[PoorCyclist]

12%+ grade, 70 gear inches (44/16)

Stand on pedal and let the weight sink down each stroke. Cadence feels like it may be 5 or so (if not, it sure feels like it)

I need to yank on the handlebar more but it's kind of sketchy without clipless pedals.

Flat handlebars is too far back for climbing and it also hurts my wrist being too far back.. but I want to keep turning everything into drop bar bikes.

 

[JCavilia]

You're not at 5 rpm -- that would be barely over 1 mph in that gear -- equivalent to a very slow walk. At 5 mph you'd be somewhere around 25 rpm, but you're probably a little faster than that. 5 prms would mean 12 seconds for each revolution, or 6 seconds from one pedal stroke to the next -- you surely are not going that slow.

Drop bars are better for this, IME.

Pedal attachment matters a lot at high cadence, not so much here. IOW, you should be able to pull on the bar, because you're pushing down on the pedal.

I'm not a very good trackstander, so I can only do it for a few seconds, but the slowest cadence is zero.

 

[wim]

Cadence feels like it may be 5 or so (if not, it sure feels like it)

Oh well, JCavilia got in ahead of me. But here it is anyway:

60 divided by 5 = 12. So at a cadence of 5, it would've taken you 12 seconds to make one pedal revolution. Pretty unlikely.

During the first seconds of my standing starts for the kilo and later the (old man) 500-meter track time trial, my cadence in a 48 x 15 was about 20. Of course, that increased rapidly after that. Just guesstimating, going up a steep hill in a huge gear would probably have me get off my bike if the cadence would drop below 20. I have persevered until I came to a dead stop a few times. But it wasn't much fun.

 

[2:01]

I like my bullhorn bars for climbs like those. Better grip than drop bars for me. I like them a bit wider as well (44cm).

 

[Cygnus]

44/16 is my gear of choice too. i can grind, but not on long, sustained climbs over about 8% or so.

i live at the top of a mile long 10.5% climb. that's why some of my bikes are 2x2, with a bail out climbing gear.

i'm pretty sure something would break (drivetrain part or knee) if i tried to climb it in a cruising gear.

 

[FatTireFred]

slowest cadence I've ever gone, in rpm = 0

 

[Cygnus]

trackstand.

 

[serious]

JCavilia: Pedal attachment matters a lot at high cadence, not so much here.

I would argue that at very low cadence when grinding up a hill, clipless helps a lot because pulling up is critical. Us mountain bikers (especially single speeders like myself) rely on that action a lot.