Crummy bike paths

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oilboy123

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Dec 5, 2003
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Location
Arlington, Washington
How do you guys deal with streets with bike paths full of Crxx? I'm talking gravel, small rocks glass bolts etc. This is in a 150,000 size town.

I ride a road bike so I have skinny high pressure tires. I will be getting a mtn bike up and running soon.
I will be riding to an area a few miles away thru town on bike paths on a mtn bike as well.

I was riding the others day on a busy rode and tried to avoid a layer of bark. A guy a ways back from me honked at me for veering out of the bike lane. He had two lanes going the same way with no one in the other lane.

Drivers like that ---- me off.......
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I feel like I should complain to the city and county because the crud is a danger to cyclist. They have nice paths but they are always full of junk.

Maybe I just need to get the super duper flat proof tire and just roll thru everything. Or I could just ride on side streets.
 
It's the same here: shards of glass, jagged metal junk, nails and screws, garbage, dead things.

Get a tires that are puncture resistant, for example Schwalbe Marathon or Specialized ATB with flakjacket protection. Those tires tend to be heavier, but you won't bust a tire and inner tube once a week. You can also buy tire liners, which are essentially strips of puncture resistant armor with which to line your tires. If you ride mostly on street or hardpack, don't get knobby tires. Knobby tires are for off-road, mud and sandy surfaces.

Don't ask me about tubeless bike tires, those are too hi-tech for my taste. I prefer to KISS.
 
Usually I select routes that have bike lanes and/or wider streets. I prefer mountain bikes it just feels more stable but I ride a combination of roads (off road and street). I fill my inner tube with that Slime stuff. Sometimes I ride far away and its not fun to get a flat tire (happened a few times) then ride home with high rolling resistance.
 
I always carry one spare tube. Unless I cut up a tire completely I'll be back riding in 10 minutes. I avoid moving farther than 6 miles from my place or my car, because if I end up carrying the bike, 6 miles is as far as I am willing to schlepp a 35 lbs hunkajunk. As you know, if you chain your broken down bike in the city to a lantern post or similar, half an hour later only the frame is left. City vultures at work!
 
Guys at work ride 10 miles to and from each day.

No bike paths to speak of, just rural highways and coal trucks.

I guess that we are blessed, in that there's only 12,000 people's junk in that 10 miles.

They DO however have rear view mirrors strapped to their helmets.

I'll ask what they use for tyres.
 
"I feel like I should complain to the city and county because the crud is a danger to cyclist. "

It'll probably be more effective than complaining here!
I did the same thing (just 25 miles down the road from you) and they did address SOME of my concerns, like tree branches jutting out into the bike lane. (after I got whacked in the face one night because I didn't see it in time)
 
i see alot of guys become road warriors and ride on the side of the road instead of the bike path. to me thats crazyness to give up a prefectly good bikepath like that. id rather deal with nails and branches on the bike path than deal with cars and trucks on the road.

i guess im an old schooler. i would give up biking before i would bike on the road. i got nothing to proove to anyone about my manlyness.
 
Those pedestrians that walk on the bike path make for a very fun (=unpredictable) and interactive (they yell and scream a lot) obstacle course. Faced with whether to get nailed by a Hummer or to nail an emaciated 40 pound jogger (i-Pod equipped) blocking the bike path, the choice is obvious.
tongue.gif
 
If parking lots are any indication, I'm thinking of changing the bull bars on my cars for Cow Bars.
 
Sometimes when I ride thru the Crxx rocks fly hard into the sides of cars.
I mean real hard, like someone threw the rock pretty hard. I can hear them bounce off the body with a pretty loud noise. I can feel the rock flick off my tire then the sound of it hitting the car comes right after.

One of these days I'm going to be attacked by someone claiming I threw a rock at them.
frown.gif
 
For city riding, I run a semi-knobby tire on the front (Panaracer Mach SK) and a semi-slick on the back (Panaracer Mach SS). The improvements in adverse-situation traction and flat resistance over a narrow slick is worth the extra pedalling effort it for the type of city riding I do.
 
Originally Posted By: oilboy123
What type of bike and tire sizes do you run rpn453?


For non-winter city riding I have a '96 KHS Montana Comp. It's a lightweight chromoly hardtail with Marzocchi XCR forks (air, 2" travel). Those Panaracers are 26 x 1.95. Running a more aggressive tire in the front is a carry-over from my BMX days; you can lose your back end and recover easily, but losing your front end is never good. Also, since most of the weight is on the back, it makes sense to run a smoother tire back there unless you're climbing or descending a lot of steep dirt hills and really need the knobs back there.

When the snow flies I break out an old rigid Nishiki with wider, knobbier tires all around.
 
I noticed that the back tire on this bike has smooth rubber on the road part of the tread and knobs on the edge.

It has a regular knobby on the front. Cheesey thing is the smooth tire has gum colored sidewalls and the front is black.......

I think I will try these out and see how they work.
 
Are you a member of the Salem bicycle club?

Most clubs work together for bicycle advocacy and rights, not to mention they have fun and group rides.

http://www.salembicycleclub.org/

If you get enough people concerned about "trash" in the bicycle lane, you might get the city to take the street sweepers down there more often. That would probably be the best solution.

Our city currently doens't sweep the designated bicycle routes as well. It doesn't bother me as I ride in the lane, just like a motor vehicle. If the cars to like it too bad.
 
You should start a petition for your city and have people sign it. Ask friends/co-workers to ask their friends and family to sign. I'm sure your city has street sweepers somewhere. Plus it would be a good cause, I mean you are after all trying to improve safety. If enough people speak then they will hear.

In our suburban area I have even seen city pickup trucks with brush attachments do quick runs over bike lanes.
 
Not a club member, kinda new to the area. Might get into a club next year. I might get to the point of action at some point......

For a small city it has a pretty good path network.

Thanks for the comments and the heads up on the map/document "seen it before" But the rest of the document I have not seen. I saved it!
 
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