There is a very brutal cobblestone climb in a town near me, which is followed by a cobblestone descent. The stones on the climb are round, but they’re quite far apart from each other which makes for a bumpy ride (picture for reference). I want to challenge myself by going up it 100x in a row. Will this cause damage to my road bike? I have a full carbon frame, carbon wheels and tubeless tires.
by Plootsxd
21 Comments
No, but also yes. Riding over cobble is no issue, but riding hundreds of miles over it at fast speeds can cause parts to get loose or wear faster due to the harsh vibrations.
If all bolts are tightened properly, there are no tiny hairline cracks in any carbon components (that you haven’t noticed yet) and you’re running a sensible tire pressure, this shouldn’t be a problem
Heard of the Paris-Roubaix?
My suggestion is if you want to ride this route regularly, construct a Titanium framed bike with super strong 36 or 48 spoke wheels. And tune them regularly.
Replacing wheels is expensive. And the crashes can be worse.
Tubeless is good. Wide tires with lower pressure is better.
Have fun.
It will beat you up but it shouldn’t hurt your bike unless you crash. You might want to check the bike periodically to make sure bolts aren’t vibrating loose
depends on which end is up
* laughing in full suspension MTB *
On a serious note, I wouldn’t go fast. I think the rigid fork will appreciate that too. When I go with my commuter over cobbles, I slow down drastically. If you have grass/gravel path next to the road, use that instead. Also, be prepared you might glaze your pads over time if you ride the brakes on the way down
They certainly don’t improve anything.
Mathieu van der Poel says no
They also aren’t fun to ride over
It’s not going to destroy your bike immediately, but if you do it repeatedly the frame won’t last as long as it might otherwise.
Exerts lots of pressure and could loosen up bolts.
If you tyres are low you might hit your wheels on the cobbles which might damage, bent or crack them depending in material.
Carbon wheels on gravel just need one unlucky stone hitting the edge and your wheel could be done.
What do you think? You won’t be riding your road bike on the cobble stones. That’s a fact.
Nah, they mostly cause damage to testicles. Luckily my wife didn’t want to have children, so it’s not an issue for me.
They’ll hurt your mangina for sure.
It does more damage to you than the bike
Yes.
It causes damage to the road cyclist.
To prevent damage you need to reduce speed. Wider tires with lower pressure can only decrease the effect. Only mountain bikes are really designed to resist such road conditions at hight speed for long time (telescopic fork or full suspension, reinforced frame, reinforced rims, wide tires, disc brakes etc.
So either reduce the speed or borrow a mountain bike.
The pros manage it at Roubaix. The trick is to sustain 60kph.