New Bike Riding On Rougher Roads

tugayuzunolu

Hello,

I'm new to the forum but read a lot before joining.
I've just bought a Whyte Portobello today. I was wondering if it'll be all right to cycle (ie. no damage to the bike) on the gated path you can see on the left hand side when in street view at this location...
https://maps.google.com/maps/place?ftid=0x488f6c14b29e0e91:0x130c6819dc6fd4e0&q=57.32663,-4.270619&ved=0CA4Q-gswAA&sa=X&ei=IjeHUJ_qIKTmiAa0sYHgBw
I'm not sure because I never used a bike with thin tires before. I'm planning a pretty long cycle tomorrow and it will be excellent if I can cycle along the loch on this path.

Thanks.

wod1

Road bikes will be ok on short bits of gravel like this, from your map to go round the loch looks a bit further than I would like to on thin tyres, You will need to take it slow, the bike should be ok, other the obvious risk of chips from loose gravel and greater puncture risk, Certainly take a minimum of two inner tubes and repair kit. I have two much shorter bits of loose gravel that I have cycled on to complete a nice loop but after cycling on both I would probably just cycle a good number of extra miles further to stay on road.

PS. looks a great place to cycle round views wise.

DavidJB

Road bikes can take a lot more punishment than people give them credit for.

tugayuzunolu

Thanks for the info. I'll take another route since I don't have any spare inner tubes or even puncture repair kit yet...
Yea around Loch Ness is very good for cycling.

cougie

You spent 100s on a bike but didnt spend £20 to get a spare tube and tyre levers and a pump ?
Punctures can happen anywhere.

Road bikes can take a lot of pounding - look up the clips of Paris Roubaix where they batter down the cobbles. Or that Martyn Ashton Road Party video.

Your bike seems to have 28mm tyres? Most road bikes would have 23 or 25mm tyres at max - so it should be fine.
A lot depends on your skills though - maybe save the rougher roads until you've spent some time on the bike.

Mikey41

You'd be OK on that if it continues the same as it looks on street view, just go carefully to avoid big holes. As has been said, risk of puncture is higher. 28mm tyres would be much better off anyway!

I have ridden a road bike over much worse than that back before we had puncture resistant tyres, and it managed OK, just had to pick my way carefully and slowly, and had to push it up the inclines. It was about a mile I think and was a shortcut from near Hawkshead to the Windermere ferry and saved me a lot of miles to stay on the roads, so it was worth it.

I didn't even have a repair kit with me, must have been mad! :shock:

lotus49

cougie wrote:

Road bikes can take a lot of pounding - look up the clips of Paris Roubaix where they batter down the cobbles. Or that Martyn Ashton Road Party video.

I watched Road to Roubaix last week and you're not wrong. Not only are the cobbles very uneven in places, many of them are somewhat angular and I would have expected to see more punctures than there seemed to be. Having said this, most of the pros apparently don't race the same bikes again after Paris-Roubaix but that may just be because they have money to burn.

If your bike has tubs rather than clinchers you are probably also less likely to get a puncture (although, if you do, fixing it will be more of a pain in the bum).

cougie

Having looked at the route - that looks fine - I did the RatRace coast to coast on my cross bike - ok I had wider tyres than you - but the route had a good few miles of proper off road and riding trails.

JamesB5446

I did the C2C on 23mm tyres. It was painful in parts, but the wheels were fine.