Road bikes, speed bumps and potholes

rich r
rich r Posts: 25
edited December 2007 in Commuting chat
So after taking everyones advice, I've decided to order a Road bike (Spec Allez) through our cycle2work scheme for commuting and general road riding.

I was wondering on my way to work today though - my mtb copes fine with speed bumps, all the usual pot holes etc, but I hit them relatively hard.

How will a road bike cope with these hazards - am I likely to bend my rather flexy looking wheels every day ?

Comments

  • el_presidente
    el_presidente Posts: 1,963
    If you can avoid the potholes safely then do

    If not you can unweight the bike briefly or even bunnyhop

    unwighting the bike works pretty well for speed bumps
    <a>road</a>
  • Belv
    Belv Posts: 866
    Learning to unweight at a split-seconds notice is the best way and a very useful skill.

    I have noticed that since changing tyres to the 'Marathon Plus', an unexpected side effect is that my road bike handles bad surfaces much better probably down to the thick layer of rubber absorbing some of the shock.
  • AidanR
    AidanR Posts: 1,142
    It tends to have to be a pretty big pothole (or a pretty big descent!) to through a wheel out of true, though hit enough and it will happen eventually. A more immediate issue is pinch punctures! But hit a few potholes and you'll soon be unweighting the bike anyway, to save your more delicate regions!
    Bike lover and part-time cyclist.
  • Adamskii
    Adamskii Posts: 267
    Unweighting the bike can be difficuly if your're going quickly, say over 20 mph. I find the best way to aviod big holes in an emergency is to jump them. Both wheels off at the same time, making sure you land smoothly. I wouldn't recommend you do this though becasue if you get it wrong it could hurt!
    It's all good.
  • rich r
    rich r Posts: 25
    Sounds like I'm going to be OK just unweighting (standing up and being flexed ?) the bike then ?

    Bunny hopping over them is something I'm comfy enough doing on an MTB - but I think it might be a little while before I'm confident enough on a road bike, as up to now, I've never really ridden one !
  • Gambatte
    Gambatte Posts: 1,453
    As Aidan says, I'd worry more about punctures. Just done 1100 miles with 2 'p's on 700 x 23c. Both due to pinches.
  • Sea_Green_Incorruptible
    Sea_Green_Incorruptible Posts: 431
    There's a guy who regularly passes me on my commute who rides some kind of Specialized roadie. In addition to having melon thighs and an ability to sprint past me on hills like I'm standing still (he's the only one who does... grrr) he seems to be able to bunny hop up and down kerbs like he's on a BMX or something.

    I've tired to master this particular trick but haven't got there yet. I can do it with a run up and a bit of time to get ready, but he seems to jump the bike around like it's on springs at will. It is an ace trick though and I'm going to keep practicing...

    I'm also determined to at least hang on to the b@stard's back wheel for a few minutes one of these days too... I'm no slouch but I freely admit that beating him over distance looks to be well out of my league...
  • el_presidente
    el_presidente Posts: 1,963
    One of the intermediate sprints in this year's TdeF was won by a rider who sprinted up the hard shoulder then bunny hopped across the sizeable drain between that and the main carriageway to take the honours in front of the main bunch.
    <a>road</a>
  • misterben
    misterben Posts: 193
    el_presidente wrote:
    One of the intermediate sprints in this year's TdeF was won by a rider who sprinted up the hard shoulder then bunny hopped across the sizeable drain between that and the main carriageway to take the honours in front of the main bunch.

    Would like to see some footage of that! Any idea which stage/which rider?
    mrBen

    "Carpe Aptenodytes"
    JediMoose.org
  • el_presidente
    el_presidente Posts: 1,963
    misterben wrote:
    el_presidente wrote:
    One of the intermediate sprints in this year's TdeF was won by a rider who sprinted up the hard shoulder then bunny hopped across the sizeable drain between that and the main carriageway to take the honours in front of the main bunch.

    Would like to see some footage of that! Any idea which stage/which rider?


    i think it was one of the early flat stages but I can't remember any more, I had a quick look on youtube but couldn't find it
    <a>road</a>
  • twowheeledwriter
    twowheeledwriter Posts: 129
    A quick search on the web reveals that Oscar Friere did this is the 2006 Tour de Suisse.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-araCVvDmWU
    "Tyres down on your bicycle, your nose feels like an icicle"
  • el_presidente
    el_presidente Posts: 1,963
    that is very cool

    not the same incident I had in mind but very similar, thank you
    <a>road</a>
  • twowheeledwriter
    twowheeledwriter Posts: 129
    Didn't mean to suggest you'd misrembered - I just managed to find an example of bunny-hopping, that's all.

    Two things impress me in the clip - Friere's apparent "taking it in his stride" approach to jumping the kerb. And the lack of reaction from the others. Maybe they weren't impressed!
    "Tyres down on your bicycle, your nose feels like an icicle"
  • el_presidente
    el_presidente Posts: 1,963
    No no I quite understood ;)

    it is awesomely cool, Freire went on to win the stage too if I read the Youtube comments correctly.

    Note to self - DO NOT try this on the commute!
    <a>road</a>

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