i just got back (technically like 2 weeks ago lmao) from a 99 mile tour, which featured 1 mile of gravel service road and 3 miles of single track.
the bike was quick on the gravel, the road tires were eh through some of the high speed corners but thats to be expected. the single track was ok, i went really slow because i didn’t want to enter a corner too fast or get into anything sketchy. still, the vibrations into my hands were brutal, and the lack of weight on the front end as well as the rigid front fork made it skittery uncomfortable through corners.
my next trip, is also gonna be 100 miles: 75 miles of service roads and converted rails, 12 miles of crusty backroads, and 13 miles of single track. my concern and my question is about how much punishment this bike can take off road?
i ride a 1991 cannondale st1000 with a suntour xc comp gearset and campy shifters + rear deraileur. before my next ride i’m gonna replace my shifter cables and clean the shifters. in addition to adding drop bar grips and/or aero bars for comfort, im considering switching to a larger chain? currently i have a 6.8mm wide chain, and when i shift to the largest front ring it tends to struggle to grab up, getting stuck between the gears. this is because of the mismatched shifter and front derailer, the shifter pulls 1.4mm of cable and the derailer needs 1.5, or something like that. thinking i can hack it by getting a bigger chain.
it slips under load occasionally when i’m in the 5th rear gear. i’m not sure why that is but i think it might be because of cable stretch or something.
to be clear, i’m not worried about damaging the frame or some catastrophic failure like that, but i am worried about if the fork is too rigid i could break a spoke or something, or i’ve witnessed vibration ruin a rear deraileur on a friend’s redline 500. it (my cannondale) is the beefiest bike ive ever rode but i’m afraid of damaging the more road bike-y components doing single track while fully loaded.
by Menetetty