Quote Originally Posted by airshifter View Post
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Those big rear rings do seem handy. I was riding with a guy one day on some trails that had some fairly steep short climbs. With that big rear ring he could keep traction much better, as using the "normal" low gear resulted in spinning more often as you had to really torque hard on the downstroke, and it would break the tire loose much easier. With that crawler gear he could stay in the saddle and pedal up most of them without any traction problems.
Do you know what size sproket your friend had? Mine is a 34T and I rarely use it when in the front granny-gear (i.e. 1st gear), even on the steepest of climbs. I find, as you said, the rear tire just brakes traction and I lose all forward momentum. I'll generally stay in 2nd or 3d gear and try to power up the hill, with my lungs ready to burst