I live in a town in northern Vt where most of the roads are dirt and I enjoy riding them more than I do broken pavement. I suppose the much lighter traffic on the back roads is part of the joy, but unless you have an urge to go as fast as you can, dirt roads are great for riding. The comment about tossed stones is true, but I find that more of a problem in my car than on my bike. Trucks & large SUV drivers who need to do fifty and pass others on these roads leave behind a trail of chipped paint and windshields.
I don't find the dirt roads to go through tires any faster than the avg. (bad) road around here. The surface of dirt roads changes constantly with weather and grading. I find 32's are fine when the roads are in good condition and 38's (nominal under all but the very worst conditions (mud season). The tandem does fine with 26x1.6. Paved roads are great when they're in good condition, but then they deteriorate and can be rotten for years before they get fixed, especially if they are less traveled by cars, which is exactly what cyclist tend to seek out. Michael goofing off at work on Sunday morning On Jul 25, 7:42 am, Shawn <sa240...@yahoo.com> wrote: > I recently had a problem with my rear tire (JB Green). My LBS said it > was a fractured casing? I have never heard of it, but anyway the LBS > said it was caused by hitting a rock or stone just right. Does this > sound right? The tire had less than a 1k miles on it, a new one is in > the mail. > > At least we can ride on gravel. Recently some friends of my wife and I > rode their bikes, new Trek road bikes, to our house to meet up for > breakfast and a ride. When they arrived I seen they were walking their > bikes down our 800ft gravel drive. I couldn't help myself, I opened up > the front door and yelled, " You are suppose to ride bikes", we all > laughed. > > On Jul 24, 11:01 pm, JoelMatthews <joelmatth...@mac.com> wrote: > > > One concern with gravel is car and truck tires shooting loose stones > > at you and your bike as they pass. > > > Illinois has a number of crushed stone bike trails. It is amazing how > > forcefully a bike tire can shoot a stone. Back in the gravel road > > day, broken car glass was fairly common. Sure would hate to get hit > > on the noggin with a car shot rock. > > > On Jul 24, 6:56 pm, Angus <angusle...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > > > > The "chip seal" they use here in Texas is horrible, I'd rather have > > > gravel. Anything less than a 35mm tire and the stuff vibrates your > > > teeth out. I don't see how the carbon fiber crowd on their skinny > > > tires take it....maybe they are tougher than I... > > > > Angus > > > > On Jul 19, 9:39 am, Anne Paulson <anne.paul...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Strapped cities and counties turning paved roads into gravel roads: > > > > >http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870491330457537095036373... > > > > > -- > > > > -- Anne Paulson > > > > > My hovercraft is full of eels -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
