POTHOLES!?!?! argh...

jaycummins

sorry for he capital letters, im really angry. i recently bought a bike which you guys advised me on. saracen tour 2007 road racing bike. i had it for about two days when i noticed the wheels were buckling. the front wheel was slightly buckled but the back one looks slightly light a large metal pringle.
it's not so damaged that it rubs against the brake pads but its anooying because i can sort of feel it putting the balance when i take my hands of the bars. (i like doing that when im going really fast)

i'm just wondering if this can be from potholes, because i cycled from sandymount to dun laoighre and i must have hit about fifty potholes. seriously, iot was like a fu**ing assault course on those roads. and now my wheels are buckled. im just wondering if any body else has this problem with dublin roads (or any other county).

and can i just unbickle them using a spoke key, or should i not even bother.

thanks for the help! :D

Civilian_Target

Yep. I think there's not much to call between the Cabra Road and Central London. On the Cabra Rd. the potholes are more frequent, but in Central London (Aldwych, Strand), they're moon-crater-deep.

Even though I bought a high quality hybrid, I've had to have both my wheels rebuilt with the strongest spokes I could get, the front due an attempted theft but the rear can only be due to the weight on the wheel when it hits potholes.

I would have imagined you can get them rebuilt with thick, strong, spokes and they'll last. Mine have.

Membrane

An important part of the art of cycling is to read the road surface ahead of you and avoid the bad bits, or in rare circumstances where you can't avoid a pothole you make the bike light by "jumping" and/or by getting out of the saddle with your legs bent so that they can act as suspension, thereby significantly reducing the chance that your bike will be damaged.

Potholes are annoying because you can't afford to not read the road surface for a moment, but they shouldn't be the cause of damage to your bike. Hitting a pothole causing damage is the result of an observation failure.

That said, wheels , especially new robot produced wheels, can go out of true under normal usage. If your rims aren't damaged they can be true'd again by adjusting the spoke tension. It is possible to do that yourself if you are mechanically inclined (several DIY guides on the web), otherwise it is best left to a good bike shop.

Civilian_Target

Membrane wrote:

Potholes are annoying because you can't afford to not read the road surface for a moment, but they shouldn't be the cause of damage to your bike. Hitting a pothole causing damage is the result of an observation failure..

I don't buy that. While I do very much do the leg-hover (mostly for the future of my manhood as opposed to the future of my bike TBH!), sometimes potholes are just unavoidable. The 2 main circumstances are:
there is (or will soon be) someone overtaking you so you can't avoid it and
you're in stationary traffic or right behind someone and an unseen pothole pops up

I guess I probably hit a minimum of 5 or 6 potholes a day. I even know where many of them are, but road circumstances often just makes them difficult to avoid!

Mucco

New wheels can take a bit of time to bed in, and the spokes can loosen while they do. Most (good) bikes shops recognise this and will do a free 'tension and true' after a month's riding. Maybe check for this?

If you feel you're being forced into potholes by traffic, it's best to ride a bit further out from the gutter, this gives swerving space, and there tends to be fewer potholes there.

jaycummins

Mucco wrote:

it's best to ride a bit further out from the gutter, this gives swerving space, and there tends to be fewer potholes there.

ye, i always ride as far away from the curb as possible otherwise you have to keep swerving away from the drains. i really hate potholes so much, i just hate when you cant avoid them and you know you're gonna hit them and there is nothing you can do about it. i might try to get my wheels trued (if thats how you spell it) in a bike shop, but im sure for the moment a few slightly loose spokes and a bit of a buckled wheel wont do too much damage will it?

thanks for advice. they should really fix up the roads

Marathon Man

Civilian_Target wrote:

I guess I probably hit a minimum of 5 or 6 potholes a day. I even know where many of them are, but road circumstances often just makes them difficult to avoid!

The exact same as me. I know every bump and contour in the road between my house and town. But sometimes due to the proximity of other vehicles one has to do a bunny hop. Oh and i recently had to have the spokes on my road bike re -adjusted. The roads are really crap in Dublin.

collyche

I cycle as a sport and potholes are quite a problem! it takes a while to get to know where the potholes are on roads, the best answer i have is to get strong wheels. Usually on country roads i use mavic kyserium wheels, although if you dont cycle as a sport these wheels you'll find are quite expensive!! but in reality all ya can do is avoid potholes!!

cunnins4

Poxy potholes cost me a tire today. Was swerving to avoid one out near Howth and the bike dropped down where the tarmac ended and joined the concrete underneath at the gutter and tore the wall of the tire. It didn't pop until I hit another pothole later on. Luckily it held out when I changed the tube and I got home going really gently. Brand new tire, only 500k on it. F*ck sake.

It was on one of those stupid stretches of road where there's building work going on in a house and the road outside is in bits for about 50 yards, so avoiding one pothole usually puts ya in the line of two more. Urggghhh!:mad:

E@gle.

collyche wrote:

I cycle as a sport and potholes are quite a problem! it takes a while to get to know where the potholes are on roads, the best answer i have is to get strong wheels. Usually on country roads i use mavic kyserium wheels, although if you dont cycle as a sport these wheels you'll find are quite expensive!! but in reality all ya can do is avoid potholes!!

I have the ksyrium and they seem to be a good sturdy wheel, The wheels i got with my Trek were the biggest pile of crap every, go out out on a bad road and there would be at least one spoke broke

Carawaystick

Several motorists have cailmed on the motors forum that they got satisfaction form the council for pothole damage to their cars. this is possible where the pothole is a result form imperfect repair to a road : i.e. not where there's a pothole on an otherwise pristine surface, but where the pothole is at the edge of a filled gap or was repaired and potholed again etc. take photo's and submit a claim against the local authority. material damage only not injury should result in a faster settlement. Also the road should get fixed faster if this method of informing the local authority is used ....