I would have to disagree with Bryan on leaning forward... this can cause you to pull on the bars, destabilizing you. Stay against the seatback, to allow it to support your pushoff -- and keep a LIGHT touch on the steering. Literally, just a couple fingers, if possible.
You've chosen a bike that, while very aerodynamic and potentially fast, has a very laid-back recline to the seat, which definitely makes startup balance a challenge. It also has a tight cockpit, so any major turning will give you either heelstrike or bar/thigh interference. On top of that, you say you're starting on a slight uphill... DON'T DO THIS!!!! Use gravity to your advantage while learning, and do things DOWNHILL until you get a better feel for the startup balance. Push off, and coast briefly...
Another thing you can do, at least temporarily, is raise the seatback to reduce the recline -- again, just for a short while, to help you get your balance down.
You don't say where you live...????
Paul
Quote from baxsc01 on Jul 14th, 2014, 7:47pm:I decided to dive off the deep end and I built a M5 carbon high racer from a frameset. The build itself was successful, but learning to ride it has been a very frustrating experience. I would appreciate guidance from the group that will either convince me that the bike is not for me, or get me over a serious phobia I'm developing.
The issue is starting from a dead stop. I employ a compact crank, 50/34, with an 11/36 cassette. The bike is well fitted in terms of bar placement, crank length (165 mm arms) and leg extension. Here's the gist of my problem - when I push off from a standing start I'll either push the bike over on the side I'm pushing or I don't put enough energy in the pedal to gain enough velocity to balance while I put my other foot on the pedal.
* I've braced my back against the seat to push and that seems to make it worse (tipping on side that pushes)
* I use a larger cog on the cassette and it doesn't give good velocity at the end of a 90-120 degree range of push so the bike's twitching as I try to get my other foot on the pedal. My best results are with the 25 tooth cog on the back
* A smaller cog causes me to push hard enough to make the bike want to tip over, and I've had very inconsistent results counteracting with steering
I'm slowly improving, but still one try out of 4, or 1 out of 3, aborts wither with tipping on the push side or inability to maintain balance to lift the other foot onto the pedal. I've fallen enough that I put big downhill type platform pedals on for training purposes (speedplay light actions are the pedals I normally use). I need to improve faster. I've got about 12 hours into this focusing just on the start, and I'm literally hyperventilating and just about getting the shakes after I blow a start and have to try again. I check out this youtube clip where this guy very slowly starts off on his M5 CHR without any twitching and pedals along in a neighborhood and I wonder why I can't do that. I do have one qualifier - I'm practicing my starts on an uphill (slight but clearly visible) because that's what a lot of my town is like. On flats road camber is something I have to deal with because the bike will want to drift toward the curb but I'm better at managing that.
Any thoughts or guidance would be dearly appreciated.