Resurfaced road, asking for punctures?

andy46

Hi everyone

The local council have been out the last two days and resurfaced a couple of roads near me, the kind where they use loose chippings. I take it this is a cheap way of doing it.

I can avoid all of these roads except one. Will there be more of a chance of punctures on the loose chippings as I can imagine them being sharp, or am I worrying too much

I'm using Michelin Pro 3's if that makes any difference.

It's a shame really as the roads in question weren't that bad to be honest, and one road they've done is a regular Strava segment for me (in which I'm third) so I can't see anybody improving their times for a while. There are other roads round here that have been done like this and they are terrible now after only a couple of years :evil:

Anyway, should I risk going out or not

Gizmodo

It's called "surface dressing" and it's applied when the old surface gets too smooth - it is supposed to extend the life of the road by at least 5 years for a very low cost (compared to full dig up and re-lay).

Unfortunately one often just comes across such a road and you can't do anything about it. It hasn't caused me any punctures so far but it's not nice to ride on.

Hedge trimming is much more of a puncture hazard IMO.

simona75

Have ridden over a few round my way with no punctures but the ride quality on them is terrible.

tiredofwhiners

It's called "surface dressing" and it's applied when the old surface gets too smooth - it is supposed to extend the life of the road by at least 5 years for a very low cost (compared to full dig up and re-lay).

Around here it last 12 months approx.

Very annoying stuff.

plowmar

12 months ? that's good round here it's only a month or two before the old surface is showing through. Have you noticed that they never fill in the pot holes before resurfacing?

campagone

Lots of layby's around our way have big piles of chippings in them, so this surface dressing is imminent and many of the roads have s/d sprayed on them.
I don't find punctures a problem but you do get lots of cuts in the tyres which can obviously reduce their lifespan. The worse thing I find is the pile of loose chippings that collect in the side and middle of the road, I'm always weary of these on descents especially if it's a quiet road that doesn't get much traffic to sweep them clean.

declan1

It's annoying in a car, so I can only imaging what it would be like on a bike....

Just got my first puncture - riding along a main road, with a big truck overtaking me. Forced to ride over a recessed drain, and my rear tyre just exploded. Had to walk a couple of miles back home

Bozman

They were kindly resurfacing the roads around the Uttoxeter area a couple of weeks ago, i had to ride over a mile of freshly gritted road while they sprayed hot tar on the other side of the road, a beautiful experience that left my tyres looking like freshly sprinkled doughnuts plus a few choice pieces stuck to the underside of my frame.
Five miles later i came across a stretch at Rocester with piles of loose chippings at the side of the road, this forced me to use the car tracks which then subjected me to a spray of chippings evertime a car over-took me.

I just wish the bast**ds would fill the bloody pot holes in first, at least you could see them before they attempted this slapdash cover-up job of the road surface

unixnerd

They're doing loads of this in Aberdeenshire. I got caught in a fresh one last night and had to do much of it at under 10mph the surface was so dangerous and loose. Worst was when they did the Lecht, I watched a bunch of riders trying to descend this very steep mountain road at a snails pace. Still, it'll be handy when the ice comes to have some grip.

houndlegs

Loads of this going on round here too. They did one road with a separate cycle track running alongside it,and the cycle track got covered in loose chippings, it totally ruined it,it was a lovely smooth ribbon before that.
I got a bee in my bonnet about this and phoned the council,and lo and behold a few days later they had the grass cutting lads go the length of the path with the big blower things and blew all the chippings off.
Result

declan1

houndlegs wrote:

Loads of this going on round here too. They did one road with a separate cycle track running alongside it,and the cycle track got covered in loose chippings, it totally ruined it,it was a lovely smooth ribbon before that.
I got a bee in my bonnet about this and phoned the council,and lo and behold a few days later they had the grass cutting lads go the length of the path with the big blower things and blew all the chippings off.
Result

Wow. Please tell us what you said in that phone call!

houndlegs

declan1 wrote:

houndlegs wrote:

Loads of this going on round here too. They did one road with a separate cycle track running alongside it,and the cycle track got covered in loose chippings, it totally ruined it,it was a lovely smooth ribbon before that.
I got a bee in my bonnet about this and phoned the council,and lo and behold a few days later they had the grass cutting lads go the length of the path with the big blower things and blew all the chippings off.
Result

Wow. Please tell us what you said in that phone call!

Ha,I wish I could tell you I wiped the floor with them and put them right in their place,but truthfully I just had a pleasant conversation with a lady and explained the situation to her.
I pointed out that the council (or sustrans) were doing good things in building the tracks ( there are quite a few being built here ),and the chippings could discourage people from riding the tracks.
She totally agreed and said she would see if something could be done.
I didn't think anything would come of it if I'm honest.I imagine in a month or so they probably would have cleared naturally. So I was pleasantly surprised when they did it. I think I'll even phone them back next week and thank them,it can't hurt to keep them onside eh