People who complain about road surfaces....

[Kermit power]

.....do you also ride mountain bikes?

I was thinking about this on the way in after a couple of guys were sat at traffic lights on my road moaning about how crap the tarmac was.

To be fair to them, it's not all mirror smooth the whole way in, but it's not as though it looks like it's been cluster bombed either!

I'm a mediocre mountain biker at best, but one thing it has taught me is to look ahead down the trail, and not let my vision get focused on the few yards in front of my bike. Taking that approach, the only place on my commute where I really struggled to avoid potholes got resurfaced last year!

Of course, pretty much any tarmac feels fairly smooth compared to most off road surfaces as well, but I was wondering whether there's a difference in perception of road surfaces between mountain bikers and non mountain bikers?

[WinstonWolf]

Pfft, mountain bikes with their plush suspension and squishy tyres, don't know they're born...

[WinstonWolf]

Purity14 said:

WinstonWolf said:

Pfft, mountain bikes with their plush suspension and squishy tyres, don't know they're born...

When you were a lad, bikes had square wheels, and it was uphill both ways.

Amiright?

And we actually got up before we went to bed

100PSI+ and poor road surfaces = unhappy plums

[Kermit power]

WinstonWolf said:

And we actually got up before we went to bed

100PSI+ and poor road surfaces = unhappy plums

That's what I was trying to find out though. Are the road surfaces really that poor across the road surface, or do roadies hit more imperfections because they don't look so far down the road, and thus steer away from them?

I also ride a road bike at 110 PSI btw...

[PAULJ5555]

I think most people moan not about the road surface but the fact that we pay enough tax for them to be kept in better condition.

[AC43]

There was no option for "I don't complain because I ride a mountain bike".

City roads are cr*p and I'd much rather be able to cycle in a straight line on my MTB than veer all over the place trying to avoid the bumps, cracks and potholes. Whilst worrying about punctures and bent/cracked rims.

For the same reason I'm not a fan of very low profile tyres on cars. Been there, cracked the rims, got the t shirt.

[frisbee]

Not sure why you think road bikers don't look very far ahead?

Faster speeds and having to plan manoeuvres around hazards in good time to avoid sudden swerving means that you look considerably further ahead.

A lot of roads are just st!

[Kermit power]

frisbee said:

Not sure why you think road bikers don't look very far ahead?

Faster speeds and having to plan manoeuvres around hazards in good time to avoid sudden swerving means that you look considerably further ahead.

A lot of roads are just st!

I'm basing it on the number I see on a frequent basis on CS7 coming hurtling up to a red light then slamming on the anchors because they've presumably only just noticed it!

Seriously though, maybe it would be fairer to say it's a different sort of looking ahead? I'll look ahead and include the road surface as a major part of said looking ahead because I don't want to be hitting a 3" high wet root at an angle on the mountain bike, whereas if I only ever rode on tarmac, I might not look at the surface so much, and only focus on cars, pedestrians, side roads etc, thus hitting more of the crap on the road itself?

[ALawson]

When you say complain do you actually mean, log onto the council website and report them? Or just moan about it to people who cannot improve the road.

I have found that Hart District Council (Hampshire) get out and repair most defects pretty quickly once I log them.

Although they did call after I logged about 10 after 1 ride.

If I still road MTB then I reckon the complaining would be worse!

[louiebaby]

Kermit power said:

I'm basing it on the number I see on a frequent basis on CS7 coming hurtling up to a red light then slamming on the anchors because they've presumably only just noticed it!

It's because they've got Strava set to Auto-pause, and they're trying to minimize their moving time to maximize their average speed. Yes, you'll get to your destination faster and less tired by slowing down for the lights, then rolling over the line at 10mph and getting back up to your crusing speed, but your average speed will be lower.



My commute is 10 miles on predominately large, country B roads. There are 2 sets of traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing. I select from a roadie, (now in TT spec,) MTB rolling on 42s at 65psi or a Brompton.

Some bits of the road are ste, some aren't.

[loudlashadjuster]

Kermit power said:

To be fair to them, it's not all mirror smooth the whole way in, but it's not as though it looks like it's been cluster bombed either

Varies from authority to authority I find. Buckinghamshire is just an embarrassment for example, there are many sections which would fit your 'cluster bombed' description very well, almost unrideable on a road bike.

Even riding a steel frame/carbon fork bike like mine, which is supposedly at the more pliant/comfortable end of the spectrum, can have me nearly blind from the jarring at times, despite me weaving all over the place trying to avoid the worst of the craters.

I find that when complaining to the Council about these they use very narrow definitions of individual failure points to wriggle out of the need to repair the whole section.

The types of vibration and the means to deal with it are very different on-road as opposed to off it though, can't really compare them. On my MTB I have (crap) front suspension which actually works better (up to a point!) when having to tackle bigger stuff but can still give an uncomfortable ride over some of the roads near me, even when not locked out.

On a trail you're always looking for the best compromise between smoothness, grip, lack of water/roots etc. and optimum line, and generally have a few options that can be tackled without having to worry that taking a 3ft dive to the right to avoid a mahoosive hole is going to leave your impaled on the front of a Scammell. You also don't have to be so 360° aware of all the other things that demand attention on the road.

[AyBee]

It's normally the stuff I'm riding over that I complain about, not the odd pothole (although that is irritating too). I admit that road bikes aren't the best for crap roads but it's not that I can't see the poor road surface, it's that I can't avoid it.

On this note - anyone commute along embankment right now? They've temporarily laid some new tarmac which feels like cobbles when you're riding over it - was it really too difficult to roll it smooth?

[Pachydermus]

Kermit power said:

whereas if I only ever rode on tarmac, I might not look at the surface so much

you would if you saw the size of some of the holes in London roads - substitute your 3" tree root with a 3" deep crater.

[Kermit power]

Pachydermus said:

Kermit power said:

whereas if I only ever rode on tarmac, I might not look at the surface so much

you would if you saw the size of some of the holes in London roads - substitute your 3" tree root with a 3" deep crater.

Maybe I'm just lucky with my London commute.

[Pachydermus]

Kermit power said:

Pachydermus said:

Kermit power said:

whereas if I only ever rode on tarmac, I might not look at the surface so much

you would if you saw the size of some of the holes in London roads - substitute your 3" tree root with a 3" deep crater.

Maybe I'm just lucky with my London commute.

I'm unfortunate enough to have to ride through Lewisham borough. I think they've run out of funds for fixing roads because they do genius things like block paving bus lanes (and then having to rip it out a few months later once the obvious happened).

this sort of thing

Edited by Pachydermus on Friday 9th October 15:23

[tuffer]

I complain even when driving my 4x4, roads around here are bloody atrocious. It is a smoother ride if I go out across Salisbury Plain tank tracks on my cross bike.

[frisbee]

Pachydermus said:

you would if you saw the size of some of the holes in London roads - substitute your 3" tree root with a 3" deep crater.

The washboard effect on some of the roads around Cheltenham means your vision is too blurred to see the holes!

[Usget]

frisbee said:

Pachydermus said:

you would if you saw the size of some of the holes in London roads - substitute your 3" tree root with a 3" deep crater.

The washboard effect on some of the roads around Cheltenham means your vision is too blurred to see the holes!

Yep - I concur. Truly ste roads.

[SteveSteveson]

All the looking ahead in the world won't get you around washboard pealing road dressing that stretches across the road.

[Prawo Jazdy]

Kermit power said:

WinstonWolf said:

And we actually got up before we went to bed

100PSI+ and poor road surfaces = unhappy plums

That's what I was trying to find out though. Are the road surfaces really that poor across the road surface, or do roadies hit more imperfections because they don't look so far down the road, and thus steer away from them?

I also ride a road bike at 110 PSI btw...

It's not the state of the tarmac in a lot of cases, but rather the recessed covers of various sorts, and the accompanying 6-inch transition zone where we go from road level to 3-inches below road level. No matter how far you look ahead, if you're on a relatively busy road it's probably not a great idea to be weaving in and out to avoid all this stuff.