The instruction to rotate seems to be about 60KIAS when I rotate at this speed it is extermely hard to hold a climb of 5000fps without the speed dropping and the aircraft stalling. Is there any way of advancing the speed at which the rotate command is given?

A climb rate of 5000 FPS in a 172???I don't even think the Space Shuttle can do that :-)I assume you meant 500 feet per minute.Check your mixture setting. Usually full rich and check that the throttle is push all the way in.Cheers,Bryan

Sorry my bad, got carried away with the 0's :DYes this is more than likely to do with the mixture which is covered in another of my posts.