off road on road bike

brianpoole

will my new triban 3 bike be ok for shortcuts along tracks(not too rough),canal towpaths etc.

cesco

As cyclo cross bikes are basically road bikes with different tyres a.o., you'll be fine. Also, ever seen Roubaix?

(That said, personally I cringe whenever I'm not able to avoid the tiniest crack in the road haha).

freezing77

brianpoole wrote:

will my new triban 3 bike be ok for shortcuts along tracks(not too rough),canal towpaths etc.

People can be a little "precious" about their road bikes. I take mine on road, off road etc, as long as you adjust your riding style to the conditions it will be fine.

stueys

Main difference is the tyres. Decent road tyres won't be very resilient off road

team47b

is this the kind of thing you had in mind...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZmJtYaUTa0

Monty Dog

Skinny road tyres are fine on dry, hard-packed trails but it gets a bit more interesting with looser or softer conditions as grip can be marginal - but it's good practise for your bike handling skills. Keep your speed under control, particularly don't lean/corner too hard or you'll soon find the limits of your minimal grip.

Schoie81

The biggest problem from my experience is punctures. My boss and I bought road bikes earlier this year and both cycle to work on them. Our office is up a track which is quite steep, roughly surfaced and parts have loose stones on. My boss used to cycle up and down it and had no problem with grip, but in the first 5weeks, he got three punctures on this 200m bit of track and picked up no punctures anywhere else on his rides. I quite happily ride up the track on my MTB, but stop at the bottom of the track and walk up when I'm on my road bike, and my boss does the same now