Any steep hill tricks?

[kevin_allen]

I’m getting use to my Rohloff, changes nice and smooth with the briefest of peddling pauses. I have got caught out a few times on hills. Either it adds a steep bit in I didn’t see or miss judged which of the 14 gears was best. The brief peddling pause doesn’t appear to be enough going uphill, it vaults and refuses to move. On a couple of occasions I have had to stop and select a lower gear. At the moment I’m unloaded but can see the problem being increased with a touring load. Any tips other than getting it right in the first place?

[JohnR]

How much effort are you needing to use to change gear? My experience is that I can shift down one gear in less than one second although shifting multiple gears can take slightly longer as the constraint is the time to twist my wrist. I can downshift one gear on a steep hill without losing significant momentum during a small pause when the cranks are vertical.

Your bike isn't new and the shift system may be needing some maintenance. For example, if you have the external shift box then it needs to be well packed with grease. I assume that you've done an oil change on the Rohloff hub so you know it's been done. If not, then do so.

[UKTony]

I’m in the habit of changing down two gears at a time on steep hills just to keep the pedals spinning at a comfortable, knee
-saving cadence for as long as possible. Then it’s usually one gear at a time until I run out of gears! From my limited knowledge of the TDF there are riders who are natural hill climbers. I’m not one of those and if I have to get off and push I will. I’m in no hurry.

Psycologically, I find it a good idea not to focus on the top of the hill (who knows it might be a false summit!) rather I keep my head down and focus on small things on the road a few yards ahead so I’m breaking the effort into small achievable chunks.

I don’t know what your current chainring/sprocket sizes are but If you’re thinking that your current setup will be too highly geared for  loaded touring then with the Rohloff it’s an easy matter to change the front chainring and/or rear sprocket to gear down.

I’ve got a 40T/17T setup on 26” wheels which is low ( 17 gear inches to about 89gear inches). For a loaded tour I’d probably change that so I’ve got a 15 gear inch low gear. Even then I wouldn’t expect to pedal up every hill. The Rohloff is a great bit of kit but it’s not  a silver bullet for pedalling up every hill so why burst a blood vessel trying.

[PH]

Sorry I don't recognise the problem, one of the biggest advantages of a Rohloff for me is the ability to change down quickly and reliably on a hill.
As has already been said it should be changing with ease in under a second, if you don't have the momentum to carry you through that, then you've left it too late, but that would be even more so on a derailleur bike.
When you do change, having your predominant leg at about 1 o'clock, as you would from a standing start, might help. As might putting maximum effort into the revolution before.  If I find my cadence falling below a sustainable level, I'll sometimes change up a gear, stand and honk to increase speed, sit and immediately drop a couple of gears. But ideally I wouldn't find myself in that position and I certainly wouldn't be confident  could do that on a derailleur bike.
Maybe it's just a question of familiarity, the way I ride is slightly different, but IMO the advantages are all on the Rohloff's side, I tend to forget this till I go back to a derailleur bike.
General hill climbing "Tricks" though I'm not sure you're asking for them:
Count your pedal strokes and put extra effort into the third, one, two, THREE, one, two, THREE,  one, two, THREE ... When that gets tiring, make it the fifth.  That one extra thrust will help carry you through the next.
If you have stability issues, particularly the front wheel lifting, bend your elbows 90 degrees.  It's incredibly difficult to lift the front wheel, even loaded on a hill, unless you're pulling up on the bars. Bending you elbows means your always pulling back instead.  I know there are those who disagree, I used to be one of them!

[energyman]

I just get off and walk if the hill is too steep.  I even had to do that on the climb out of Malham Cove on an E-Bike !  (Wished at the time I'd bought the one with the Rohloff not the Vario )
 

[kevin_allen]

Thanks, I’ll monitor my changing. I have this very morning done an oil change. Which type of grease for the Rohloff box?
I suspect the changing is me not coordinating feet and hand as well as I think I am. Enjoying the bike and Rohloff a lot. My last ride I was determined not to go as fast, anytime over 20kmh I stopped peddling 😎

[JohnR]

Thanks, I’ll monitor my changing. I have this very morning done an oil change. Which type of grease for the Rohloff box?

See http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13718.0 about ex-box maintenance.

Practice improves the gear shifting until it becomes a reflex action. Every now and again (less than once per 100 miles) I get it wrong and either lose a lot of momentum on a hill or try to shift under load (which doesn't sound good).

[Dunroving]

It's a problem I recognise (new-ish Rohloff owner, with about 400 miles of mostly off-road, hilly riding). It's particularly a problem when the hill really kicks up unexpectedly and you are in way the wrong gear. I think this sometimes results from having developed a slightly laissez-faire mindset I learned quickly from having an IGH vs decades with a derailleur system - when I come to a stop, for example, I now no longer look ahead to figure out what gear I should get myself into BEFORE stopping, as I would with a derailleur. With Rohloff, I just stop, and when ready to restart, select the appropriate gear before pedalling again.

This perfectly reasonable mindset is problematic when it makes me a bit more casual when approaching an incline, so I occasionally find myself in gear 10 or 11, when I need (or will soon need) to be in gear 1, 2, or 3. The problem then is you can't even get a "kick" by pushing hard on the pedal before changing, because you're just in too high a gear to get the momentum to have a "pause" to change gear. In other words, you're stuffed!

I think the solution is to focus more carefully when approaching an incline, and remembering that a Rohloff isn't a magic bullet.

[I should clarify that I'm talking about inclines of 10% to 20%; on lesser inclines I always have the strength to give a boost-kick sufficient to get a gear pause.]

[mickeg]

It really only takes a very short part of a second to slow your cadence for a shift.  You just have to think about what you are doing.

Sometimes if I am going up a steep hill and want to downshift, I shift when my pedal is at the highest point so that I have almost no torque on it at the time I shift.  It might take a bit of practice on flatter ground to get used to trying to time your shift to where your pedal is on the stroke.

I started bicycling on three speed Sturmey Archer bikes and later on friction shifting derailleur bikes that lacked the modern ramps and pins for shifting aids.  So, on all bikes I am used to easing up on my pedaling pressure when I shift, as that is how I learned to shift years ago.  That is a good habit to get into. 

The newer derailleur bikes with ramps and pins are encouraging newer bikers to learn bad shifting habits.

[JohnR]

This perfectly reasonable mindset is problematic when it makes me a bit more casual when approaching an incline, so I occasionally find myself in gear 10 or 11, when I need (or will soon need) to be in gear 1, 2, or 3. The problem then is you can't even get a "kick" by pushing hard on the pedal before changing, because you're just in too high a gear to get the momentum to have a "pause" to change gear. In other words, you're stuffed!

My tendency is to shift 3 gears at a time (with some pedalling in between the shifts) until I've really slowed down. eg, if conditions change quickly from downhill to steep uphill then it's 14 -> 11 -> 8 -> 5 and then 4, 3 and occasionally 2 (1st is the big surprises - I can usually get up 15% in 3rd gear at about 3mph).

If you are frequently using the lowest gears then the overall gearing may need to be reduced.

[Dunroving]

This perfectly reasonable mindset is problematic when it makes me a bit more casual when approaching an incline, so I occasionally find myself in gear 10 or 11, when I need (or will soon need) to be in gear 1, 2, or 3. The problem then is you can't even get a "kick" by pushing hard on the pedal before changing, because you're just in too high a gear to get the momentum to have a "pause" to change gear. In other words, you're stuffed!

My tendency is to shift 3 gears at a time (with some pedalling in between the shifts) until I've really slowed down. eg, if conditions change quickly from downhill to steep uphill then it's 14 -> 11 -> 8 -> 5 and then 4, 3 and occasionally 2 (1st is the big surprises - I can usually get up 15% in 3rd gear at about 3mph).

If you are frequently using the lowest gears then the overall gearing may need to be reduced.

My overall gearing is perfectly fine for my needs, and my gear shifting is (almost) perfectly fine. It's just that occasionally when I'm not focusing, I very quickly find myself in the highest gear on a 10% or higher slope. I've been doing mainly group rides, and the predicament usually arises when I have to suddenly slow down at the bottom of a hill, because somebody ahead has slowed right down. Then no amount of effort on my part can give me enough forward motion to get the "pause" necessary to move down - and even then, 14th to 11th doesn't really help any.

The working solution is to just stop and move down to about 4th or 5th, to get moving again.

It's a judgement issue, that just requires more focus on my part.

[JohnR]

I've been doing mainly group rides, and the predicament usually arises when I have to suddenly slow down at the bottom of a hill, because somebody ahead has slowed right down. Then no amount of effort on my part can give me enough forward motion to get the "pause" necessary to move down - and even then, 14th to 11th doesn't really help any.

It's a judgement issue, that just requires more focus on my part.

I suggest that you make a conscious effort to downshift several gears every time you slow down. In time this will become a subconscious habit and puts you into more suitable gearing to either accelerate (and then upshift) or to do further downshifting.

[gearoidmuar]

Get into the lowest and go up.

[Matt2matt2002]

Mountains are fun
They're hill areas.
 

[mickeg]

...
Then no amount of effort on my part can give me enough forward motion to get the "pause" necessary to move down - and even then, 14th to 11th doesn't really help any.

The working solution is to just stop and move down to about 4th or 5th, to get moving again.

It's a judgement issue, that just requires more focus on my part.

You need more practice.  That is all.  I can't imagine that it is less troublesome to stop and shift and start out than it is to quickly shift.

And if you are following too close, then maybe do not follow that close.

Did you get your grease question answered?