Bicycle Mechanics - Long term affect of speed bumps on Wheels

My daily commute will be changing shortly to a route that has a lot of speed bumps on one strech of a hill. I'm a bit worried that by no name wheels won't stand the stress of running over the bumps on a daily basis. Need I be?

I use bikes with both 700C and 26 inch wheels

Thanks

I don't have speed bumps on my wheels. Boom Boom!

Sorry Hants.

I know what you mean though - I worry about this daily, since Oxford has some of the most ghastly "traffic calming" measures imaginable. However, I have yet to attribute any mechanical problem to them. The sheer discomfort of riding over the b***dy things and the chance that they will actually cause a crash is something else. Nor do they make car traffic behave any more sensibly...

Cheers,

Ed

I don't think it should be a problem, just go easy over them and try not to catch too much air. That could cause problems later.

Are they the thin, abrupt speed bumps the likes of which you usually only see in car parks? Or are they actually "speed humps" or "speed tables", that a car can take smoothly up to about 35-40 km/h? Over here, some cities have the former and others the latter (still others have both). I wouldn't worry about the latter; they're no more a shock to your wheels than any mild bump in the road. But if they're the former, your wheels are likely to leave the ground momentarily, and the shock will occur when they land again.

If they're the former, I'd also advocate with your local authorities to change them to the latter. The abrupt bumps only cause motorists to slow down so much that they hammer their throttles to "make up for it" between the bumps. The "tables" actually work, because they allow motorists to go over smoothly up to the speed limit.

potholes? we have so many of those here :D :D :D

There are times I really hit them at 20mph.. 4 pinch flats, 4 spokes...
I replace my rim almost every year.. I never had rim failure though.

Invest in good rims. Its worth it.

Most of the speed bumps I have encountered dont extend all the way across the road and you can ride around them with no problem. Get to know which ones are unavoidable, so you can slow down a bit before you hit them or prepare to bunny hop them.

Most of the speed bumps I have encountered dont extend all the way across the road and you can ride around them with no problem. Get to know which ones are unavoidable, so you can slow down a bit before you hit them or prepare to bunny hop them.

I've been thinking about that. The speed bumps are on a fairly steep hill so keeping the speed down can be a problem. The don't quite extend all the way across the road they leave a couple of inches at the side, but I'm not keen on using the gap as If I'm not perfectly aligned I'l hit the high kerb and will be going down.

Just jump off them. I have some craptacular Araya rims on my bike and regularly jump potholes, curbs, etc. I've replace one spoke, and that just randomly broke cranking up a hill. If you're smooth you won't even feel the jump. People don't give roadbikes near enough credit for how tough they are.

I think it really depends on the rims and wheels and of course your technique and weight. I regularly hop curbs with my Ksyriums. I have yet to have my wheels trued since I got them. However, were I running some of those Shimano wheelsets, I'd be more reluctant.

People don't give roadbikes near enough credit for how tough they are.

i definetily agree! Although, there is alot of riding technique involved in riding a road bike rough, but i was amazed at how much better my road/urban riding skills improved after alot of 'freeride' style mountain biking. After you land an 8ft drop on a freeride bike, hopping curbs, speed bumps, and riding sets of stairs on a road bike is a ride in the park!

As far as durability, my motobecane doesn't seem to mind the daily pounding of several sets of stairs on my commute.

i definetily agree! Although, there is alot of riding technique involved in riding a road bike rough, but i was amazed at how much better my road/urban riding skills improved after alot of 'freeride' style mountain biking. After you land an 8ft drop on a freeride bike, hopping curbs, speed bumps, and riding sets of stairs on a road bike is a ride in the park!

As far as durability, my motobecane doesn't seem to mind the daily pounding of several sets of stairs on my commute.
I am in total agreement with you, Last Saturday, I was riding with the club and I had a space between me and the large group , we were doing like 35 k, and I notice that the front group almost had a spill, coz, they were avoiding a hole on the road and that was just like 5 or 10 seconds ahead of me , didn't have time to brake and or swerved, what I did was I just flick and lifted the front wheels up and the rear wheel followed, I cleared the hole, the hole was about 18 inches wide. I was up in the air a good 1 or 2 seconds, I was off the ground like 6 or seven inches, I just love doing that on my speed ride

never had a pinch flat hitting this curb and my techniques is I just lift the front wheel, that takes away the hard hit on the wheel because of that curb........

You either ride or bunnyhop over them, period!