Commuting on Cobbled Streets!!!

Levi_501

I have been looking at a way to commute to work for sometime, however the only route that I can realistically take has a good 2km section of cobbled streets.

Anyone one else have to do/done this?

Apart form the obvious slippery when went, is the consensus that it will destroy the wheels and bike?

I did wonder about installing a cheaper suspension fork.

Orange R8 steel frame MTB, with Kona Project 2 rigid forks.

Link to picture of style of cobbles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ItalianStones.jpg

Picture of one of the junctions I will be crossing.

Thanks in advance

fossyant

Awesome - go for it.

tailwindhome

* paging RIck Chasey to the thread.

clarkey cat

Looks like you need a Trek Domane 6.9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBMLR0KAoLI

mudcow007

where do you work?

coronation street?

there are quite a few cobbled sections in Liverpool city centre, just go slow across them, in the rain they are lethal

mtb-idle

Wapping High Street?

rode through there once, never again.

SimonAH

I understand that the nuns come that way.



IGMC

tailwindhome

clarkey cat wrote:

Looks like you need a Trek Domane 6.9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBMLR0KAoLI

You need a Specialized and Quickstep kit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BwnuBVUBsQ

rjsterry

I quite enjoy the little cobbled climb I've found from Arthur Street up to Cannon Street - barely 200m of it, but it is feeling the back wheel scrabble for grip. Surely even a rigid MTB is more than capable.

walkingbootweather

clarkey cat wrote:

Looks like you need a Trek Domane 6.9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBMLR0KAoLI

Nonsense. If you've got the bread you need one of these

tgotb

Only a few hundred metres of cobbles each way for me, but I hammer whatever bike I'm on without any issues. My biggest problem is the lemming iPeds who assume that anything cobbled must be the pavement. Only yesterday I had to swerve around a guy who stepped out into the road wearing full-on headphones and reading the newspaper. With sight and hearing tied up, I can only assume he was relying on his sense of smell to avoid getting wiped out...

UndercoverElephant

I have a short stretch of cobbles on my commute, they're the standard, Edinburgh style:



Whilst it's not my favourite bit of the commute on 23c road tyres, it doesn't seem to have killed either me or the bike yet. No real problem in the wet, either, but they're the granite ones, I hear limestone ones get a lot slippier.

Levi_501

I would love a Domane but I do not have the bread, nor do I live in Shaftesbury!

I had not thought about struggling for grip on the steeper sections.

Levi_501

Just done it, whilst it may not destroy the bike, it will certainly destroy me!

I think I am suffering from white finger, white toe and any other vibration illness. My forearms are knackered!

It will have to be an investment in at least in a front fork if nothing else.

Anonymous

Thicker bar tape with gel inserts?

Less pressure in tyres?

vermin

You need one of these;

notsoblue

clarkey cat wrote:

Looks like you need a Trek Domane 6.9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBMLR0KAoLI

Hmm, I could do with one of those for the bumps on Queen's Ride.

Levi_501

vermin wrote:

You need one of these;

Not sure my bike lock would fit

Levi_501

If anyone is interested; a few months down the line I have come up with a modified recipe for the R8.

Kona Project 2s forks have been replaced with Manitou Minutes 100mm travel forks

Specilized FasTrak LKs have replaced the Schwable Marathon Pluses. I run the LKs at 40psi, for reference these where just what I had lying around

Seat post has been replaced with a FSA carbon jobbie. Believe it or not this really takes the harshness of the cobbles.

Lastly, I have tightened up all the spokes on the rear wheel which has helped enormously.

cjcp

MTB-Idle wrote:

Wapping High Street?

rode through there once, never again.

Used to work very near there. Loved riding them. May have taken the odd detour on my way to work...

@Levi - I've found that double bar tape and riding hard over them did the job.

MichaelW

My cobble riding ability improved after fitting 1.9" Big Apple tyres.

itboffin

I've ridden the cobbles in Lille, Brugge, Koblenz, Roubaix the Amstel gold race and every morning Sussex pl. Paddington makes no difference

MTFU

Levi_501

cjcp wrote:

@Levi - I've found that double bar tape and riding hard over them did the job.

Thanks, I am considereing a set of carbon bars, either some EC90s or perhaps the Exotic ones.

I will probobly add them to one of my next orders.