i’m with daytripper63- tire pressure has had a really big effect on my hill climbing for muni. I liken it to b*kers complaining about dual suspension bikes absorbing lots of their effort when climbing. After i get to the top of my route i let out a few PSI for the DH section where i want all the give a 24x3 gazz tire can offer.
When my trail gets really steep i stand the pedals, grip the seat, and point my toes to the ground on the up stroke of each pedal revolution so that i can get toque on both pedals (pedals with long grippy pins the best for this technique). It’s been a while since my last muni ride- might burn up the trails tomorow instead of my usual distance ride.
Mark
The problem is seldom that you can’t generate the torque to move the unicycle. It is more often that you lose momentum, run out of energy and stall.
When you stand up on the pedals, you can apply more power to the pedal. If you have long cranks it can feel like going up a series of tall steps. With shorter cranks, it can fell like going up the same hill but cut into lower steps. Your own mass oscillates less, and you get less tired.
I have been surprised to climb stuff on a 28 with 110s that looked like it would be hard work on a proper MUni.
Technique, momentum, stamina; wheel size, tyre, cranks: 6 variables. Technique is the most important. On rough ground, the right tyre makes a lot of difference too.
Learning to oscillate less is part of the trick to learning how to climb efficiently with longer cranks. You want to minimize the bobbing up and down that your body mass does when standing on the pedals to climb. Bobbing your body mass up and down is wasted energy and makes it more difficult to avoid losing momentum when the cranks are vertical.
That’s why I describe the out of the saddle climbing technique with longer cranks as dancing on the pedals. Flex the toes and foot downward at the bottom of the pedal stroke to minimize the bobbing and to keep the momentum when the cranks get vertical. One goal is to minimize bobbing up and down and another goal is to minimize the loss of momentum when the cranks get vertical.
The longer the cranks get the more difficult it is to minimize bobbing. People with longer legs will be able to handle longer crank lengths more easily.