A_Str8

I recently switched from a mountain bike to a hybrid for city riding. I've been going a lot easier on the hybrid than I did on the mountain bike - not jumping curbs and stuff. How careful do I really need to be? Will the hybrid handle jumping up and dropping off of curbs or is that stuff too extreme?

idcruiserman

No way to tell until you try. My road bike is a lot tougher than I thought it would be.

AlmostTrick

There are many factors that need to be known in order to properly answer this question. Here are three main ones.

1. Curb jumping "Technique"
2. Weight of the rider
3. Strength of the bike.

Within each of these factors there will obviously be plenty of variables.

A heavy rider with poor technique can crush a weak bike instantly.
A lightweight rider using "soft technique" up and down curbs can do this day in and day out for years and not hurt a bike at all.
Then of course there's lots of middle ground between the two.

I seldom need to jump curbs, but I'm able to do it in a way that will not hurt even a dime store bike.

Phantoj

What's going to fail? I'd expect wheels first. The toughness of your wheels depends a lot on how well built they were.

charlisity

I have a Haro hybrid with alloy 36 hole wheels that gets used every bit as hard a mountain bike. I jump on and off curbs and use it off road. If you have the spoke count and tires made for that kind of riding, you'll have no problem. Try to do it on regular road race tires that they sometimes put on hybrids and you are going to pop tires, flatten tubes and dent or bend some wheels. Good tires for this type of riding can be any cyclocross set.

pelikan

I jump curbs on my Kona Dr Dew all the time. Not to mention potholes, construction, homesless dudes, etc... Once I switched to 700x23c I go a little softer but the bike is rock solid.

JeffS

Hybrid is a vague term. You might want to elaborate - mainly what size wheel, what brand rims, and the spoke count.

You could build a wheel strong enough to take the abuse if yours isn't currently up to the task.

ItsJustMe

Depends on the quality. I have a Giant Cypress. The rear wheel it came with was crap. I broke spokes like they were spaghetti. I don't do any curb hopping but my ride does go over washboarded gravel.

I rebuilt the rear wheel around a cheap Mavic rim and DT butted spokes, and I'm now at > 6000 miles on that wheel; I haven't touched it and it's still completely true (at least as far as I can see looking at it while riding, I haven't put it on a stand to check).

I wouldn't really worry about anything but the wheels unless it's an X-mart special POS, in which case I'd keep an eye out for frame cracks.

dynaryder

The Trek 7000 in your profile? I had a 7200 which is pretty similar. The wheels aren't that great,but if you have good technique and run wide tires you should be ok.

pinkrobe

Technique is huge! My technique is okay, and I've been jumping a modified road bike with 32H racing wheels [ca. '95] with nary a wiggle in the wheels.

bikedaddy

I have a Trek 7100 and am a big guy. I don't jump curbs a lot but do so occaionally... I do take it gentle.

A_Str8

Yep, a Trek 7000 with the wheels that came with it

I must have jinxed myself by starting this thread. I was jumping a curb on the way home yesterday, and I didn't get enough distance. My back wheel slammed into the edge of the curb. I dunno how the tire didn't pop, but there is a slight dent in the wheel.

sswartzl

For me, jumping curbs = broken spokes. I have better wheels now, but I'm still not jumping any more. Part of my commute comes off a trail onto a sidewalk. Before I'd hop the curb to the road. Now I go about 50 yards to one of those wheelchair-accessible corners.

cerewa

Dropping off curbs stresses your wheels a lot less than jumping up curbs.

I'd also point out that (while a lot depends on when and where you do it) jumping curbs is usually a highly unpredictable thing to do around traffic, and is the kind of thing that can easily cause car-bike collisions. I ride in Philadelphia too, and I'd recommend doing almost all of your riding in the roadway (although in my opinion wrong-way road cycling is worse than sidewalk cycling). Sidewalks are rarely safe for riding faster than a running pace.

notfred

They don't put curbs in the middle of streets here, so this isn't really an issue for me.

dynodonn 

I very seldom jump curbs due to my bending of rims. I'm sure my Trek hybrid is fairly tough compared to my past bikes, but there's enough driveways and just about all of the intersections around here have wheel chair ramps to put my hybrid wheels to the test of curb jumping. If I had to jump a curb, I just jump off and back on fairly quickly.