metro2005

Just a question, i own a hybrid bike and just recently i rode it up the Mont Ventoux in France (if you ever watch the Tour de france you will know it ) but i thought it was pretty though. I ride my bike a lot and my condition is pretty decent but i still had a hard time riding the 9% grade to the summit with my hybrid bike.

How does a road bike compare to a hybrid bike when it comes to climbing hills and steep slopes, is it easier to ride because they have different gears or because they are lighter or isn't there a big difference between road bikes and hybrid bikes?

EsoxLucius

Road bikes will often be taller in gearing, generally, but will also have a larger range of gears, so the lowest gear can be a 30 teeth front sprocket and 34 teeth rear sprocket, which will pretty much allow you to "walk" up a pretty steep ascent. The main constituents for those rider's hill climbing abilities are their legs and lungs.

Talldog

A lighter bike will climb better than a heavier bike (all other things being equal). I would think the biggest thing about climbing well is practising doing it. Even riding a lot won't help all that much unless you regularly include longish climbs in your rides. I don't particulary care for climbing all that much as I am too old to do it well and I don't really ride bikes to suffer like that. But it is a good workout to be sure. But if you want to be a quick climber then get a light stiff bike with short stays that has geometry also conducive to climbing out of the saddle.

fairymuff

If you got up Mont Ventoux, you should consider yourself 'een hele pief', and you shouldn't worry about changing gearing. That said, Hybrids generally offer lower gearing than road bikes, so I'd think climbing wouldn't be easier on a road bike.

meanwhile

On any bike the OP is likely to ride weight will not make a real difference. Because the weight that counts is bike PLUS RIDER weight. So even a reduction of $6 in weight - and getting from a 26lb bike to a comparable 22lb bike can easily cost $1000-$1500 - will only make a minute difference in performance, assuming an adequate gear range. Shedding 10lb from a bike might require switching from a $600 hybrid to a $4000 racer - and if you weight 200lbs it will still increase climbing performance by less than 5%.

meanwhile

Hybrids generally have triple chain rings and so lower gears than typical road bikes, which have dual rings. However it's easy to find triple ring road bikes if you want them. And not that hard to convert a dual ring.

If the OP simply wants to know if he'd have found it easier or harder riding a 17lb dual ring $10,000 racer then the answer is "Probably harder." (It depends on what model hybrid he has and what gear he was in.)

fairymuff

Yes, this is what I meant. Of course, it would be easier on an MTB with smooth tyres as MTBs will generally give you even lower gearing.

Talldog

Sorry, but you are wrong. A lighter bike will, and does, make a difference on many fronts when climbing.

common man

my guess is that a road bike may put you in a position to use your powerful glutes some more. i suppose this can be done on a hybrid too by a 120 mm stem + lower handlebars but i have not tried it myself.

fairymuff

Removing valve caps and not carrying any water would help as well, but would not be very useful.

metro2005

So when a road bike is lighter it should make it easier to climb hills but i have to have the right gears otherwise it will be harder. I think thats the conclusion here

kaliayev

$10,000 for a 17lb racer? Where are you pulling these prices out of. Weight not meaning anything? OK , you're biased to hybrids, but come on you either have no idea what you are talking about or talking total bs.

LesterOfPuppets

I can get behind this comment. Some hybrids work more muscle groups than others. There are such a wide array of configurations of hybrids, from bolt upright to road racing position (but lacking drops), that the change you'd experience could vary greatly depending on your current hybrid.

A theoretical best climber for a LONG climb - Road frame with a Fixed/SS flip-flop hub fitted with a good climbing gear on the fixed side and a good descending gear on the SS side. Flip your wheel at the top.

LesterOfPuppets

The only hybrid I've had was an extremely heavy, upright Novara. I'd rather ride up a hill on almost any road bike than that, possibly even an old Collegiate. If your hybrid leans more towards the flat bar road bike end of the spectrum (Masi Caffe Racer Dopio, for instance), then not much difference between hybrid and road bike climbing performance.

If your hybrid has suspension seatpost and suspension fork, than almost any road bike (along with a good deal of other hybrids and some of the nicer fully rigid mountain bikes from the early-mid 90s) will be better for climbing.

Gears do make plenty of difference. On road bikes, in my youth I managed to get up some pretty steep hills in a 42x21 low. Nowadays, when I'm out of shape, I have to get a 42x28 on there to get up anything significant and sometimes even wish for a 32 in back. Here at the end of summer, I'm feeling pretty good and 42x24 gets me up any hill in my town.

plodderslusk

In central Europe there is a long tradition among leisure cyclists to use "alpine gearing", a regular roadbike set up with a triple up front. My Ritchey Break-away roadbike is set up with a triple, great for long climbs. A big difference between a roadbike and a hybrid is the weight of the wheelset. Hybrid usually have a set of sturdy but rather heavy wheels. On my CX I changed from 105 hubbed Alex-rimmed wheels to Rol Volant,s. Huge difference on many levels, among them a much better "feeling" on long uphills.

meanwhile

Well, a difference yes - as I said, a minor easily calculated one. But you're disagreeing with that obviously. Don't forget to invite me to me your Nobel ceremony when you prove that riders become effectively weightless when sitting on bicycles. I'll also enjoy your explanation of why a drastic reduction in bike weight between the steel and carbon fibre eras has had little effect on hill trial times. Eg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_E...Course_records

- About 4s of the c. 2 minute time has fallen with the change from 20lb steel to 16lb cf bikes. Which was also a period when training improved vastly thanks to powertaps and heart metres (and EPO.)

Oops! Should written 4 minues of the c. 2 hour time

meanwhile

Hill climbers favour longer stems, so an a more upright bike is the worst possible. Obviously the long stem isn't for aero - I think it provides more stability, preventing effort being lost in front wheel twitches.

LesterOfPuppets

I feel a big difference in wheels, too. Record hubs/butted spokes/Nisi rims so much nicer uphill than Shimano 2200 hubs/14 ga spokes/CXP22 rims.

LesterOfPuppets

The stem's length was fairly average at 90mm. Of course, the ridiculous 45 degree rise effectively halved the reach of the stem

AdelaaR

Good job on riding up the mont ventoux.
You failed to provide us with a few details though:
1) what kind of hybrid are you talking about?
2) how fast did you go up the mont ventoux?

If you own a $3000 full carbon racy flatbar roadbike, then there will be no difference whatsoever, since roadies do not use the drops on long ascends either.
If you own a $300 superheavy crappy rusty upright beachcruiser stuck in lowest gear, then there will be a huge difference.

If you ride up the Ventoux in under 2 hours using a 30/23, little details may matter more than if you ride up the Ventoux in a whole day using a 20/34.

AdelaaR

I don't see why this should be so.
If pedalled correctly, the suspension shouldn't engage while doing middlegrade climbs like 9% or similar.
Maybe you have your suspension set up too weak.
The only difference would be in added weight, but weight is a very small factor.

LesterOfPuppets

My suspension seatpost is like a boat anchor. I've got the preload set very high on it, so the squish doesn't bother me. Actually having all that extra weight over the rear wheel seems to help climbing short, REALLY steep dirt hills. Hauling that beast up a mountain is less fun than it should be, however.

On a long climb I do like to stand from time to time, so el cheepo suspension forks without lockout are terrible for that! Even a nicer fork with lockout ain't that great for standing on the pedals up a hill.

Weight may be a very small factor for you, but I would be much happier lugging 2 lbs of rigid fork up a mountain than 5 lbs of squishy fork.

LesterOfPuppets

Best time firmly in the steel era
1984 Alexi Grewal 1:47:51[note 1]
Current best time:
2004 Tom Danielson 1:41:20[note 6]
That's a pretty huge difference. Six and a half minutes!

But, to truly compare bike weight, the race would have to be held in a vacuum.

chasm54

yeah, but to be fair Mr Danielson's 2004 record is four minutes faster than anyone else has ever done it, whatever they were riding. So I think Meanwhile's general point is fair. With only one exception, every winner apart from Danielson since 1990 has been slower than Grewel in '84. So I think we can take it that it's the rider, not the bike.

If we look at the TdF, average speeds have increased remarkably little, too. Over 38 kph in '71, '81, '82. This year? 39.5. And, of course, we have to factor in more aerodynamic equipment in the TTs, more aggressive team tactics, more scientific training methods and much more potent and effective doping. So the impact of new, lighter materials does appear to have been pretty small.

LesterOfPuppets

Definitely more rider than bike. In many races, it's also likely meteorological conditions and team tactics more than bike, also. Of course, TdF riders have been riding bikes at the weight limit for a little while now, also. I'd say the last sentence in my last post was the most important. I just couldn't quite comprehend meanwhile's post - those time gaps are HUGE!

In this discussion I think comfort and enjoyment is more important than time. I generally experience more of both on a lighter bike for long climbs. I also experience more of both when I'm at my ideal bodyweight. When I get up to 152-153 lbs. I feel slow and my butt hurts more on centuries.

Oh, and I'm by no means a weight weenie. My Pinarello with its clincher wheelset has to be close to 23 lbs.