Just how fragile are road bikes?
 

I'm considering these three flat-bar road bikes:
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/.../cafe_noir.htm
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...afe_sprint.htm
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/.../avenue_fb.htm

Are these safe to drive off and up onto curbs? Over cobblestone?
Are the brakes powerful (as in, able to cause tire skidding)?
For typical distances of 1-5 miles, which would you choose and why?

Where I have not owned any of those three bikes, I would be concerned about "jumping curbs" on a cheap set of machine built wheels, with low spoke counts.
With that said, a quality rim build will do things that boggle common sense. There is a video around here somewhere of a guy jumping, and doing flatland tricks on a road bike.

Sounds more like you need a BMX

Or mountain bike!

+2

One really wonders why the OP wants a road bicycle for the type of cycling that seems to interest him.


But in answer to the question regarding the fragility of road bicycles ... a frame can potentially last 10s of thousands of kilometres.

Camus....? Road bikes for hopping (jumping?) curbs and skidding out...? Are you teasing or coincidence? ;)

Oh, and if serious a BMX or MTB are probably a better route. Those listed are not "fragile" but they will not like being bashed around.

Depends. There is jumping curbs and there is JUMPING CURBS.

I jump off curbs off curbs with a 16lb carbon bike with 1420g wheels no problem. One can't go flying off with wild abandon, but if you land light. No problem. Same for going up.

But really 1-5 miles? I'd get an mtb.

Maybe he is thinking of them for commuting. That actually sounds like my ride to work when I lived in the center of Brussels and rode to work in the outskirts of the city. There were areas without good bike paths and areas under construction, which would make it necessary to negotiate obstacles and hop curbs, etc. You also needed to make sure that your brakes worked because sometimes people would turn without looking when you were crossing a street.

To the OP: I don't think it would matter which one of those bikes you bought, depending on what exactly is done to them I think you could manage to destroy just about anything given enough wear and tear. I did the above-mentioned commute on an MTB for about 6 months and I even somehow managed to screw up one of my wheels on that. So expect to pay for some repairs on whatever you buy if you are going to do such things.

Hi there Camus,

I would not suggest bunny hopping or jumping off of curbs, if you can help it. These types of activities will only shorten the life your bicycle. Now rolling over cobblestone is considered as fairly normal terrain for road bikes. Especially for the road bikes that you have selected from bikesdirect. Any bike's brakes can be set up so that it skids
under certain conditions. The lower the coefficient of friction and the closer the pads are set in proximity to the rims or disc, the more likely the phenomenon of "skidding" will take place. Of course, use of disc brakes will increase that probability, even when properly set.

Your bicycle choices for commuting are great. As long as you're in an upright position to see traffic, you're good to go when commuting.

PS.

The Motobecane Cafe Noir would be my choice :thumb:

If you develop your bike handling skills properly and concentrate on developing some finesse, you can do some amazing things on a road bike that a less skilled rider on a mountain bike would find excessively brutal. I generally don't climb stairs over two steps high on my road bike, but I will descend almost anything that I would on my commuter mountain bike without giving it much thought.

As far as curb hopping goes, at higher speeds it is a simple "bunny hop" and when done correctly it is no more brutal than what you will encounter just riding surface streets, and at slower speeds just lift the front wheel up over the curb and apply a little front brake just as it comes down on the sidewalk, and it will lift the rear wheel up and over the curb, allowing you to very gently place it down on the sidewalk without even hitting the curb with it.

That being said, for the use that you describe I would probably take the Cafe Sprint due to the more upright seating position, sloping top tube, Mini-V brakes, potentially greater tire clearance, $100 lower price, and otherwise comparable components package. I'd then put the $100 you save into some clipless pedals and 700x32/35/38 CX tires, but the Cafe Noir would also be in the running if I was going to ride it exclusively on-road.

Of those 3 you posted, I like the Cafe Noir the most. If you're just talking about dropping down off a curb or popping up one at low speed to make the transition from road to side walk from time to time, it should be fine. I wouldn't go blasting off the curb at 20mph, or even more so the other direction. :eek: The brakes should be plenty powerful to bring you to a quick and controlled stop, and then some.

i routinely ride my bike into curbs, over mountains, on top of cars, etc. dont worry.