a.twiddler
Veteran
Or, my Linear and hills.
Yesterday I went to Newcastle (Staffs) on the old Linear. I went via an indirect cycle friendly route and included a steep road which runs through Halmer End and Alsager's Bank before getting over the top and going downhill through Knutton into Newcastle. There are no indications such as chevrons on the OS map to indicate any ridiculous gradients and since I hadn't met a hill I couldn't eventually climb on this recumbent to date, I was up to the challenge of getting over the top.
Now that I have access to a lower gear range including a 20" bottom gear (which is kept as the nuclear option and rarely used) I felt that I could tackle anything my upright can manage, even mild off road if the comedy dimensions of the frame would let it fit through any barriers.
Anyhow, the trip went well for the most part. The road was pretty much all uphill anyway once into Staffordshire, and a gradual (and not-so-gradual in parts) climb brought me to Halmer End where the gradient steepened. It slowed me down, but I had plenty of gears in hand so felt optimistic at this stage. I carried on through Halmer End to Alsager's Bank where the gradient steepened again. I began to find not problems in keeping going, but a struggle to keep the front end pointing where I wanted it to go. I glanced over my right shoulder at one point, and the front wheel wandered to the left, causing me to stop. I restarted and found it took all my concentration to stop the front end wandering, even with fiercely concentrating on a point far up the hill rather than the road in front. Eventually I reached a slope of at least 20% and just couldn't keep a straight line. I got off and pushed for about a hundred yards to where the slope eased to a more moderate 14% or less and was able to ride from there over the top in a fairly normal manner.
I was a bit disappointed about that. The key seems to be the ability to keep going above 4mph as once you get down to 3mph it's a bit hit or miss unlike a conventional bike where you can maintain balance and direction almost to a standstill.
The rearward weight bias and lightly loaded front wheel seems to be an issue. Whether lower tyre pressure in the front, or a bag of spuds at the front would help, I don't know. Compact LWB bikes such as the Bike-E are reputedly even more prone to this problem with further rearward weight bias and a tiny front wheel. I don't think it's just me, I think it's the design. Fortunately it has enough virtues to outweigh the drawbacks for me. An occasional walk up a hill is not the end of the world, despite what my younger self would say about needing to ride up anything without getting off, or even getting out of the saddle.
I am curious how highracers, lowracers and other SWB recumbents manage on such extreme hills, potentially having more centralised weight distribution. Is it a balance thing, related to your head being relatively low, or is it an inherent recumbent thing? Even tadpole trikes have issues on really steep hills, depending on the design. They can climb really slowly on low gearing but can have rear wheel traction issues.
Despite that surprising hill climbing revelation, the 44 mile odd trip was quite enjoyable overall and taking 5 minutes to descend what took me 35 minutes to climb was quite a buzz, as was the high geared low effort trip back to Cheshire down the lesser hills I'd climbed on entering Staffordshire.
Yesterday I went to Newcastle (Staffs) on the old Linear. I went via an indirect cycle friendly route and included a steep road which runs through Halmer End and Alsager's Bank before getting over the top and going downhill through Knutton into Newcastle. There are no indications such as chevrons on the OS map to indicate any ridiculous gradients and since I hadn't met a hill I couldn't eventually climb on this recumbent to date, I was up to the challenge of getting over the top.
Now that I have access to a lower gear range including a 20" bottom gear (which is kept as the nuclear option and rarely used) I felt that I could tackle anything my upright can manage, even mild off road if the comedy dimensions of the frame would let it fit through any barriers.
Anyhow, the trip went well for the most part. The road was pretty much all uphill anyway once into Staffordshire, and a gradual (and not-so-gradual in parts) climb brought me to Halmer End where the gradient steepened. It slowed me down, but I had plenty of gears in hand so felt optimistic at this stage. I carried on through Halmer End to Alsager's Bank where the gradient steepened again. I began to find not problems in keeping going, but a struggle to keep the front end pointing where I wanted it to go. I glanced over my right shoulder at one point, and the front wheel wandered to the left, causing me to stop. I restarted and found it took all my concentration to stop the front end wandering, even with fiercely concentrating on a point far up the hill rather than the road in front. Eventually I reached a slope of at least 20% and just couldn't keep a straight line. I got off and pushed for about a hundred yards to where the slope eased to a more moderate 14% or less and was able to ride from there over the top in a fairly normal manner.
I was a bit disappointed about that. The key seems to be the ability to keep going above 4mph as once you get down to 3mph it's a bit hit or miss unlike a conventional bike where you can maintain balance and direction almost to a standstill.
The rearward weight bias and lightly loaded front wheel seems to be an issue. Whether lower tyre pressure in the front, or a bag of spuds at the front would help, I don't know. Compact LWB bikes such as the Bike-E are reputedly even more prone to this problem with further rearward weight bias and a tiny front wheel. I don't think it's just me, I think it's the design. Fortunately it has enough virtues to outweigh the drawbacks for me. An occasional walk up a hill is not the end of the world, despite what my younger self would say about needing to ride up anything without getting off, or even getting out of the saddle.
I am curious how highracers, lowracers and other SWB recumbents manage on such extreme hills, potentially having more centralised weight distribution. Is it a balance thing, related to your head being relatively low, or is it an inherent recumbent thing? Even tadpole trikes have issues on really steep hills, depending on the design. They can climb really slowly on low gearing but can have rear wheel traction issues.
Despite that surprising hill climbing revelation, the 44 mile odd trip was quite enjoyable overall and taking 5 minutes to descend what took me 35 minutes to climb was quite a buzz, as was the high geared low effort trip back to Cheshire down the lesser hills I'd climbed on entering Staffordshire.