what do i ride on the trails now?

[gretchen]

I have a new road bike and have spent the past summers using a hybred for trail riding. We have great trails here in IL that are not paved but pretty smooth with pulverized gravel/compact dirt. One LBS told me that i can switch my wheels to ones with treads and other said "NO!" "DON"T TAKE YOUR ROAD BIKE ON THE TRAILS". I would love to cruse a little faster on the trails with a lighter bike but don't want to ruin my new road bike.
What's the concenses on this dilema?
ps...nowbody has told me yet why "clipless" are called "clipless" when there are really clips there?

[jobob]

1. Did you ask the other LBS why they advised you not to take your road bike out on the local trails? They probably know more about the condition of those trails, and know more about your bikes and the tires that are on your bikes and thus be able to give you more informed advice than those of us sitting at our computers. Is the gravel on those trails loose in places, or, does it get muddy? In general, the wider width and more pronounced tread on your hybrid tires might be more suitable for that kind of terrain than tires on your road bike, which, without knowing what they are, I am guessing might be substantially narrower and have much less tread and which might be more prone to flats on that kind of terrain. You can in theory change the tires on your road bike to fatter tires with more tread, but you have to ask yourself if that is worth the hassle. You might not go all that much faster on the pulverized gravel/compact dirt than you do on your hybrid anyhow.

2. i honestly don't know why they call them clipless - it's one of life's little mysteries - but I'll take a stab at it, and if anyone cares to correct me feel free. You may have noticed that some pedals have what some people call "toe clips", sometimes called "cages". Those are the old-fashioned way to affix your foot to the pedal. Some people even still use them to this day (including my husband the retro grouch). Once upon a time, toe clips were the ultimate in pedal design technology. Then at some point some genius came up with a system which attached the pedal directly to the bottom of the shoe using a clamping mechanism. The genius yells out , "look, no toe clips!" and the onlookers gasp "wow, no clips!" and "gee whiz, look at him, he's riding clipless!", and there the term clipless was born. People nowadays confuse matters when they talk about clipping in and clipping out of their clipless pedals, its just one of those things.

[gretchen]

Jobob...thanks for the info...
I"m still smiling from your story about the creation of clipless shoes! Sounds good to me!

I"ll check again with the LBSGuy (hey...new term?...LBSG?) about riding the trails. I guess i just wanted to get in more time on my new bike when the weather gets nice again. (yes, the trails can become mud pies making really nice skunks out of all of us riding out there!).
I'll prob. want to "baby" my new bike and stick to the oldie but goldie for the trails. I"ll just have to get out the road maps to find some good routes for 'road riding'.
: )

[pedalfaster]

Originally posted by gretchen

ps...nowbody has told me yet why "clipless" are called "clipless" when there are really clips there?

I replied here

under the "First Ride" thread.

[annie]

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't ride my good road bike on a non-paved crushed limestone trail. It's safe enough. Road tires can handle that type of trail. But it does bad things to your bike components....... all that gritty gravel dust gets embedded in all the little tiny parts and you cannot get it out without disassembling the bike! The grit grinds and grinds on everything. I could not do that to a good, new bike. Especially if you have another option. Just think, if you keep riding the hybrid on the trails, how FAST and smooth the road bike will feel when you get out on the roads! Of course you want to ride the new one. Hopefully you will be able to find some routes on the road that you will enjoy and feel comfortable doing. (Look for those hills! )

[gretchen]

I think i'm going to take everyones advice and save my nice new road bike for the paved roads.
I think the bike dealer was trying to 'sell' me a bike when he made it out to be sooooo versitle. I didn't buy from him needless to say.

I've never even ridden a road bike out in the "wild blue yonder"...i've just been on my trainer! I'm like a little kid waiting to get out there. My daughter told me all summer long, "oh mom, wait until you get your bike, it's such a better ride!"

Besides, i'd feel sorry for my poor old Diamond Back if it just sat in the garage all the time. : ((((

[Irulan]

Originally posted by annie
Just my opinion, but I wouldn't ride my good road bike on a non-paved crushed limestone trail. It's safe enough. Road tires can handle that type of trail. But it does bad things to your bike components....... all that gritty gravel dust gets embedded in all the little tiny parts and you cannot get it out without disassembling the bike! The grit grinds and grinds on everything. I could not do that to a good, new bike. Especially if you have another option. Just think, if you keep riding the hybrid on the trails, how FAST and smooth the road bike will feel when you get out on the roads! Of course you want to ride the new one. Hopefully you will be able to find some routes on the road that you will enjoy and feel comfortable doing. (Look for those hills! )

other than the stability of the ride taking a road bike on to nonpaved, I really question this. You think mountain bikes don't get dirt, crud, grit and dust into thier components? Maybe the bearings are designed to take it a little better, I dont' know. (mabybe I"m way off base here???) I sure see a lot of folks around here taking thier road bikes on the rail trails which are crushed gravel, dirt, ballast and other fun stuff. Sometimes they just put a little wider tire on the bike.

Irulan

[gretchen]

irulan- I'm glad to hear you say that you see lots of people on road bikes on trails around you...i guess i'm not nuts....i have seen mostly road bikes. I can see how the grit might clog things up a bit if you want top proformance on the roads afterwards and i would think the componants are different on a mountain bike.
Hmmmm decissions decissions...looks like i'll have plenty of time to decide with all this white stuff building up around here!

[Irulan]

They aren't on single track, but they are riding some of the rrail trails we have: Hiawatha, Columbia Plateau

Winter road riding around here might as well be off road: they use sand and gravel instead of salt around here, and this time of years it can several iches thick at the edges of the road. This doens't seem to stop the Cat2 riders I know from getting out if the ice isn't too bad. Most of them keep a set of wheels just for the different conditions.

I.

[annie]

Irulan,

I agree, you certainly CAN use road bikes on dusty trails. And, yes, MTB components will gunk up just as quickly. I don't know if they are made to take on worse conditions than road components........ I would like to think so. I guess it's just my take on it. I imagine my mtb as a tougher bike and my road bike as more delicate. I also treasure my road bike a bit more, being more of a road than off-road rider. So, just because I wouldn't want to take my "baby" (road bike) on a trail ride doesn't mean that it's not the right thing for someone else. If my post came across that way, I wasn't stating what I meant very well......... I'm glad someone jumped in with another POV. We're all different riders and need to ride what works out best for us. We have these bikes to RIDE, not to sit somewhere and be admired. Enojoy the ride!

[Irulan]

I"m thinking that off pavement would be really hard on the frame... road bikes just arent' built for a rought ride. Interesting, maybe someone here knows more about component differenences that I do. ( dont' know much!!)

[pedalfaster]

I dunno...I get kind of a perverse thrill out of taking my road bike where she's not meant to go. Something about skinny slicks in slimey mud, wet roots and deep gravel just does it for me.

I'm a mountain biker first and foremost and I tend to "baby" my vintage steel IF. My C-dale road bike, on the other hand, is a team bike and so I treat her a bit more like a work-horse.

[Irulan]

oh, I've heard about those vintage IF's. drool.

Have you ever seen the Nike video clip of Lance taking the team off road on road bikes? 9and losing them to logs, trees, swamps...)


irulan

[pedalfaster]

Yeah I like that video(was it a Nike comercial? I didn't even notice). Lance actually did one 'cross race in Austin last year...and it looks like it really helped him out at the tour!

I wonder what was going through his mind as he was riding across that bumpy field headed straight for a ditch? "Good thing I practiced this" ???

[MightyMitre]

Generally I tend to ride road bike on the road and use my mtb for rougher stuff, but on saying that, just before Christmas I went to visit my family and went for a quick ride. I used to know the area well, but got a bit confussed and ended up riding along a leafy, muddy rutted track through a wood on my "baby".

Poor bike took a bit of a beating but like pedalfaster said - it was actually really good fun taking my roadbike where it shouldn't go. Won't be making a habit of it but it was a laugh.