What difference does the surface make?

florerider

There are lots of threads regarding average speed, but what difference does the road surface make to average speed?

Out on Anglesey last week I seemed to fly along compared to my local roads - and the big difference seemed to be the smoother tarmac surface.

markhewitt1978

A big difference assuming your tyres are pumped right up. Each little bump you hit is scrubbing off your speed so yes you can go much faster on a really smooth surface.

supermurph09

What about if the surface is smooth but the tarmac is fresh, I'm sure (when I find a patch) that it slows me down.

markhewitt1978

Supermurph09 wrote:

What about if the surface is smooth but the tarmac is fresh, I'm sure (when I find a patch) that it slows me down.

It's probably not that smooth then. New tarmac can actually be quite rough, the smoothest is where it's been down long enough that car / lorry tyres have worn down a smooth line but not too long that the surface itself has started to break down.

supermurph09

Its smooth, but perhaps softer which would surely give more resistance?

smoggysteve

I asked this question a while back. There were routes I used to take which had brand new black tarmac laid which seemed to slow me down. The same road further on had older smooth concrete which was noticably faster to ride on. I think some surfaces can effect your speed greatly jusy from the material used

ugo.santalucia

Huge difference, but it can be counteracted with the correct tyre.
For instance TdF type tarmac works well with 23 -25 mm tyres at high pressure (> 100 PSI), but rough and patched English tarmac works better at lower pressure (70-90 PSI), hence you need a bigger tyre.
If you go to the extreme of riding on gravel, then a 32 mm specific tyre at 40-60 PSI is way faster than a 23 mm tyre at 100 PSI...
If you then ride on soft soil and mud you need an even bigger tyre at even lower pressure (20-40 PSI) to build up some speed

thegreatdivide

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Huge difference, but it can be counteracted with the correct tyre.
For instance TdF type tarmac works well with 23 -25 mm tyres at high pressure (> 100 PSI), but rough and patched English tarmac works better at lower pressure (70-90 PSI), hence you need a bigger tyre.
If you go to the extreme of riding on gravel, then a 32 mm specific tyre at 40-60 PSI is way faster than a 23 mm tyre at 100 PSI...
If you then ride on soft soil and mud you need an even bigger tyre at even lower pressure (20-40 PSI) to build up some speed

Or as we like to call it 'Tourmac'

rickeverett

The new road surfaces now are more dense and don't have the big chippings any more. Designed to reduce noise and drag on all vehicles believe it or not.

However there is a bridle path / cycleway near me with a strange sticky / gritty feeling surface that my tyres cling to like treacle. Its designed to give horses extra traction on a 13% slope but its bloody horrible on a bike.

ManOfKent

That lovely surface-dressing with loose chips that seems to be all the rage with councils round here at the moment, slows me down quite a lot.

mattbabs

Surface dressing seems to be popular near me. I live near some of the TdF route going from Leeds. Most of the back roads between Otley and Bolton Abbey have been recently dressed. Perhaps they are expecting cyclists to stick to the main roads and follow the proper route rather than the nice quiet roads away from the tourists

Moonbiker

Hey I live on Anglesey always thought the tarmac here is pretty bad ?

Gwynedd seems to have better tarmac anyway.

chippyk

N Warwickshire council seem to be covering half their roads with loose chippings at the moment. I was planning on taking the route between Otley and Bolton abbey on the 5th, I might stick to the main road!

dilatory

Living on Anglesey also, can you advise where this good tarmac is? I'd love to ride on some!

Elfed

I live on Anglesey as well, where's this nice smooth tarmac???
All the roads round here seems to be surfaced dressed which create so much drag.

bluemoon17

There's a lot of us around here isn't there?! Was just going to ask where this smooth tarmac on Anglesey was. Unless it is that really, really smooth but short stretch (about 40m) out of the top of Beaumaris, next to the castle. :P
Always love that bit when heading up towards Penmon.

Agree with the poster above about Gwynedd though, definitely much smoother.

ugo.santalucia

I don't understand...

if you are graced with crap tarmac, get an appropriate tyre instead of sticking to lightweight racers and main roads... it seems a no brainer.

ManOfKent

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I don't understand...

if you are graced with crap tarmac, move away from Kent.

FTFY.

dilatory

Crikey. Wonder how many of us there are. Should have a BikeRadar meet up! Hah.