Road tyres off road?

tobes88
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Road tyres off road?

Postby tobes88 » Thu Jul 03, 2014 4:15 pm

I recently put some Specialized Roubaix's (28mm) on my single speed, with the intention to get onto some gravel and fire roads. Some are likely to be pretty rough.

Just wondering if others have done something similar? What to expect?

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby m@ » Thu Jul 03, 2014 4:54 pm

Yep! I've ridden my Honky Inc (with 28mm Specialized Roubaix somethingorothers) on gravel paths, firetrails, CX courses and even a little bit of tame singletrack... result: fun! :D
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Bentnose
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby Bentnose » Wed Jul 09, 2014 1:07 pm

28mm tyres are okay when its dry but you have to be very careful when it is wet, you'll have no cornering or braking grip. The best grip is found on tacky dirt that has dried but still retains a small amount of moisture, I take gravel shortcuts with 28mm slicks on my commute, rain hail or shine. If your mostly doing gravel etc on a ride you may want to look at a different tyre.
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nitestick
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby nitestick » Wed Jul 09, 2014 2:57 pm

I've had moderate success riding gravel/dirt on Vittoria Rubino Pro 700x25Cs on my light touring bike. I didn't do it for substantial distance but they controlled reasonably well in mostly dry conditions for about 15km. They're twitchy, but once you've got the feel for it it's doable. I feel pretty confident on my Freedom Thick Slick 28cs, those are on my single speed.

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby Calvin27 » Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:56 pm

I've ridden my fair share of questionably gravel paths with 28c Roubaix armadillos. They did the job. Very shaky on the dry loose stuff but not too bad on wet surfaces. Haven't got any punctures yet and I've been lazy so riding them with full pressure (95psi)!

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby edsa » Wed Jul 09, 2014 5:24 pm

http://instagram.com/p/qMr1VgMBc8/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Christian Meier tweeted his 28mm threads the team are going to use for the wet cobbles tonight. Im guessing if the 28's can handle wet muddy cobblestones they should be ok on gravel. =)

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Strydz
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby Strydz » Wed Jul 09, 2014 6:50 pm

I do quite a bit off-road cycling on my road bikes and have never had any issues running 23mm GP 4000's, not one puncture, have had slippery moments but nothing of real concern. I have found it's how you postion yourself on the bike that is the key to riding offroad on road bike or similar types
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby kPrdfHTb » Thu Jul 10, 2014 3:08 am

Does this evening's TDF count as "off road"?

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barefoot
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby barefoot » Thu Jul 10, 2014 10:22 am

Most solo road rides I do somehow end up turning into exploratory missions, which inevitably end up on dirt. Usually just smooth dirt farm roads (which are often a smoother, faster surface than the chipseal farm roads we usually ride around here), but often logging roads, firetrails, and sometimes singletrack.

That's on the same ~100psi 25mm road tyres I ride everywhere else.

As others have said, traction is the only real issue. Be very careful if you find yourself on damp clay.

Also be mindful that road shoes are really bad for walking in. Like, if you end up having to rock-hop across a creek crossing. Then try and clip in... uphill on wet clay... in too high a gear :-D

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby Calvin27 » Thu Jul 10, 2014 10:31 am

Strydz wrote: it's how you postion yourself on the bike that is the key to riding offroad on road bike or similar types
If you've ridden a MTB before then it's should be all good assuming you're not using full race tyres. Like they say- a MTBr braces their hands at a pothole, a roadie swerves around it.
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby m@ » Thu Jul 10, 2014 10:43 am

Calvin27 wrote:If you've ridden a MTB before then it's should be all good assuming you're not using full race tyres. Like they say- a MTBr braces their hands at a pothole, a roadie swerves around it.
...and a CX'er bunnyhops it 8)
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby edsa » Thu Jul 10, 2014 11:05 am

kPrdfHTb wrote:Does this evening's TDF count as "off road"?
Well, it was won by a CX champion.. :D

it looked a lot muddier, full of potholes and wetter on tv. :shock:
And in this thread's context (gravel roads) would probably be preferable to cobbles :lol:

Edit: pic i grabbed from the interwebz http://www.cyclingbetting.co.uk/images/ ... obbles.JPG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby barefoot » Thu Jul 10, 2014 11:28 am

edsa wrote:
kPrdfHTb wrote:Does this evening's TDF count as "off road"?
Well, it was won by a CX champion.. :D

it looked a lot muddier, full of potholes and wetter on tv. :shock:
And in this thread's context (gravel roads) would probably be preferable to cobbles :lol:

Edit: pic i grabbed from the interwebz http://www.cyclingbetting.co.uk/images/ ... obbles.JPG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
One of the least enjoyable roads I've taken my bike on was a logging road out the back of Buninyong, which was hardened for truck traffic by dumping what looked like large railway ballast onto the sand/silt base. Roughly 100mm on a side, irregular shaped, randomly oriented.

The rocks were all embedded in the ground (after a few wet/dry cycles and a few log trucks they are essentially set in concrete), so they didn't move around under bike tyres like railway ballast does, but several kilometers of this jarring uneven sharp hard-edged nightmare surface... on my road tyres... I was already running late, so I had to push through at a reasonable pace. I reckon that was the beginning and end of my Roubaix career. Not a road I ever plan to revisit.

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby mitchy_ » Thu Jul 10, 2014 11:38 am

edsa wrote:
kPrdfHTb wrote:Does this evening's TDF count as "off road"?
Well, it was won by a CX champion.. :D

it looked a lot muddier, full of potholes and wetter on tv. :shock:
And in this thread's context (gravel roads) would probably be preferable to cobbles :lol:

Edit: pic i grabbed from the interwebz
Image
:shock: :shock:

and i thought some of queenslands roads were bad after moving from western australia. that would suck.

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby yolk » Thu Jul 10, 2014 12:20 pm

I run 28mm durano plus and have ridden the Lilydale to Warburton trail numerous times. Just have to be more picky with your lines especially with loose gravel.

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby silentbutdeadly » Thu Jul 10, 2014 4:56 pm

mitchy_ wrote:that would suck.
It clearly did. But they still managed to average 47 km/h for the stage so they were steaming across this stuff. I suspect the capable units were adopting the 'corrugation technique' of "go fast/hang on/hope nothing goes wrong".

28mm on some roadies is OK for virtually anything except soft over hard surfaces and even then handling techniques will win you some progress where others come a cropper. But if your roadie is more race than endurance in geometry then all bets are off. My steep fronted Scott CX bike didn't like 28mm tyres at all...or at least I didn't like them because they kept trying to kill me.
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby Duck! » Fri Jul 11, 2014 12:10 am

I've done some off-roading on my commuter roadie with 23mm Conti Gatorskins. Biggest problem was my setup with a lot of handlebar drop making it very hard to get up & back enough to "float" the front wheel on top of the loose stuff rather than burying it.
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby m@ » Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:53 am

I went for a little ride up Mount Stanley (near Beechworth) on the weekend; ended riding along 500m of firetrail scattered with rocks and frozen puddles. Fine going up but a bit of a rattle-fest on the way down. This was one of the tamer sections...

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Jul 21, 2014 11:24 am

I've done a fair bit of gravel on the 700x23s, doable but nowhere near as comfortable/secure as 27 x 1 1/4". Pretty much anything will do the job but just go as fat as you can.
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby RonK » Mon Jul 21, 2014 11:56 am

Can't see why it would be a problem. It wasn't for these riders. :wink:

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby clackers » Mon Jul 21, 2014 4:47 pm

I do gravel roads all the time on 28mm 700c. You soon learn when descending to pick your lines rather than hit a rut the way you would on an MTB.

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby edsa » Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:52 pm

Apparently, (read it in some road biking magazine at lunch, can't remember the name), gravel racing is gaining momentum in the US, and there are some "gravel" specific road bikes being released..
http://theradavist.com/2014/07/look-spe ... avel-bike/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; just released.

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby mitchy_ » Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:01 pm

edsa wrote:Apparently, (read it in some road biking magazine at lunch, can't remember the name), gravel racing is gaining momentum in the US, and there are some "gravel" specific road bikes being released..
http://theradavist.com/2014/07/look-spe ... avel-bike/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; just released.
so they're making bikes between road and cx now? :shock:

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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby gabrielle260 » Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:58 pm

edsa wrote:Apparently, (read it in some road biking magazine at lunch, can't remember the name), gravel racing is gaining momentum in the US, and there are some "gravel" specific road bikes being released..
http://theradavist.com/2014/07/look-spe ... avel-bike/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; just released.
That's old news - some of us have been riding gravel grinders for several years now.
Check out gravelgrindernews.com or Guitar Ted's blog or melbournegravelgrinders blogspot.
A gravel grinder is not just another name for a CX bike - although some would argue that point. GT explains the difference at some length in his blog!
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Re: Road tyres off road?

Postby Bentnose » Tue Jul 22, 2014 10:21 pm

Basically you just needs to be aware of limitations and ride accordingly I have done extended fire road sections on 700 x 23's many times, up and down steep hills are the worst parts.
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