Steep Hills
 

Hey guys, I was wondering how you all handle very steep hills. When I say very steep, I mean VERY steep; like the ones that are inclined 45 degrees or more, you know, the ones where if you're driving in an automatic car and you take your foot off the brake while in "Drive" the car still rolls back as if it were in neutral.

There are quite a few of those around where I live and I have not faced them yet since I am still a new rider, but I will inevitably have to face them and I'm scared to death of them. The other day I was behind a group of bikers going up a very steep hill that I go on quite often with my car and more than half of them stalled a few times while going up since it was a stop sign at the top of the hill (so they couldn't just ride through it, it was stop and go on an incline that is definately more than 45 degrees).

What do you guys usually do?

keep your foot on the rear brake until you get it moving a bit, and ride the clutch hard, lots of throttle while slowly letting out the clutch.

+1 Yep...rear brake, clutch control + rpm.

I'd avoid that hill if possible. :icon_wink:

been there with this one hill in my city. now ill use the brake to stop but after i usually feather the clutch and throttle to keep me at least moving forward or not moving backwards.

friction zone n front brake works great too ;)

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm gonna have to go tackle some of these hills late at night when there is no traffic on them and get this down. I'm just scared to death of somehow not being coordinated enough to do it fast enough and somehow end up dropping my bike.

Don't worry about trying to do it fast enough. If you have your foot firmly on the rear brake it will keep it from rolling back. When you slowly release the clutch and give it some throttle you can start to let up on the brake whenever you feel it trying to move forward.

yea dont worry about doing it fast cause then u probably will stall it if u try to do it fast enough, like others said use the rear brake and keep in mind that you dont have to rush it because ur not going to roll back. Also u might have to ride the clutch a little more than ur used to so just be ready for it

+1 don't worry about doing it fast

IMO motorcycles have it easier than manual cars because of that rear brake. I'm pretty terrified of hill myself, but I've had no problems using the rear brake method. Take your time, don't worry about the cars behind you freaking out, they'll get over it. :)