Bracing for impact!

mikelskas

Hi guys,

Im still making the transfer from mountain biking to road cycling. One of my concerns is hitting unavoidable pot holes. Last night for example i went over a pot hole so deep i thought my wheel would buckle for sure. Thankfully it didnt!

As I learn the local roads I try my best to remember where the pot holes are.
However in the case of a pot hole being unavoidable whats the best course of action I can take to protect myself and my bike?

Slow down as much as possible?
Hands on hoods or flats?
Is it worth trying to hop the front wheel over the bump and then put my weight forward to lessen the blow on the rear?

Any advice will be grately received.

alihisgreat

bunny hop over it?

other than that no advice, haven't hit a pothole before!

charliew87

Never hit a pothole this bad before! Have you confused a pothole with the grand canyon!?

CiB

Depends. If you can avoid it, do, but that relies on you knowing if there's anything behind that might have you off so you need your spidey senses on max. Bunny hopping is the next best; unweight the front and then lift the back with your shoes - benefit of being clipped in there.

On regular routes it's quite easy to memorise holes and avoid them properly without a sudden deviation.

TommyEss

If you've seen it so late that you can't avoid hitting it I certainly wouldn't be trying to switch between hoods or flats or any of that malarkey - if you're on collision course best is to try and bunny hop, next best is to hit it square on and keep your arms flexy at the elbows - will take a little of the shock out. Definitely better to hit it square on than hit the edge - at least if you're square you'll most likely stay upright, even if you do pringle the wheel.

mikelskas

Thanks for replies guys.

Some of you have never hit potholes!?! Your roads must be very good. Here in Manchester some roads are terrible. Theres a small road in trafford park that has potholes all the way across it so they are completely unavoidable. Obviously i avoid that road like the plague!!

I guess a bunny hop is a bit easier on a road bike due to clipless pedals! Still not so keen on jumping a road bike though, I even avoid dropping off kerbs with it for fear of damaging it.

daxplusplus

Know your road is the best thing really and avoid them in the first place. If you't don't know the road then slow down?

But in the real world we still get caught out.

If you see a pot hole coming and can't avoid it then attempt to bunny hop - with clipped in shoes it's a piece of cake.

If you can't bunny hop the hole then you can definitely easy the impact by balancing the weight between the two wheels so that your not over the front wheel .. I find crouching, off the seat, pedals at 3 and 9 and on the hoods. Try to lift the bike and float it over the bump. It's gonna hit but hopefully not too hard.

Well that's what I do.

ptr_

DaxPlusPlus wrote:

If you can't bunny hop the hole then you can definitely easy the impact by balancing the weight between the two wheels so that your not over the front wheel .. I find crouching, off the seat, pedals at 3 and 9 and on the hoods. Try to lift the bike and float it over the bump. It's gonna hit but hopefully not too hard.

That's exactly what I do.

But also just look ahead? I find pot holes are pretty easy to spot up ahead, apart from if you're riding in a group but then theres loads of people shouting hole and pointing

rake

a well timed lean backwards then forwardscan completely ewliminate any bump. the weight swings rear as the front hovers over then as you pitch forwards the back hovers over, timing is critical though. much kinder to the bike than bunny hopping. done holding bars with weight off the seat.

alihisgreat

Mikelskas wrote:

Some of you have never hit potholes!?! Your roads must be very good. Here in Manchester some roads are terrible. Theres a small road in trafford park that has potholes all the way across it so they are completely unavoidable. Obviously i avoid that road like the plague!!

I don't ride fast enough to let any potholes sneak up on me

joshr96

Yeah, lift your front wheel off the ground then lean forward to reduce the strain on the back wheel. I live in North Tyneside and pot holes are a big problem around there. If they sneak right up on you, just do the wheel thing. You want to avoid putting a lot of weight on the front wheel as you hit it, this will probably end up with you getting a nice taste of the road

ddraver

Road bikes can take some stick, Google Video Paris-Roubaix.

If you can't avoid them, deal with them as you would a hole/rock on the MTB, If you can bunny hop it then do so, if not then unweight and go limp and absorb the impacts with arms and legs as the bike clatters over it. You ll be surprised after a few attempts how little difference it makes where your hands are (within reason)

Pross

Mikelskas wrote:

Thanks for replies guys.

Some of you have never hit potholes!?! Your roads must be very good. Here in Manchester some roads are terrible. Theres a small road in trafford park that has potholes all the way across it so they are completely unavoidable. Obviously i avoid that road like the plague!!

I guess a bunny hop is a bit easier on a road bike due to clipless pedals! Still not so keen on jumping a road bike though, I even avoid dropping off kerbs with it for fear of damaging it.

Bunny hop it - there was a decent video doing the rounds recently showing people doing all sorts of trials type stuff on high end road bikes with carbon wheels. As a MTBer you should have the skills! It'll do less damage than hitting the pothole at full speed but in most situations you should be able to see them coming up, just don't swerve until you've checked over your shoulder. The only times I've hit potholes hard are when riding in a bunch and the person in front didn't provide adequate warning and in the dark when my lights didn't pick the pothole up in time to avoid it.

MichaelW

video
Practice bunny hopping up curbs.
They are also useful for those pneumatic hoses that workmen strew across the roads at a dangerous angle and for level crossings.
My worst pothole was on a tiny, steep lane in Ireland, around a blind corner with a loaded touring bike. I smacked the edge of the hole full on, despite unweighting and doing everything right. Fortunately, 36 spokes, an Alesa rim and 32mm tyres absorbed the impact with no damage.

rake

troble with hoping it if you come up short youl drop the back wheel into the hole and rip the back of the bike off

shouldbeinbed

+1 for the cruddy Manc roads! Hollins road in Oldham was like that until recently, parts of it were impassible without hitting one of the minefield spread across the carriageway. Bunny hopping if you really can't avoid it but TBH you get to memorise the real bad un's very quickly, the key then is keeping your wits about you for the traffic and not automatically pulling round a hole only to get winged by a quiet car trying to slip by you.

you will be surprised how robust road bike is as well, they look all spindly and wafer thin but they can take a whack or two.

Amoger

Potholes in Leeds you have to get winched out of. Isn't the ones you see that are the problem - it's the unexpected ones, maybe road in shadow or concentrating on something else like the traffic.

Will give bunny-hopping them a go..

nickel

When I into road cycling from mountain biking I was paranoid the 'fragile' wheels of my road bike would be easily buckled by hitting a pothole, with the bombproof wheels and 2.2" tyres on my mtb I'd never given them much notice. In reality I've learned that wheels on my bike can take a lot more punishment than I initially thought. But if a pothole Is unavoidable I try to get out of the saddle and unweight the rear of the bike and/or bunny hop if possible.

Mellow vèlo

I just keep my hands where they are and pretend its a curb.
Try and bring the front wheel up and hold on tight but bend elbows.

Coming round a corner to see a pothole is the worse!
Lucky I'm not the brightest button so my brain doesn't complicate things.
I just hold on and grin and bare it, have faith in cycling karma.
There's loads around here and I've hit most of them. A couple full on. Never damaged my wheel or fork.
Maybe I'm just lucky.