[Closed] Finding gears a bit to hard, can you get?

24 x 36 is pretty flipping low, around 19 gear inches. How big are the hills?

its not the hills :-), its the crap rider that's the problem

if any one knows it its the climb up to mellor cross that gets me, short but very steep

Well, a bad workman and all that...

But seriously, you're finding your bottom gear too high??? I mean, if you sit and spin that on the flat you'd hardly be moving!!

Mellor Cross? Is that the ascent that's a stream most of the time?

I can get up most things where I live but struggle on a few

I wouldn't bother changing anything, keep on riding and one day you'll surprise yourself.

In that case, try some gentler grades, regularly until you get fitter. I live on the Calderdale side of Burnley which has some seriously steep climbs - I recently went 1 x 10 so my lowest gear is 32 x 36. It killed me at first but with a bit of practice and perseverence I can get up most things now that would have reduced me to 22 x 32.

And I am NOT the fittest person in the world either, it's just about riding lots until you get better at it.

sound advice,

mellor cross or the way I ride it starts at roman lakes, up past the scout club then on road a bit then of road right up to the cross, the bit at the bottom near the roman lakes is always very wet, and very rocky

AFAIK you should be able to bung a 22t ring on the front but 22 -> 38 is a big jump so you may need a 36 big ring to go with it.
sheldon says
24x36=17.6"
the more usual 9spd setups gave
22x32=18.2"
or
22x34=17.1"
so you're already in the middle of those
22x36 is 16.1" pretty damn low.
But as others said you might be better off leaving it and getting fitter. Low gears are good for smooth steep trails but once it gets technical you want to be carrying more speed to get you up and over stuff.
That said I'm considering a 22/36 11-36 gear setup for a lakes bike.

well I have just got all my jobs done, so I will go and ride up it again, thanks for the advice

I had a Trek stache 7 and found the standard front gears to be not enough,In the end i upgraded to SLX 28/40.

Strange that you need smaller.

As someone has mentioned you will need to go 22/36.

Just keep plugging away, even trying different techniques within your riding style to get that bike up there!

Buy a singlespeed and ride that up Linnet's clough (Roman Lakes to the Scout Camp). Once you've done that, you;ll be able to do it with gears 😉

I run 22/36 and it works fine. I do spin out on the roads but not often off road.
The gears are piddley but that was a deliberate choice for 24hr solo and pedalling up mountains. Now I've done with those events for the year I'm planning to swap up to 24/38 for local stuff. When I get round to it that is....

I admire any one that can get up there on s/s, I struggle with my gearing, just got back from up there very dry makes a nice change

I do spin out on the roads but not often off road.

36 is the biggest I run at the moment not sure I need/want the extra speed of a 38, another reason is not having a 1:1 gear on the big ring means shifting to the smaller chainring a lot more often IME.

but everyone's different.

*100rpm is 23mph, 120=27 pretty quick for flat xc, for none racers anyway.

[quote=milkyman ]I admire any one that can get up there on s/s, I struggle with my gearing, just got back from up there very dry makes a nice change

In all seriousness, try going SS for a while. When I got my first SS it was a couple of years before I first cleaned Linnet's clough, I probably make it up clean about 1 time in 3 nowadays - more if it's dry, less if I'm knackered. Might give it a go tonight if it's nice and dry, then 🙂