A road bike for gravel paths?

I'm sure this question gets asked all the time, but I'm looking for a
bike. I enjoy road cycling, and have been angling for an excuse to get a
half decent road bike for a while now, but with the condition of the
roads around here, I'm sure nice lightweight wheels wouldn't last a week.

But the local council are doing a good job of opening up river paths
with good quality gravel trails. I could see family treks along these
paths becoming a regular weekend/evening outing, but when riding on my
own, I prefer /trying/ to go fast on tarmac! I do a lot of running at
the moment, and may be tempted to try biathlon or triathlon if the bug
bites.

Then I got talking to a guy at work, who does a bit of mountain biking.
He reckons I could get a decent road bike, and a 2nd set of more rugged
wheels for pottering around and pathways. Is this feasible? Obviously
I'm not seriously off-roading, so don't need any great tread, just
something that doesn't puncture or buckle at every little bump.

And finally there's cost. I was hoping to get away with £200-£300, but
read elsewhere that £400 was a good budget for a road bike. What do I
get for the extra £100? Why are carbon forks so prized?

Enough already, any thoughts will be very welcome,
Ib.

Ib wrote:
I'm sure this question gets asked all the time, but I'm looking for a
bike. I enjoy road cycling, and have been angling for an excuse to get a
half decent road bike for a while now, but with the condition of the
roads around here, I'm sure nice lightweight wheels wouldn't last a week.

But the local council are doing a good job of opening up river paths
with good quality gravel trails. I could see family treks along these
paths becoming a regular weekend/evening outing, but when riding on my
own, I prefer /trying/ to go fast on tarmac! snip

Sounds like you may want a cyclo-cross bike which is "road" looking and
designed for speed but has clearance for bigger tyres (and a few other
design features to aid off roading like canti brakes). I would guess
that family pootling on gravel tracks and pretend racing on roads
could probably both be served adequately by a well inflated set of
slick or near slick tyres at around 30mm wide (though tastes vary of
course). Decathlon always used to do a 'cross bike though I cant
remember the price (it wasn't anything ridiculous). They have some good
value road bikes in your price range as well although you will find
that they probably only have clearance for tyres at a width that may be
a bit lively on gravel

best wishes
james

Ib wrote:
I'm sure this question gets asked all the time, but I'm looking for a
bike. I enjoy road cycling, and have been angling for an excuse to get a
half decent road bike for a while now, but with the condition of the
roads around here, I'm sure nice lightweight wheels wouldn't last a week.

Actually, a decent set of wheels will last a long time if they are
built well and kept true.

But the local council are doing a good job of opening up river paths
with good quality gravel trails. I could see family treks along these
paths becoming a regular weekend/evening outing, but when riding on my
own, I prefer /trying/ to go fast on tarmac! I do a lot of running at
the moment, and may be tempted to try biathlon or triathlon if the bug
bites.

Do it, or time trialling may be up your street as well. The biggest
problem with narrow tyres on such a path is the grip. Loose gravel and
thin tyres are not the best of bedfellows.

Then I got talking to a guy at work, who does a bit of mountain biking.
He reckons I could get a decent road bike, and a 2nd set of more rugged
wheels for pottering around and pathways. Is this feasible? Obviously
I'm not seriously off-roading, so don't need any great tread, just
something that doesn't puncture or buckle at every little bump.

Yes. And excessive punctures are more a sign of poorly maintained
wheels.


And finally there's cost. I was hoping to get away with £200-£300, but
read elsewhere that £400 was a good budget for a road bike. What do I
get for the extra £100? Why are carbon forks so prized?

Road bikes tend to start at around 300. What carbon will give you is a
bit of damping on teh front end which will take some of the buzz from
the road out of your hands.

Get one. If you like speed, it is the thing for you..

Enough already, any thoughts will be very welcome,
Ib.

...d

Ib wrote:
I'm sure this question gets asked all the time, but I'm looking for a
bike. I enjoy road cycling, and have been angling for an excuse to
get a half decent road bike for a while now, but with the condition
of the roads around here, I'm sure nice lightweight wheels wouldn't
last a week.

But the local council are doing a good job of opening up river paths
with good quality gravel trails. I could see family treks along these
paths becoming a regular weekend/evening outing, but when riding on my
own, I prefer /trying/ to go fast on tarmac! I do a lot of running at
the moment, and may be tempted to try biathlon or triathlon if the bug
bites.

Then I got talking to a guy at work, who does a bit of mountain
biking. He reckons I could get a decent road bike, and a 2nd set of
more rugged wheels for pottering around and pathways. Is this
feasible? Obviously I'm not seriously off-roading, so don't need any
great tread, just something that doesn't puncture or buckle at every
little bump.

Properly-built lightweight road bike wheels and tyres can actually take
plenty of battering as long as the tyres are kept well inflated to protect
the rims. In fact the bumps and holes on the road are worse because you
hit them much harder and faster. (No matter how hard you try, you won't
spot or be able to avoid them ALL in time).

Yes you could have wider* and tougher tyres for the paths (and a second
set of wheels to save swapping tyres) to give a softer ride and protect
against glass/flint/thorn punctures, but the riding position of a road
bike (even a /relatively/ upright one) spoils comfort and enjoyment of the
ride when soft-pedalling at 10mph. So how about using a second-hand
mountain bike for those rides instead?

* Dependent on frame clearance, which limit tyres to 23 to 25mm in many
cases.

And finally there's cost. I was hoping to get away with £200-£300, but
read elsewhere that £400 was a good budget for a road bike. What do I
get for the extra £100?

Slightly lighter and more up-to-date components and frame, and an extra
gear if you're lucky. Same again when spending a further £100, and so on.

Why are carbon forks so prized?

They save a lot of weight and provide a little bit of damping.

~PB

Ib wrote:
I'm sure this question gets asked all the time, but I'm looking for a
bike. I enjoy road cycling, and have been angling for an excuse to get a
half decent road bike for a while now, but with the condition of the
roads around here, I'm sure nice lightweight wheels wouldn't last a week.

But the local council are doing a good job of opening up river paths
with good quality gravel trails. I could see family treks along these
paths becoming a regular weekend/evening outing, but when riding on my
own, I prefer /trying/ to go fast on tarmac! I do a lot of running at
the moment, and may be tempted to try biathlon or triathlon if the bug
bites.

Then I got talking to a guy at work, who does a bit of mountain biking.
He reckons I could get a decent road bike, and a 2nd set of more rugged
wheels for pottering around and pathways. Is this feasible? Obviously
I'm not seriously off-roading, so don't need any great tread, just
something that doesn't puncture or buckle at every little bump.

And finally there's cost. I was hoping to get away with £200-£300, but
read elsewhere that £400 was a good budget for a road bike. What do I
get for the extra £100? Why are carbon forks so prized?

Enough already, any thoughts will be very welcome,
Ib.

Before mountain bikes people used road and touring bikes off-road all
the time. In fact the Rough Stuff Fellowship (http://www.rsf.org.uk/)
still does a lot of quite extreme off-roading on them. If you can get
more of a touring bike than road bike, fit some wider tyres on and then
pump them up hard for the road and speed and let them down a bit for a
softer ride on gravel paths it'll do fine. The wheels with modern
components will stand up fine too. So save the money from the extra
wheels and put it on the bike instead.

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

Ib wrote:
I'm sure this question gets asked all the time, but I'm looking for a
bike. I enjoy road cycling, and have been angling for an excuse to get a
half decent road bike for a while now, but with the condition of the
roads around here, I'm sure nice lightweight wheels wouldn't last a week.

But the local council are doing a good job of opening up river paths
with good quality gravel trails. I could see family treks along these
paths becoming a regular weekend/evening outing, but when riding on my
own, I prefer /trying/ to go fast on tarmac! I do a lot of running at
the moment, and may be tempted to try biathlon or triathlon if the bug
bites.

Then I got talking to a guy at work, who does a bit of mountain biking.
He reckons I could get a decent road bike, and a 2nd set of more rugged
wheels for pottering around and pathways. Is this feasible? Obviously
I'm not seriously off-roading, so don't need any great tread, just
something that doesn't puncture or buckle at every little bump.

On what's normally called a "road bike", i.e. a racing bike, you
probably couldn't fit tyres wide enough for gravel. 28mm is normally
the biggest that will fit in the frame, and I struggle on gravel with
35mm. A touring bike is better, but not suitable for racing because of
the extra weight, poor aerodynamics (mudguards!) and odd handling
compared to a racing bike. Believe me, I've used a tourer for TTs in
wet weather and even with tri-bars it's 1-2mph slower.

And finally there's cost. I was hoping to get away with £200-£300, but
read elsewhere that £400 was a good budget for a road bike. What do I
get for the extra £100? Why are carbon forks so prized?

Lighter components with less steel and more aluminium, lighter frame.
Carbon forks are said to absorb some road buzz. IME this is a marginal
effect at best, and some carbon forks are no better than steel in this
respect. Carbon forks are cheaper than quality steel forks these days
because they're mass-produced.

David Martin wrote:

Yes. And excessive punctures are more a sign of poorly maintained
wheels.

Can you explain?

Following on from Ib's message. . .
I'm sure this question gets asked all the time, but I'm looking for a
bike. I enjoy road cycling, and have been angling for an excuse to get a
half decent road bike for a while now, but with the condition of the
roads around here, I'm sure nice lightweight wheels wouldn't last a week.

But the local council are doing a good job of opening up river paths
with good quality gravel trails. I could see family treks along these
paths becoming a regular weekend/evening outing, but when riding on my
own, I prefer /trying/ to go fast on tarmac! I do a lot of running at
the moment, and may be tempted to try biathlon or triathlon if the bug
bites.
Gravel paths are normally quite smooth (unless horse riders get at them)
It is concrete (the worst) or tarmac if it has degenerated into
corrugations and potholes that are bad news.

As others have said the tyres are crucial. Get heavier (and 'puncture
resistant') tyres and learn to live with the 'penalty' of extra weight.
(In the town there is broken glass, in the country there are hawthorn
hedge clippings.)

If you have mudguards then this can be a real problem when (a) fitting
chubbier tyres and (b) going off road in the damp. I mention these
'non-sporty' additions 'cos you might end up using use the bike more if
it is more of an all purpose machine.

--
PETER FOX Not the same since the submarine business went under

www.eminent.demon.co.uk - Lots for cyclists

On 07/22/2005 23:03:31 Ib wrote:

I'm sure this question gets asked all the time, but I'm looking for a
bike. I enjoy road cycling, and have been angling for an excuse to get a
half decent road bike for a while now, but with the condition of the roads
around here, I'm sure nice lightweight wheels wouldn't last a week.

But the local council are doing a good job of opening up river paths with
good quality gravel trails. I could see family treks along these paths
becoming a regular weekend/evening outing, but when riding on my own, I
prefer /trying/ to go fast on tarmac! I do a lot of running at the
moment, and may be tempted to try biathlon or triathlon if the bug bites.

Then I got talking to a guy at work, who does a bit of mountain biking. He
reckons I could get a decent road bike, and a 2nd set of more rugged
wheels for pottering around and pathways. Is this feasible? Obviously
I'm not seriously off-roading, so don't need any great tread, just
something that doesn't puncture or buckle at every little bump.

And finally there's cost. I was hoping to get away with £200-£300, but
read elsewhere that £400 was a good budget for a road bike. What do I
get for the extra £100? Why are carbon forks so prized?

Enough already, any thoughts will be very welcome, Ib.

Why bother with the second set of wheels, when we were kids we used to
off road on racers.

--

Buck

I would rather be out on my Catrike

http://www.catrike.co.uk

Zog The Undeniable wrote:
David Martin wrote:

Yes. And excessive punctures are more a sign of poorly maintained
wheels.

Can you explain?

Poorly inflated tyres = more pinch flats.
Poorly maintained rim tape = more blowouts
worn tyres = blowouts
misaligned brake blocks = excessive tyre wear.

all poor maintenance..

...d