i've a 14" Kona Cinder Cone. Its a lovely bike, but it is also an absolute mission to get up hills due to the petite size of it and me. I was wondering if there is any way of modifying the bike (elongating the cranks maybe?) to transfer more power to the bike for climbs?

 I asked the helpful people at JE James and they recommended me to get fitter. That is true, but not helpful! 

 My boyfriend has ridden my bike up hills and agrees with me that it takes more effort than his full suss bike. he's significantly taller than me, but the greater power required is noticible. 

 Anyway, any suggestions would be great. Or i'll have to resign myself to constantly being miles behind aidan on rides. 

 cheers,

Kate

Hi Kate

try any of the following...

• climb out of the saddle
• sit back more on the saddle (for more leverage)
• raise the saddle height
• attack climb with adrenalin rush rather than a "well I'll give it a go and see" attitude
• use clipless pedals for more power transfer
• more air in your tyres
• lock off the front suspension (if poss) 

hard to say which will work as it depends what the hills are that you are climbing i.e. height of them and loose stuff, any obstacles, how steep etc.

you will find you are usually always behind the bloke anyway -- just let his tyres down!

enjoy the hill climbing 

Just the standard ones they had on them when i bought the bike.

 I do ride up hill with a high saddle and adrenalin and lock off the front suspension, but when its really really bumpy thats not possible. I often end up out of the saddle for short/sharp inclines and then sit back down. I use flats at the moment but think i'll try SPDs next. do you think they'd help?

Kate

spds will give you approx 30% more power - or at least thats what is touted around - but they are more efficient anyway I'm just not sure 30% is acurate!

Whenever I have seen people discussing crank size before it has been more along the lines of women's bikes should have smaller cranks that what they come with rather than bigger ones?  (I think this was a discussion for road bikes though)

You are right that if you put longer cranks on that there will be less clearance too.  To be honest I have never heard of smaller people putting longer cranks on their mountain bikes to get more power.  Could be wrong though.  I think most mountain bikes come with the standard sized cranks?  I certainly think that my 15" bikes do!

I would have thought checking the set up of your bike with someone who knows about it, maybe even paying for a professional bike set up might be a better thing to do?

Also using spds like helen says. 

Your other half may find your bike hard to ride uphill because it doesn't fit him?  He can't get the saddle high enough, etc?  And unfortunately he is just probably naturally faster than you.  I know my other half is, I have been a similar speed or faster than him but when  I was training about 3 times the amount of hours as him at the time!

Yeah...i thought about the difference in size too, which would make it harder for him. he more commented that it felt stiff, even in easy gears.

I'll just have to get fitter!

maybe there is something else wrong with it?

Possibly, I took it back to JE James for the 'safety check' and they didn't notice anything wrong with it.

I guess in some ways it'll stand me in good stead for when i get a really good bike! I'm already looking forward to a full suss bike when i can afford it, and justify buying it! When i do, i'll be uber fit and possibly have more technique than a spasticated dodo bird!

STd crank arms are 175mm

If you put longer crank it's going to be more difficult but you're going to be faster (more leverage), if you put smaller crank it's going to be easier but you're going to be slower (more spinning). 

Usually smaller bikes = smaller people hence smaller crank for smaller limbs. You could try singlespeeding, as it forces you to grind uphill.

 Then you'll have to find wich kind of climber you are, the grinder one? the spinning one etc etc.

Try to do small modification as suggested by Claire changing saddle height moving the saddle forward or backward checking your tyre pressure.

I wouldn't be worried to go faster or slower than you're husband. Enjoy yourslef first 

I'd guess that the cranks on a 14" Cinder Cone would be 170mm (have a look on the back of the crank - should be stamped on there) - I've owned several tiny Konas (currently on a 15" Coiler).  I'm only short and run 165mm cranks.  I find offroad climbing on my heavy full-sus bike easier than my hardtail although the hardtail wins on the smooth stuff.  I tend to run a pretty short stem but have my saddle set quite far back which works for me.  As a serial bike and parts swapper I love changing set-ups to see the effect, but the set-ups which have been the hardest work climbing have been those with super-short toptubes (I'm talking sub 21" here as I'm only 5'2" myself) and those where I've cut the bars down too short  - don't go shorter than 23-24" or you'll have no leverage - just watch those trees  - or maybe swap the risers for a set of flat bars and bar ends - you'll fly up the hills.

Enjoy the Cinder Cone - tiny Konas rock!! 

[quote]tiny Konas rock!! [/quote]

So do big ones

No expert on the crank length of MTBs (only roadies) but generally standard size is 170mm, with up or down for taller or shorter people.

As mentioned there are issues with longer cranks, clearance to the ground, on small bikes with short/steep angled chain stays they might just catch on the chain stay.

My hand built touring frame has 165's on it and I recall a work collegue/MTBer (used to be on national squad) found it beneficila to be on shorter cranks and spin more, when advised to do so.