gravel racing

[thwart]

Interesting article here. Yep, some product endorsement, but good reading nevertheless:

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/gravel-racing-on-compass-tires/

[numbskull]

"We tend to draw a line at colder than -15° C at the start"

:eek:

[bobswire]

Good advice, quote" Riding on gravel must seem scary to a lot of riders, and I understand why. The fact that most ‘road bikes’ are sold with narrow tires (23 – 25 mm) can’t help the situation. Whenever I counsel friends and colleagues on new road bike purchases, I always encourage them to get a bike that fits at least 30 mm tires. A bike with 30 mm tires is so much more stable on gravel. But ‘gravel,’ as a category, is so ambiguous; the truth is that lots of dirt roads around here are actually really smooth in the summer, and don’t require anything special to ride. But if we’re talking about loose gravel, more volume in the tires is the name of the game. Over the years we’ve learned that volume is the key to stability on unpacked surfaces like those of gravel and dirt roads; knobs can’t do any work when the substrate under them is shifting."

I plan on riding with a friend tomorrow that offers some nice twisty rollers with a few shortcuts on gravel type roads. I'm setting up his bike with some 32m panaracer gravel kings (which ride well on any surface) for him experience. He is used to riding on tires no wider than 25m so I know he's going to enjoy the cushy but solid feel of these tires.
BTW I originally sold him this bike that allow him to use tires up to 32m. but this will be the first time he'll actually experience the benefit.

[redir]

I hate gravel. I don't get the attraction to it. Nothing like flat tires and silicosis to ruin an otherwise nice day.

[bobswire]

I hate gravel. I don't get the attraction to it. Nothing like flat tires and silicosis to ruin an otherwise nice day.

Gravel is a catch all term, could be hard packed, dirt, fire road etc,what have you. If you are talking about a semi paved road with fresh gravel laid atop then that's more like riding on ice. Had a friend on a motorcycle riding to a work site in marin county on a country rode that had fresh gravel laid atop, he took a corner kinda fast and hit the gravel. Had a bunch imbedded in his arm and elbow,had to take him to the emergency.

[geeter]

I hate gravel. I don't get the attraction to it. Nothing like flat tires and silicosis to ruin an otherwise nice day.
It's the fun of the day. Often you get a cue card to ride all day in the middle of nowhere with no support. It's adventure and a great workout.

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[benb]

I like him listing his tire pressures.. I weigh just a bit more and I'm on 38s and I typically run a bit lower than him on 32s.. it's hard to get a good basis and it seems like most of what you hear is people running a lot more pressure.

E.x. me right now - 167lbs, 25lb bike, 38c tires, I'll do just below 40psi in the front, 45 psi in the back. I am actually surprised by his rear tire pressure being lower than the front I guess. For me the higher pressures on big tires seem to have a horrible ride.

[unterhausen]

I hate gravel. I don't get the attraction to it. Nothing like flat tires and silicosis to ruin an otherwise nice day.

there are two things that attract me to gravel. One is that if I want to go climbing, it's the only way I can do that without a batch of enraged commuters taking their frustrations out on me. And it gets me away from civilization pretty quickly. On a lot of my rides, after 20 minutes I can't hear traffic sounds. That's really rare in most of the U.S.

I gave up on smaller tires, now I'm running 38mm tires and rarely have flats. I'm going tubeless soon and expect to have even fewer flats. I think it takes a lot higher traffic volume than our fire roads see before you can get silicosis.

having said that, if I didn't have such great gravel riding so close to me, I probably wouldn't have the equipment for it.

[Mzilliox]

I hate gravel. I don't get the attraction to it. Nothing like flat tires and silicosis to ruin an otherwise nice day.

sometimes the predictability of pavement gets boring. Sometimes the bit of float on nice gravel is something really fun. sometimes i like to test my bike handling skills and get my heart pumping, and sometimes i like to ride gravel just to make folks like you go, "whys that guy want to ride on gravel? :crap:".

Hehe, but you won't catch me with suspension...