Cattle Grids & Road Bikes

[944fan]

JEA1K said:

We ride over cattle grids on most rides ... no biggie ... like others have said, just ride straight over at a decent speed ... no pedaling, turning or braking and you just float over them. I know someone who and fell off in the wet, trapping his arm between two of the crossmembers and broke it.

Thanks, fills me with confidence.

I am sure the Woburn grids are not normal though. Don't know if the flat bars make them easier to cross or harder. The gaps look like your wheel will hit them and it will be arse over tit

[Jimbo.]

It won't happen. The wheel won't fall far enough into the gap between the bars of the cattle grid.

[yellowjack]

944fan said:

Thanks, fills me with confidence.

I am sure the Woburn grids are not normal though. Don't know if the flat bars make them easier to cross or harder. The gaps look like your wheel will hit them and it will be arse over tit

Two mentions of the Dorney Common grids earlier in the thread. I've not ridden them, but did do a Thames-side grid on NCN4 on the way to the Eton Dorney rowing lake from Windsor (and back again). It has massive round section tubes instead of flat-topped bars and is feckin' 'orrible. Almost like it's been designed to deliberately shake every bolt on your bike loose, and thereby actively discourage you from using the traffic free cycle route.

There are a few I ride across regularly,but the NCN4 one is the only 'rounded profile' grid I can recall. There is a gravel 'fire road' segment near me called "Grid to Grid". As you might imagine it's book-ended by cattle grids and they need to be taken at speed to get anywhere near the Strava leaderboard for it. I've had two disasters on the segment. Once I lost a decent rear light after hitting it at (then) KOM pace. The second time I had a double pinch-flat 'blow-out' on a particularly large rock dislodged from a pot-hole while unsuccessfully attempting to regain 'my' crown.

The only time I worry about falling off due to grids is at entry barriers on local army training areas,where you are forced to approach at a diagonal to them because there's an additional vehicle barrier ahead of them. The only answer there is to take them very slowly and use a hand on the barrier for support.

Most frequently ridden grid...
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2617259,-0.92957...
...which despite being clear to by-pass (I think the grid is currently redundant, as there's no gate for the by-pass route) I almost always choose to ride. I try to head for the strips that run parallel to the roadway to reduce the "brrrrrrrp" effect, but it's not really necessary.

My 'favourite' grid...
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.7582925,-3.98525...
...which I rode a lot with mates growing up.

The approach is steep, and ever so slightly unforgiving if you get the left hander wrong as you come off the 'mountain'...
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.7580691,-3.98168...
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.7583423,-3.98243...
...but the 'jeopardy' doesn't end with the cattle grid. It's definitely a "try your brakes before committing" type of descent and was done "back in the day" on steel "racers" with rubber blocks with leather 'wet weather braking strips' in them http://www.innertubeshop.com/products/fibrax-rainc...

The only time I'd worry about riding a grid would be if it were obviously damaged, as any unevenness between the bars could unsettle the front wheel. Certainly take extra care in wet or frosty conditions though, and if you suspect it's a bit dicey then walk the bike beside it if possible, but under 'normal' riding conditions there's nothing about a cattle grid that a well-built bicycle wheel cannot cope with.

[Jimbo.]

Christ

[Fluffsri]

yellowjack said:

Most frequently ridden grid...
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2617259,-0.92957...
...which despite being clear to by-pass (I think the grid is currently redundant, as there's no gate for the by-pass route) I almost always choose to ride. I try to head for the strips that run parallel to the roadway to reduce the "brrrrrrrp" effect, but it's not really necessary.

Receives a good hopping on the way home from work lol.

[anonymous-user]

The Dorney Common cattle grids are the ones I regularly cross on Brompton. Keep the speed up & hit at 90%, hasn't gone pear shaped yet!!

[tigger1]

They're ok if you don't go crazy.

Any on steep up uphill sections need a bit of care as the back wheel has a tendency to slide sideways when pedalling hard.

Downhill - bunny hop - but make sure you clear it though!