This is a segment of my usual commute to work, between 1/4 and 1/3 of the total distance of 10km. If I leave between 5 and 7 in the afternoon, this sort of thing happens, sometimes with cars for almost the whole distance, like 2 km or so. There's no room next to the curb and going between lanes would be a death sentence. What I end up doing every time is jump the curb and ride 1-2 km on the sidewalk. This is a road between a big city and a small one, so there are barely any people on it most of the time. Lots of cracks, potholes on it though, sometimes dirt, construction debris and curbs for pedestrian crossings every 100 meters.
I currently ride a hardtail with a cheap suspension fork, aka the modern poor Eastern European man's bike, with semi-slick 2.0 x 27.5 tires (Conti Double Fighter II). So far it seems ideally suited for this type of riding. I can average 15 kph on the sidewalk while the shmucks sit around in their AC boxes and I can just run into each curb without feeling like the bike is breaking beneath me. On the road it's OKish, but I do get a lot of windy days which really make me work for it. I switched the straight bar with an h-bar clone, but I don't feel confident riding in the aero position with all the cars whizzing by. Carrying it upstairs to the apartament isn't fun either at almost 20 kilos, but I manage by telling myself I'll get stronger legs.
This is why I've been itching for a lighter, more roadish bike for a while now, especially since I don't carry much stuff with me for work. I am wondering though how low could I go with tire width and whether a rigid fork would really be ok to use for this kind of situation. I know road bikes are tougher than they look, but just how much abuse can they realistically take on the daily? Especially the ones at the lower price points, like a Decathlon Triban RC120.
by vanghelion
9 Comments
I would ride that on a rigid fork road bike with slick (28 or 30mm) tires no problem.
20 lb commute bike without suspension like my giant escape. Or a gravel ish bike if you really want drop bars, but this reduces your all around visibility if that’s a concern. I was getting so many punctures for the short period I used a road bike.
I think what you’re using now is probably best. If/when the fork seals die, replace the whole fork with a rigid one and you’ll see a bit of efficiency improvement.
I tried different variants for such roads and found something like 40-622 tires with rigid fork is the most stable solution. Ammo fork without lock – lost power, with lock – extra weight on the borduren jump. Too wide tires – extra inertia.
Schwalbe tires
I’ve enjoyed my city commutes a lot more after getting some 650x47mm wheels and tires. They’re a mixed set of WTB Horizon and Byway tires. Smooth in the back, with semi slick in the front. The large volume and wide tread is super nice to have and soak up a lot of road buzz. This is with a rigid carbon fork.
28c to 40c, rigid fork.
Personally I like 40c tires a lot. They seem a perfect trade off between performance and comfort. However, you could comfortably do 28c tires on that, and you’d just have to deal with a little more vibration.
I’d avoid shocks. That’s just more stuff to maintain, and I don’t think it would do anything for you here.
That looks better than most of my local roads, so just my road bike with 700×28.
200mm. Better safe than sorry.