Mad to cycle in tomorrow on road bike

fletch

As per thread title...would I be mad to cycle into the city centre from Dublin 15 tomorrow? The main roads seem fine, just took a quick spin to the Phoenix Park and it's pretty much impassable on road tyres....I could go down Knockmaroon/Blackhorse Avenue but would still be a bit worried about motorists smashin into me...
Is everyone else going to chance it?

Beasty

Although the roads look a lot better, there is still plenty of black ice around, and sub-zero temperatures are forecast again overnight. Hence I will be sticking to the turbo for now

seamus

Looking at the roads around here (Dublin 24) today, they seem fine. Paths still covered in snow, but the roads seem clear. Dunno what will happen tonight, it might freeze badly.

More snow is forecast midweek...

The_Claw

I've just come back from the shops, a ten-minute walk during which I nearly fell on my ass three times. Will be staying off the bike until there's a genuine thaw.

Nietzschean

looking at the coast road i was on earlier i'd give it a miss if you have another way to commute... even on the road which was mostly clear stopping at some lights the back wheel was all over the place, had to take the centre of the road for long stretches because of ice to the side. Not ideal if your travelling beside commuters rather than sunday drivers...


Most of the paths are worse than the roads, if your alternative is walking i'd sooner cycle...near the ifsc i saw alot of people clinging onto lamp posts for dear life as they tried to get across sheets of ice. In howth they just walked down the middle of the road...

kenmc

Probably take the Mtb till it thaws

I won't be commuting on the bike tomorrow. Haven't been on a bike since the 17th December, longest I've been off the bike in years. Estate where I am is full of ice.

irishmotorist

Dónal wrote: »

I won't be commuting on the bike tomorrow. Haven't been on a bike since the 17th December, longest I've been off the bike in years. Estate where I am is full of ice.

Sounds like me. I'm going out of my mind and am thinking that it's time to get my 15 year old Claude Butler mtb brushed off so I can at least cycle around in circles on the local green.

Lumen

Excuse the possible smugness, but I've been happily cycling around all weekend on cyclepaths covered in packed snow and ice, with a baby seat or trailer on the back. No rear wheel slippage at all.

The Marathon Winter tyres I've been using come in MTB and road sizes. In 35mm size at 30 psi they're not quite as grippy as a very low pressure tubeless MTB tyre, but not far off.

I'm thinking of getting a second set in 700x40 as I have clearance to spare.

Not much use on a wafer-clearance racer though. Neither do they fit on my TT bike. :pac:

Ryaner

The roads around me have enough snow that you could cycle on them. However once you start getting further out, it turns to slush and ice, more so around the junctions too.

ROK ON

I am presently on BlackhorseAve heading foe d15.
Roads have a lot of ice in some patches.
If I was crazy enough to cycle in I would take a cross/mtb andcycle thru the park on the frozen grass.

Blowfish

Odd. I stayed with one of my sisters in Brittas Bay over the weekend. Granted the back roads are still pretty bad down there (ended up not leaving the house at all on Fri/Sat), but I came back on the coast road and there was no ice on the roads anywhere north of Wicklow town. Given that, I'll definitely be cycling in tomorrow.

penexpers

Lumen wrote: »

Excuse the possible smugness, but I've been happily cycling around all weekend on cyclepaths covered in packed snow and ice, with a baby seat or trailer on the back. No rear wheel slippage at all.

The Marathon Winter tyres I've been using come in MTB and road sizes. In 35mm size at 30 psi they're not quite as grippy as a very low pressure tubeless MTB tyre, but not far off.

I'm thinking of getting a second set in 700x40 as I have clearance to spare.

Not much use on a wafer-clearance racer though. Neither do they fit on my TT bike. :pac:

I remember advised that these were unnecessary a couple of months back

I have 40mm Marathon tires. Haven't been brave enough to try them out yet. I have been out on my 2.35" Fat Franks with little/no difficulty.

Lumen

penexpers wrote: »

I remember advised that these were unnecessary a couple of months back

I have 40mm Marathon tires. Haven't been brave enough to try them out yet. I have been out on my 2.35" Fat Franks with little/no difficulty.

I'd be interested to know how the Fat Franks compare to the Marathons (which Marathons?), as I was thinking of getting some super-fat non-studded tyres myself (45-50mm). Marathon Plus are available in 700 x 45C.

Fat Franks are apparently available in 50-622, which I think is the same as 700x50C.

The Schwalbe site has some interesting tyres I'd never heard of, like the Kojak slick road tyre, which is available in 700 x 35C - a bit skinnier than I'd like but properly slick.

penexpers

Lumen wrote: »

I'd be interested to know how the Fat Franks compare to the Marathons (which Marathons?), as I was thinking of getting some super-fat non-studded tyres myself (45-50mm). Marathon Plus are available in 700 x 45C.

Fat Franks are apparently available in 50-622, which I think is the same as 700x50C.

The Schwalbe site has some interesting tyres I'd never heard of, like the Kojak slick road tyre, which is available in 700 x 35C - a bit skinnier than I'd like but properly slick.

Just plain old Marathon (none of this Plus nonsense for me!).

I don't see Fat Franks available in 50-622 (looking at schwalbe.co.uk), but Big Apples are in that size. Big Apples are almost identical to FF, only a slight difference in the thread pattern. Honestly, I would have gone for Big Apples only I wanted cream coloured tires.

I like the ride they give, very bouncy with little rolling resistance and plenty of grip.

DePurpereWolf

If you stick to the roads you should be okay.

Don't forget, the bitch is in the bend, if you need to take a tight tight bend, slow waaaaay down, you wouldn't know there was ice from going straight. Defintely on footpaths, those are not salted (because we don't pay road tax for those pesky pedestrians).

If a car can go over it, you can.

Nietzschean

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

If a car can go over it, you can.

Cars have a lot more grip than a road bike/commuter.....

DePurpereWolf

Nietzschean wrote: »

Cars have a lot more grip than a road bike/commuter.....

They are also more heavy and go faster.

There are also more of them, if the roads would be just as icy as the paths, I can guarantee you that there will be one poor soul who skids his car and crashes into something.
That's your cue as a cyclist to be very very careful.

However, if the cars are zooming by at 60km/h, it's safe to assume you'll do fine at 20km/h. It depends on the tyre, I have 700Cx32 and I would feel comfortable on the roads if they are salted.

I drove home wednesday the 23rd when it was very slippery, freezing rain, it took me 10 minutes longer because I had to walk the footpaths I normally bike on. I didn't have any problems with the roads.

Nietzschean

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

It depends on the tyre, I have 700Cx32 and I would feel comfortable on the roads if they are salted.

that is really all i ment to get at, it depends....my widest tyre is 23, the widest my bike will take is 25... so if you don't have wide tyres...

Raam

Nietzschean wrote: »

so if you don't have wide tyres...

...ride anyway?

blorg

I came down on Christmas Day on 700x35c and it was sketchy enough New Year's Day on 700x40c. Also plenty of falling off on the MTBs in Ballinastoe although not me for once... not due to the ice anyway. There are road conditions that are unsuitable for cycling IMHO. Looks a bit better now though.

mfdc

I'm not going to chance it. Meant to start training for the summer this week after two weeks of rest, but I'd rather take an extra week off the bike than run the risk of breaking a collarbone, that'd rightly **** up training! Went down hard on my last cycle of last year - nothing to do with ice, lucky I only came out of it with bruises and some cuts - which is no doubt colouring my judgement

Raam

I'm gonna ride on the cross bike. Our estate is like an ice rink, but the main roads looked fine. I'm hoping the coast track is OK, but there is always the road anyway. This will be my first bike ride in over a week due to illness

BostonB

D.15. Main roads are ok, but you'd have to cycle well out from the side. If you have to use a cycle path, or a estate road you'd be mad. Its compacted snow polished like glass and lots of ice. They gritted almost nowhere other the very main roads here. Not worth coming off and breaking a bone, for the sake of waiting a day or too. I've not cycled for ages, been trying to shake nasty cough/cold.

Beasty

I've noticed a significant increase is potholes following the recent cold weather. Existing ones have grown, sometimes quite significantly, and a lot of new ones have appeared, particularly close to the road-edge where the ice has stuck around longer. Hence stretches of roads you may have thought fine a couple of weeks ago may have deteriorated significantly in the meantime.

Blowfish

Got in easily enough. Side/estate roads are pretty bad, but other than patches of frost at the edge of some of them, main roads are pretty clear. Traffic was light too, which was a bonus.

As usual though, further inland is likely a different story.

silvo

Roads in the City Centre are fine, however secondary roads coming from Sandymount - Irish Town - Ringsend are slippy enough. Very light traffic. Brought the MTB in as I dont think I would have made it with the small tyred fixie.

kenmc

Dundrum to parkwest totally fine, no slips or slides for me. Traffic nice and quiet too, think the schools are off till the next religious day in may or something...

youcancallmeal

I cycled into Dublin city center from Templeogue this morning and it was fine except for my estate. From past experience my best bit of advice would be not to use your front brakes at all, I learnt this the hard way

Howitzer

I cycled from d14 to d2 this morning - main roads pretty good, secondaries not so bad - but beware icy patches.

I found an icy patch at the American embassy and was braking (looked ok round there)... I went on my snot big style - no damage thankfully!:o

Might be on the luas this eve.

Howitzer

@youcancallme>al above: now ya tell me ;-) Nah - knew not to use front brakes - but ended up doing so on this patch as it looked ok. I'll tie my arm behind my back next time.

buffalo

youcancallme>al wrote: »

I cycled into Dublin city center from Templeogue this morning and it was fine except for my estate. From past experience my best bit of advice would be not to use your front brakes at all, I learnt this the hard way

I came in from down the road - Greenhills - with the same experience. Walked out of the estate, then kept to the centre of the road until I hit the main routes. Even then, had to keep out of the cycle lane until inside the canals.

seamus

Every plan to ride in today, but the fresh snow last night killed that. I would have had to walk from Firhouse to Templeogue.

Stupid busses

cosmic

Made it in without any hiccups on the trusty commuting hybrid. Had to cycle in the middle of the lane a few times for little stretches because the cycle lane/left hand side of the road were pretty snowy and icy. One grumpy driver actually had the nerve to beep at me though for this :eek: Meh, everyone else seemed pretty understanding!

Raam

I went for a wee slide. Kinda fun. The bike went scooting on up the track for a while.

RobFowl

Was standing at my front door xcross bike in hand working out how to go down the hill and stop in time for the T junction where Mrs Fowl announced in choice language that i was taking the car :rolleyes:

Glad I did too .....................

Beasty

Very glad I took the car this morning. Roads in North County were not too bad (although the hard shoulders were unusable), but as soon as I hit town, and came off the main road, the roads had not been treated and were white - I would not have any idea where the ice was

Ryaner

Very glad I took the car this morning. Even at 30km/h in the car, junctions were causing it to skid. Would have been trouble walking let alone cycling.

blorg

Mountain bike, 26x2.1 tyres @ 30/20 PSI, cycled in the middle of the road. I was OK but saw a few cars skidding at junctions.

kona

Ive been cycling around all weekend on my DH bike. Have some Nokian 2.3 on them at 30psi, no problems on the ice along clontarf, east wall, howth road, malahide road even on the hills.

Had one little slide when I took it a bit mad into a 90 degree corner, but easily recovered.

Hate to have a fixie:p:p:p:p:p


FAO Tim Allen:

Bikes are so much better than cars in this weather.

Beasty

kona wrote: »

Bikes are so much better than cars in this weather. :P

... unless you have a nice cosy 4x4:)

kona

Beasty wrote: »

... unless you have a nice cosy 4x4:)

Even the mighty 4x4 work horses that the nissan quasqui and BMW X-5 are they would be struggling to get up any sort on incline!

SPent 5 mins looking at some woman trying to get up a small hill, wheelspin and going backwards:pac:

I just cycled on by. Smugly.

then, I though of all the wonderful people with the "e1000???! you could buy a car for that!" bah ha ha, you sure can, but you wont be getting up this hill in one, you wont be stopping still at the lights either!. Its a slow slide down...literally

blorg

kona wrote: »

Had one little slide when I took it a bit mad into a 90 degree corner, but easily recovered.

Hate to have a fixie:p:p:p:p:p

Fixies are actually quite good on the ice, you have a much better feel for wheel traction. If I had one with wide enough (or studded) tyres I would use it above the MTB but ultimately more rubber contact outweighs this advantage. Biggest I have on a fixie is 700x35c which is substantially narrower than 26x2.1.

biker_joe

So whats the biggest tyre size people out there have managed get onto a road bike ?
28mm ? or BiGGeR ?????

Biker Joe

blorg

biker_joe wrote: »

So whats the biggest tyre size people out there have managed get onto a road bike ?
28mm ? or BiGGeR ?????

Biker Joe

Really depends on your frame, I have just got some 700x37c for my tourer, my PX I am pretty sure maxes out at 700x25c which I have on now, there isn't a lot of clearance at that... I know others have got 700x28c onto "racers." Often the lower end models have more clearance.

Got the bus as planned today (65B) which left me at Dame Street, so since I saw the roads in the city centre were grand I hopped on a DublinBike and went as far as Custom House Quay, and walked the rest of it. Very slippy around my estate again, and also on the final roads into work.

tomasrojo

Cycled with the trailer this morning, but stuck to main roads. Had to go down Grace Park Road, and it was a bit treacherous, but I didn't come off. I walked the bike along the snowy footpath for a bit on that road. The main roads were fine. No harrassment from anyone to use the cycle tracks these days!

(Touring bike, 700x28)

elduggo

seamus wrote: »

Every plan to ride in today, but the fresh snow last night killed that. I would have had to walk from Firhouse to Templeogue.

Stupid busses

I came in from Knocklyon, just up the way from Firhouse. Roads were generally fine (apart from housing estates obviously). The steep downhills around superquinn were a little nerve-wracking, but from there on was fine. Knocklyon road itself was suprisingly clear.

If anything last nights dusting of snow gave better traction than otherwise might have been.

East Point business park is like a skating rink. The gritters only came into the park in the last half hour (no doubt prompted by the fear of a civil claim or 2 - either that or from getting a bollockin off an irate cyclist at the gate this morning).

Beasty

elduggo wrote: »

If anything last nights dusting of snow gave better traction than otherwise might have been.

I've noticed that what was fresh snow when I drove in this morning is already turning to ice because of the traffic on it - I'd watch out for this on the way home, when the temperature is likely to drop again

Raam

elduggo wrote: »

East Point business park is like a skating rink. The gritters only came into the park in the last half hour (no doubt prompted by the fear of a civil claim or 2 - either that or from getting a bollockin off an irate cyclist at the gate this morning).

It was pretty brutal alright!

biker_joe

yea I was thinking 28mm are about the biggest for a Road racing frame ...... mate of
mine had 28's on his Litespeed last winter .......

maybe a new thread is needed to see if anyone is making mods to road bikes to stop rotting on turbos !!
like fitting 28mmm with 30 psi !! ha ha :eek:

Biker Joe .....