Hi all, Thank you to Robbie for passing my email along. I usually just lurk here since I am not a frequent bicyclist, and I really appreciate everyone's feedback on this. For those who asked about what chip sealing is, there's a brief description on the city's webpage: http://www.cityofmadison.com/transportation/roadworks/chipcrackSeal.cfm
I have contacted the City Engineering department and am awaiting a response. Please keep your responses coming. This sounds like a real concern for bicyclists, and I'm hoping to figure out how to best address it. Thanks, Lisa --- On Tue, 8/9/11, Martin Lund <[email protected]> wrote: From: Martin Lund <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Bikies] Fwd: Chip sealing and bike tires To: "India Viola" <[email protected]> Cc: "Bikies" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, August 9, 2011, 11:15 AM In terms of its impact on tires, cheap seal is awful stuff. My understanding is that it costs less than standard asphalt and concrete and that this is its only significant benefit. The material increases noise and rolling resistance, can negatively impact handling and increase the wear and tear of tires on all vehicles. I fix a lot of flats for people on a daily basis and a good portion of these, particularly this summer, have been caused by chip seal. Customers have told me that it is in use in parts of Middleton and Shorewood Hills, though I have no specific locations. On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 10:53 AM, India Viola <[email protected]> wrote: Robbie, I'm not sure I actually know what chip-sealing is, although I can hazard a guess. A few years ago I was riding on PD, which had recently been re-covered, and it looked like they used shards of broken glass in tar as the top road cover material (I know that it's not actually shards of glass) and it caused my tire to go flat. What I noticed on that particular road is that eventually the road became less hazardous as car tires embedded the "shards" into the substrate. The bike lane/shoulder takes longer to become flattened b/c cars aren't driving on it all that much, so maybe a steamroller could do that job? I'm curious to hear the responses that you get- please post them if folks don't 'reply all'. Thanks, India On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 10:46 AM, Robbie Webber <[email protected]> wrote: Dear community of collective wisdom, Can anyone comment about this [below email from Ald. Lisa Subeck]? Anyone had a similar experience? Heard other complaints? Know if a new material is being used? I had an email about a problem in Fitchburg forwarded to me this AM, so Steve Arnold may be familiar with this, but is Madison also using something sharp and pointy as aggregate? Rewey - you must know what's up... Robbie Webber ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lisa Subeck <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 9:53 AM Subject: Chip sealing and bike tires To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Hi Robbie, I just had a call from a constituent who is having problems with bike tires popping due to chip sealed streets. She commutes by bike and has had to replace tires several times in the last few weeks. The people at Erik's Bike Shop indicated to her that the problem is riding on chip sealed roads, which she can't avoid getting out of her neighborhood. the folks at Erik's told her they have been running into this problem a lot. They said there was even an organized ride (MS Ride maybe) last week that had numerous people on the ride pop tires from a chip sealed portion of the route. Since I think of you as an expert on all things bike, I'm curious If you've heard of this problem at all. If this is a significant problem, is it something we should put on an upcoming PBMV committee agenda? As my constituent pointed out, this doesn't contribute to making us a bike friendly city. Please let me know if you've heard about this problem at all. I will also he talking to the appropriate city staff but thought I'd check in with you, too. Thanks, Lisa Sent from my iPhone so please excuse any typos. _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
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