considering your riding area with your current gear ratios, your muscle groups haven't been developed enough to attack an ascent of that grade. Go with the lowest ratio you can find 34/32. If your rear end has a short cage you'll need to turn the B-Screw almost all the way in. And going from 52/36 to 50/34 you'll need to resize the chain. IMO

Are you seriously going to change your gearing for a climb of 1.9km?!  I think you'll be fine with what you currently have. I'm 92kg and run 36/29 as my biggest gear and that get's me up almost anything.

I reckon you will be fine, but you may have to drop into the small ring.