What is the best kind of bike for riding up hills?

Answer 1

The best bike for climbing hills would depend on what the surface is. Basically for climbing you want a bike that has the right gearing range, is as light as possible, and still being able to cope with the surface you're riding on. If you're riding on roads the best climbing bike would be a road bike with a triple crank. If you're riding single tracks the best climber would probably be a cyclocross bike with a triple crank. If you intend to run the bike downhill at some speed and on a rough surface the you'll probably want an XC or AM mtb instead. It'll be a poorer climber but it will deal better with the descents. IF you want to get real technical bikes with short chain stays generally makes better climbers off road. With more weight directly over the rear wheel there's better traction. For riding in loose sand you can't beat a Surly Pugsley with Large Marge rims and Endomorph tires. They're far wider than just about any other tire out there and will let you roll along on the surface where skinnier tires gets bogged down. If that's out of your league money wise, look for just about any MTB with the frame clearance to run wide tires. Go with UST (tubeless) tires and rims which will let you run lower tire pressures than the standard clinchers. Low pressure will give your tires a wider foot print on the sand, with better traction and better ability to stay on top.

Answer 2

For normal/good conditions, a basic road bike is fine. For uphill, you're generally looking at the weight of the bike, and aerodynamics won't come into play too much for riding under around 15mph or so for uphills. Around 22+ you might consider aerodynamics a little more as air resistance of "pushing air" as they call it is actually exponential (the power required to sustain 30mph as opposed to 20mph is much more than an extra 50%).

Consider a road bike with decent brakes. Or a hybrid (like a road bike with wider tires, better for stopping, can go on light trails). But if you're gonna be riding on wet roads, traction will be more of an issue, and definitely consider hybrid bikes or even mountain bikes.

Answer 3

Your body, just like almost any engine, works best in a certain range of effort, so the best gears are the ones that let you keep turning the cranks at a rate betwen 80-100 turns/minute.

If your bike has more than one chainwheel at the front, also try to keep the chain running as straight as possible. This means don't run it on the biggest chainwheel(at the front) and on the biggest sprocket(at the rear) simultaneously.

Answer 4

A nice touring bike with a triple crank would let you ride just about any climb.

Answer 5

One that lets you turn the pedals 80-100 turns/minute.

For external gears, a small chainwheel up front and a big sprocket at the rear.

Answer 6

That would be the lowest gear. Smallest on the front chain ring and largest on the rear wheel.

Answer 7

For uneven and bulky roads Dirt Bikes are always best options; different brands manufacture multiple models, depends upon which one will you pick.

Answer 8

a road bike